Saddam reorganized chain of command

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein set up a system giving his most trusted lieutenants and local tribal leaders the power to mount a guerrilla campaign or other military measures without waiting for his orders.

Saddam reorganized his chain of command before the war so that he need not give every order and thus make himself vulnerable to U.S. electronic detection. U.S. officials, however, see the absence of Saddam's strong hand on the battlefield as a sign that he may be dead or wounded.

Although Saddam may not be issuing all the orders, his prediction of a tough ground fight is on the mark, and his defensive measures appear to be paying off.

"I don't know whether the leader of this regime is dead or alive," Gen. Tommy Franks, the U.S. war commander, said in Doha, Qatar. "I have not seen credible evidence over the last period of days that this regime is being controlled from the top."

Given sweeping powers

Five days before the war began, the Iraqi government announced Saddam had divided the country into four military regions under the command of his son Qusai, head of the elite Republican Guards, and three of his most trusted lieutenants.

Each of them was given sweeping powers to use all the resources of the Iraqi military and state for the defense of his region. That meant commanders in Najaf, Basra, Mosul and other areas did not have to wait for instructions from Saddam before taking action.

Saddam could remain hidden from U.S. electronic surveillance while being assured that his strategy for defending Iraq would be implemented by his son and aides -- even if coalition forces destroy his communications.

In Baghdad, the government has gone to great lengths to emphasize Saddam is in charge. On Saturday night, Iraqi television showed him meeting with key aides.

Although there was no audio of Saddam, the announcer said the meeting was to praise a suicide attack that killed four U.S. soldiers near Najaf.

A few hours after the attack on Baghdad that launched the war March 20, Saddam appeared on Iraqi television in a military uniform but appeared subdued and showed signs of strain. That appearance could have been taped earlier, however, and U.S. officials note there have been no live pictures of Saddam since the initial attack.

Four days later, a composed Saddam appeared on TV again to rally his people and his troops with a stirring address U.S. intelligence determined that speech was recorded, but it was unclear when.

"Where is Saddam Hussein? Where is Qusai, where is Uday -- his sons? They're not talking," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday.

In the weeks leading up to war, Saddam bolstered his position through overtures to Iraq's tribes and clans.

Immersed in Iraq's complex and bloody politics for about 40 years, Saddam probably knows his people better than any other politician in this country of 26 million people.

This is a huge asset in a country with about 150 major tribes that break down into some 2,000 smaller clans. In recent years, he is thought to have deepened their loyalty with gifts of money, land, cars and arms and by making key tribesmen local leaders of his Baath Party.

Saddam also has used television to tell tribal leaders he cares about their people and that he is one of them. He would talk of how he grew up in the countryside and offer advice about such things as physical fitness and how to find directions on moonless nights.

But his pep talks included doses of reality -- pointing out the technological edge of the United States and its ability to hit Iraq from afar.

He boasted in January that even if the United States brings its entire army and those of its allies, Iraq will never be conquered. "The enemy can destroy and hurt but will never be able to occupy the land," he said.

The clan and tribal chiefs are reciprocating his trust and gestures.

Clad in flowing robes topped by gold-rimmed black and brown cloaks, scores of tribal chiefs came to Baghdad in the past week from across Iraq to reassure Saddam of their loyalty and, in their words, to receive an update on their fighting orders.

The chieftains command the loyalty of tens of thousands of men and represent one of the wild cards that Saddam has thrown into the battle against U.S. and British forces -- using their familiarity with the terrain to punish coalition forces with surprise attacks.

"They can hit us with their warplanes, but we will triumph with our rifles for the sake of Iraq," Mouseet al-Sheik al-Shamsi, one of the chieftains from the southern Zi Qar province, said outside a Baghdad hotel on Sunday. "It's our land and we will defend it under Saddam's leadership," enthused another, Malek Al-Baaj from the southern town of Souk el-Sheiouk.

Saddam's gestures have yielded results in the south. Reports from there suggest that tribal militias have a significant part of the fighting, slowing down the advance of U.S. and British forces to Baghdad, harassing the rear of their armored columns, and putting up stiff resistance in several towns.

The tribal and clan fighters have been singled out for lavish praise by Iraq's officials and media. State TV has been playing a new song dedicated to Ali Obeid, an elderly tribesman who became a national hero after authorities credited him with downing an Apache helicopter with his rifle. The U.S. military denied the claim.

Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf boasted that tribal fighters shot down a helicopter and killed its two pilots Saturday. U.S. Central Command said it had no information of such an incident.

"We tell (President) Bush to come to Mosul to try his luck," Mahmoud Abdullah al-Sabawi, a clan leader from the northern city of Mosul, said on television. "We tell them that we will never give up Saddam or a single inch of Iraq."