Iraq success rests on more than military might

Still, no one expects any parts of these missions to be easy. Hussein knows this may be the end for him, and both military and outside experts say he is likely to try anything when backed into a corner. The expectation is that he will hunker down in his bunkers and draw the war on as long as possible. He would likely unleash any chemical or biological weapons his forces may be capable of using. And some predict he could even unleash them on his own civilians and try to make it look as though the US is the perpetrator.

"Once we start an attack, Hussein doesn't have any incentive to restrain himself," says Frank Anderson, a former CIA Near East division chief with several years experience in the region. "The limits on what he will do are his capabilities rather than any other considerations."

But US intelligence services have had a long time to study his habits and identify his hideouts. And Pentagon planners have devised means to penetrate his fortressed bunkers.

Several Special Forces and CIA paramilitary teams are already operating inside Iraq's borders. In addition, thousands of special forces troops are to be dropped in as the "shock and awe" bombing campaign begins, according to retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who led a major ground force operation in the 1991 Gulf war.

The Special Forces and paramilitary teams will be targeting leadership facilities, as well as sites that may contain weapons of mass destruction.

Intelligence officials and outside experts say Hussein has squandered millions of his UN oil-for-food money to build fortified palatial compounds - some encompassing as many as 90 buildings. And a German firm reportedly was paid $150 million to build a bunker 100 feet underground that can endure missile and bomb blasts.

In addition, he has the 16,000 fiercely loyal members of the Special Republican Guard and Special Security Organization. They are likely to go to any length to protect Hussein, because ultimately, they know, their future is linked to his.

Still, the US may not have to capture or kill Hussein to be successful. They only need to separate him from the military. Even if he were to escape to another country, he doesn't command the reverence of followers the way Osama bin Laden does.

"Once he is out of the seat of power, his Army will no longer listen to him," says Jesswald Salacuse, an expert in conflict resolution at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. "And if he goes outside his country, he will not be able to reassert himself as a leader of Iraq."

Many don't think he'll run anyway. "I think he'll stay there and fight to the finish," says Judith Yaphe, an Iraqi expert at the National Defense University. "[Hussein] despised the shah [of Iran]for running; he thought that was really the wrong thing to do. Besides, where could he go?"

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