Iraqi assets, recruited by the agency, played a key part in the operation by providing "priceless" information, relating to the phone system and details of Dora Farm, according to one former senior CIA official.
After CIA Director George Tenet conveyed the information to the White House, the administration quickly launched strikes by F-117A warplanes and ship-launched cruise missiles. The attack was thought to have wounded Saddam and is also believed to have killed his son Qusay, 37, who was being groomed as Saddam's successor, according to half a dozen former and serving U.S. officials. The strike hit at 5:36 a.m. Baghdad time March 20, after Bush's ultimatum to Saddam to leave Iraq or face war had expired.
A senior administration official told UPI that Saddam had suffered two burst eardrums in the attack, and "was bleeding from the nose and mouth." This source added that Saddam was so disoriented by concussion damage that he was in "a vegetative state" for hours after the strike.
Another administration official said that Saddam was "definitely alive" after the strike and appeared on Friday, March 21, wearing glasses because of concussive damage to the capillaries of his retinas.
Aerial photos showed that the three-building compound had suffered severe damage from 2,000-pound bunker buster bombs and some 40 cruise missiles, U.S. officials said.
Details of the timing and recruitment of the Iraqi CIA assets remain vague because "we want to protect our tradecraft"