http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050918/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestsaddamus_050918194041
WASHINGTON(AFP) - Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein used a secret mail
network to try to stoke a rebellion against US-led forces in the time
between his downfall in April 2003 and his capture in December that
year.
Often switching locations in an attempt to avoid his enemies, Saddam
"fired off frequent letters filled with instructions for his
subordinates," the weekly news magazine Time says in its issue to
appear Monday, quoting "current and former" intelligence officials.
Some letters "were pathetic," it says.
"In one, he explained guerrilla tradecraft to his inner circle, how to
keep in touch with one another, how to establish new contacts, how to
remain clandestine.
"Of course, the people doing the actual fighting needed no such advice,
and decisions about whom to attack, when and where were made by the
(insurgency) cells," which were supplied with money, arms and
logistical support by Saddam's minions, it says.
On the other hand, Saddam did make a strategic decision that changed
the course of the insurgency, which has since widened beyond its
original Baathist core to include religious extremists, nationalists
and individuals angered by the US occupation.
"In early autumn (of 2003), he sent a letter to associates, ordering
them to change the target focus from coalition to Iraqi collaborators,
that is, to attack Iraqi police stations," the report says.
Saddam is to go on trial next month before the Iraqi Special Tribunal
over a 1982 massacre in a Shiite village north of Baghdad following an
attempt on his life there.
The sources interviewed by Time were gloomy about the war and critical
of President George W. Bush's preparations for the aftermath of the
conflict.
"The officers believe it's a war fought with insufficient resources and
a war that almost all of them now believe is not winnable militarily,"
Time says.
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