Are we finally closing in?

Troops of the 4th Infantry Division, acting on tips from informants, hit three farms in the Tikrit region in a pre-dawn attack but learned their specific target – the security chief – had left the area the day before.

“We missed him by 24 hours,” said Lt. Col. Steve Russell, who led the operation that was witnessed by an Associated Press reporter.

The raid was prompted by Thursday’s capture in Tikrit of a group of men believed to include as many as 10 Saddam bodyguards. Soldiers learned from them that Saddam’s new security chief – and possibly the dictator himself – were staying at one of the farms, Russell said.