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Many Question: Where is Saddam? - 2003-04-10

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So many questions are being asked as this Iraqi war continues. We try to answer them as best we can, but there’s one very big question we can’t answer: where is Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein? Brian Purchia reports.

U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL KOFI ANNAN
“It appears as there is no functioning government in Iraq at the moment.”

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Thursday, acknowledged the obvious, but provided no information on Saddam Hussein.

Iraq's Ambassador to the UN, Mohammed al-Douri, denies Saddam has been killed.

IRAQ'S AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS MOHAMMED AL-DOURI
"It is not true. He will appear soon."

So where is he? There is a lot of speculation.

Lebanese TV reported that he was hiding in the Russian Embassy in Baghdad.

Some officials speculated he had fled to his hometown of Tikrit. Others said he was dead, buried in the still smoking rubble of Monday's U.S. bombing attack.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld says he does not know where Saddam is either, but that...

DONALD RUMSFELD, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE
“Senior regime people are moving out of Iraq into Syria and Syria is continuing to send things into Iraq.”

Other key Iraqi leadership figures are missing as well. Information Minister Mohammed al-Sahaf made his last appearance Monday…claiming U.S. forces were nowhere near Baghdad the day before U.S. troops overran the city.

So where is Saddam and the rest of his regime? There is no credible answer yet, but there’s a growing consensus they are not in Baghdad.

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