New Saddam pictures released; raids in Samarra continue
From the Wolf Blitzer Reports staff in Washington:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A new image of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in captivity was made public Thursday. With a shaved beard and trimmed hair, he's shown meeting with Ahmed Chalabi, a member of Iraq's Governing Council. The photo appears in Chalabi's own newspaper. Copies of it are flying off the shelves.
A top U.S. official says since Saddam's capture last Saturday, there's been a spike in the number of Iraqis signing up for the Civil Defense Corps.
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"The rumors in the bazaars across the country was that Saddam Hussein was going to return. The bitter-enders, those with ties to the former regime, would send a message that if you cooperate with the coalition you will get your tongue cut out and your head cut off and you will be returned to a mass grave or a torture chamber. Now Iraqis realize that's over," says Dan Senor, adviser to Civil Administrator L. Paul Bremer.
But the streets are still far from safe.
In Baghdad, a U.S. soldier was killed when his patrol was ambushed. And a Shiite representative was gunned down near his home.
In Samarra, "Operation Ivy Blizzard" continues.
"The city of Samarra continues to be a location where a number of insurgents, groups of former regime elements, are operating out of," says U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt.
To root out those elements, the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division swept in, capturing more so-called "high-value targets."
