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U.S. offers $25 million reward for SaddamTen U.S. troops injured in action on Thursday
(CNN) -- The United States is offering a $25 million reward for information that either leads to the capture of Saddam Hussein or confirms that the former Iraqi leader is dead, U.S. officials announced Thursday. A $15 million reward each was offered for similar information about Saddam's sons, Uday and Qusay. The reward is being offered through the State Department's Reward for Justice Program, which seeks to prevent acts of terrorism against the United States and pays rewards for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions of terrorists attempting or committing acts against U.S. interests. A group of U.S. senators just returned from a trip to Iraq stressed the importance of finding Saddam and his sons. "When we do, then the people of Iraq will no longer live in fear of his return. ... You can see it in their faces, you can hear it in their voices," said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas. Roberts, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, accompanied by other members of the panel and the Senate Intelligence Committee, visited sites in the north, central and southern regions of the country. Roberts said there had been progress in the hunt for banned weapons but counseled patience as the search continued. "We are finding volumes of documentation, and it takes us time to go through it. That has led us to a couple of, what I would call breakthrough pieces of information that I hope in the near future will be very positive news," he said. In Washington, President Bush said he had no doubt U.S. forces would find the banned weapons programs Iraq claimed to have given up before the American-led invasion in March, but "It will be a matter of time." "There's no doubt in my mind he had a weapons program -- he used them," Bush said, referring to Iraq's use of poison gas against Iranian troops and Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s. And he pointed to the discovery of two trailers U.S. experts say could have been used to produce biological weapons in violation of U.N. resolutions that ended the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Bush said he suffers when he hears about the abuses of Saddam's rule and said, "The Iraqi people are going to benefit from the actions of the United States and a lot of other nations, because they'll be free." Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, the Armed Services Committee's ranking Democratic member, said efforts to transform and stabilize Iraq can be done with the help of other countries since American troops are "stretched thin" and are targets for people loyal to remnants of Saddam's regime. (Full story) Attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq wounded at least 10 soldiers Thursday -- a day after Bush challenged Iraqis opposed to the American-led occupation to "bring 'em on" -- and another U.S. soldier died in a non-combat incident, the U.S. Central Command said. Since Bush declared an end to major combat May 1, 26 U.S. soldiers have been killed and another 43 have died in accidents. Six British soldiers also have been killed. Three U.S. soldiers were wounded and an Iraqi civilian was killed Thursday when a Humvee was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in central Baghdad, a U.S. military official on the scene told CNN. Witnesses said the rocket was launched from a vehicle that immediately sped away. A crowd of Iraqis kicked and jumped on the damaged military vehicle, which then caught fire. Another six American soldiers were wounded Thursday in Ramadi, about 60 miles west of Baghdad, when their convoy ran over an explosive device. They were evacuated to the Army's 28th Combat Support Hospital for treatment. A 1st Armored Division soldier and a 6-year-old Iraqi boy were wounded during a firefight in the Kadhimyah neighborhood of Baghdad earlier Thursday, U.S. Central Command said. The president's "bring them on" remark was criticized by Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt, who said the president should stop the "phony, macho rhetoric." (Full story) Other developments:
• Coalition officials opened the Baghdad museum for two hours Thursday to display gold and jewels from the ancient Assyrian Empire, an exhibition comprising what some believe to be among the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century. The antiquities were initially believed to have been stolen in the looting that followed the fall of Saddam Hussein's government. (Full story, Audio slide show: Iraqi treasures unveiled) • British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who met with British military commanders in Baghdad and Basra Wednesday, said troops would not be driven out of the country and said reconstruction would continue despite the attacks on coalition forces. (Full story) The bodies of six British Royal Military Police soldiers killed last week by a crowd in southern Iraq were flown back to Britain Wednesday. CNN Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf and correspondents Barbara Starr and John King contributed to this report. Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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