- (AFP) -- US commanders have said they will launch a "snatch-and-shoot"
raid for Saddam Hussein if they track him to a hiding place in neighbouring
Syria, The Times newspaper said today.
-
- Although troops hunting for members of the toppled Iraqi
regime have been ordered to respect Syria's borders, an exception would
be made in the case of Saddam, said a senior US source at Central Command
in Qatar, according to The Times.
-
- If US special forces in western Iraq have "credible
evidence" of the former president's whereabouts, they have been told
that they can enter Syria and grab him, the newspaper said.
-
- The action would be justified by US commanders under
the doctrine of "hot pursuit", a disputed theory that soldiers
hunting a terrorist suspect are allowed under international law to enter
a foreign country without permission, the newspaper said.
-
- "By the very nature (of international law) you should
not go crossing international borders in an illegal manner," said
a British military spokesman quoted by the newspaper.
-
- http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/17/1050172680527.html
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