Getting Saddam May Not Be Easy

March 17 -- Eliminating Saddam Hussein will be a critical part of U.S. strategy in the event of war with Iraq, military experts say.

In the event of war, Pentagon planners hope to take out the Iraqi leader in an air blitz that would have 10 times the firepower of the opening bombardment of the 1991 Gulf War.

Removing Saddam from the chain of command would paralyze the Iraqi military and lead to a quicker victory for the United States and its allies, it is hoped.

"Iraq is Saddam Hussein. He controls everything," said retired Air Force Gen. Chuck Horner, who commanded the air war in 1991.

But, Horner said, it may not be easy to get rid of the Iraqi leader.

"To eliminate Saddam Hussein has got to be one of the hardest jobs in the world," Horner said, noting that Saddam survived numerous attempts by the U.S. military to target him in 1991, as well as assassination attempts from inside his own regime.

Intelligence Failed to Pinpoint Saddam in 1991

In the 1991 war, allied forces launched 260 air attacks on "leadership" targets, such as bunkers, party headquarters and military command centers, in an attempt to eliminate Saddam and his top aides.

Horner says he received lots of intelligence about Saddam's movements from Iraqi informants and U.S. special forces on the ground, but nothing conclusive. He acknowledged that there was never a moment that the allied command knew either where Saddam was at a given moment or where he was going to be.

"If we'd have had definitive knowledge … we probably would have dropped a bomb on him," Horner said. "The fact that Saddam Hussein's alive indicates that we didn't know where he was."

An Elusive Target

During his quarter-century in power, Saddam is believed to have survived numerous assassination and coup attempts.

"He's very paranoid, and with good reason," said former CIA Director James Woolsey.

According to Woolsey, Saddam's security is all but impenetrable. Reports from inside Iraq say the Iraqi leader sleeps in a different bed every night and often travels underground in a network of tunnels. He is said to wear a bulletproof fedora at times.