The most senior US official in Iraq says he believes Saddam Hussein is still alive and remains in the war-battered nation.
But chief US administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer does not think Saddam is orchestrating daily attacks on US troops.
Mr Bremer said there was no evidence of any central control in the attacks. "What we are seeing is highly professional but very small, sort of squad-level attacks, five or six people at a time attacking us."
"The sooner we can either kill him [Saddam] or capture him, the better, because the fact that his fate is unknown certainly gives his supporters the chance to go around and try to rally support for him".
Mr Bremer also told NBC television that Americans should prepare for a lengthy stay in Iraq. He said: "It's clear that given the size of the task, we are going to be there for a while. I don't know how many years."
Two American soldiers were killed and one was injured in an ambush in northern Iraq today. That followed the death yesterday of an American soldier who was shot while guarding a bank in west Baghdad.
The deaths brought to 151 the number of US soldiers killed in action since the March 20th, the start of the war, four more than the total killed in the 1991 Gulf War.