THE NOOSE TIGHTENS

U.S. soldiers detained several of Saddam Hussein’s personal bodyguards in a raid Thursday in Tikrit after an informant tipped troops to their location, said Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division.

Odierno spoke Friday in a live video teleconference briefing from Tikrit to the Pentagon.

While investigators still were interviewing the detained guards Friday morning, of the 13 people taken into custody, “between five and 10 [are] believed to be Saddam Hussein’s personal security detachment,” Odierno said.

The 4th ID commander said he believes the deaths of Saddam Hussein’s sons this week has boosted significantly the number of Iraqi informants alerting U.S. forces to the whereabouts of weapons caches and key Hussein supporters...

The capture of some of Saddam’s elite bodyguards on Thursday means troops are getting close, and it’s a matter of time before Hussein himself, “or HVT No. 1, as we call him,” is caught, Odierno said.

“They are moving around quickly, they are very unsettled and are not living a very good life right now because we are constantly on their trail.”

Also Thursday night, another informant gave troops near the town of Samarra, about 70 miles northwest of Baghdad, detailed directions to a buried container, which, when unearthed, netted 10 AK-47 rifles, 34 rocket-propelled grenade launches, 150 RPG rounds, 80,000 feet of detonation cord, 45,000 sticks of dynamite, 11 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), 33 SA-7 launchers and 28 submachine guns.

And, if you will, please notice how seemingly much more forthcoming the average Iraqi seems to be with information regarding the former dictator, as well as weapons caches that exist to hurt our guys.

Progress.