His Successor? Probably a Kinsman

By Guy Garcia

Much as they want to see Saddam killed, overthrown or tried for war crimes, several top Bush Administration advisers and Arab leaders are quietly pulling for some of Saddam's nastiest henchmen to survive in power. If Iraq's Sunni Muslim ruling elite were to be ousted wholesale, no alternative government could easily take charge of the country's highly politicized military and secret police. Fear of these institutions is the strongest glue binding Iraq's fractious populace, including its long-oppressed Shi'ite Muslim majority and its rebellious northern Kurds. "When the Iraqis stop fighting us," says a senior Bush adviser, "they may turn to fighting each other." The advisers believe postwar stability in Iraq and the region is better served if the country's next ruler is "someone in the clan" -- one of Saddam's close associates, probably a relative from his hometown of Tikrit.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart