US will not cross Syrian border to hunt Saddam

Odai Sirri
United States Central Command officials denied reports that authorisation has been given to commanders to launch a “snatch-and-shoot” raid for Saddam Hussein if they track him to a hide-out in neighbouring Syria.
“We have absolutely no plans to take such action,” said spokesman Lieutenant-Commander Charles Owens
The British daily Times newspaper, quoting a senior US source at Central Command, reported that American forces in Western Iraq have been told that they can enter Syria to seek out Saddam Hussein and possibly kill him if they have “credible evidence” of his whereabouts.
The Times reported that the US commanders would use the “hot pursuit” doctrine to justify the hunting of Hussein. The highly contentious method allows for the entering of a foreign country without permission in order to pursue an enemy or criminal.
To date the United States has resisted the temptation to follow "hot pursuit", relying instead on cooperating closely with friendly governments such as Pakistan to try and arrest opponents it dubs "terrorists".
In a telephone interview with Al Jazeera, Owens slammed earlier media reports suggesting American forces would violate Syrian sovereignty. “Such reports are inaccurate, false, lies, urban myths, whatever you want to call it. But they are absolutely not true,” he said. -- Al Jazeera and agencies

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