US still seeking final success in Iraq

A US magazine reported Sunday that Saddam planned the guerrilla campaign that has claimed more than 1,000 US military lives in Iraq well before his capture on December 13 last year.

US News and World Report quoted military intelligence as saying that in late 2002 Saddam sent more than 1,000 security and intelligence officials to two military facilities near Baghdad for two months of special training.

"Anticipating his defeat, intelligence reports show, the Iraqi dictator began laying the foundation for an insurgency as Washington worked to convince the United Nations and allies around the world that Saddam had to go," said the magazine.

Baath party operatives still close to Saddam's organisation and Sunni Muslim extremists from inside and outside of Iraq play central roles in the insurgency, according to the report which quoted the work of US analysts and military intelligence and assessments by British intelligence.

About 1,300 American troops have died in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, more than 1,000 in combat.

The insurgency, the protection of US troops, and troubled preparations for elections still scheduled for January 30 now dominate US headlines rather Saddam and moves to bring him to trial.

A year ago, Bush said the capture of Saddam had been essential for the emergence of a free Iraq. He called upon Iraqis to reject violence and come together build a new Iraq.

Detaining the ousted Iraqi leader boosted the stock market and the dollar, the price of oil fell. Opinion poll support for the Iraq war rose and the US public also showed itself more confident that Osama bin Laden would be caught.