How Not To Lose Saddam

By MATTHEW COOPER AND MARK THOMPSON Friday, Mar. 21, 2003
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What if the U.S. can't find Saddam Hussein? Considering how strenuously the Bush Administration has tried to personalize the war — Colin Powell mentioned Saddam 72 times in one presentation to the U.N. — it would be a political blow, particularly after the escape in Afghanistan of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar. Says Senator John McCain: "It could be an embarrassment, just like bin Laden."

The fear is that Saddam could easily hide in a country that was all but built for his personal protection. Or he could slip through Iraq's porous borders with Syria, Iran or Jordan. Saddam has billions stashed away to finance a life in exile. To avoid this, the White House appears to be counting on the newly liberated Iraqis to turn him in. Sources tell TIME that the U.S. armed forces have developed pamphlets to be dropped over Iraq, warning citizens not to let Saddam escape. "We're counting on the Ceausescu method," says a senior planner at Central Command, which would lead a war on Iraq. He's referring to Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, executed by his subjects after his regime fell in 1989.