The CIA had a German company install a satellite transponder in Sadaam's pacemaker. Ordinarily the signal from this transmitter would beep in Langley from day to day when he moved from bunker to bunker. Admittedly, he may be in deep seclusion, but co-incidentally the radio has not been heard from since the headquarters bomb strike.
If the Iraquis played completely by the rules, then their people, when hospitalized, would be safe in sick bay. They would also be absolutely safe to surrender when it was necessary.
Tojo was assassinated by US P-38's during the war against Japan when he was in flight. Would he have been safe in a Japanese hospital? The U.S. agonized over doing this mission, but decided it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Probably an intelligence leak was as risky as the target was controversial.
If I were fighting Sadaam, I would not have targeted his leadership or himself. That is because it is likely that his subordinates could be more competent than he to wage war. On the other hand, the reverse may be true with some personalities, who fear competence beneath them will rebel, and outhink them if disloyal. It is also possible that a skeletized regime, while perhaps less certain of resolve individually, is also more certain of not being replaced for controversial and risky decisions that are more creative and desperate than the senior management would entertain. It is, however, an old saw that jr officers are more realistic and entrenched idealogues are more tenacious in the face of certain defeat. In addition, the junior officers have not got the control and cannot command the respect of an increasingly dissident and emboldened population, who may increasingly feel they face needless attrition and possible starvation with bulldog-stubborn but vain and ultimately self-destructive tactics of their purported defenders.
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