WASHINGTON, June 16: US President George W. Bush early this year signed an intelligence order directing the CIA to conduct covert operations to topple Saddam Hussein, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The covert programme included authorization to use lethal force to capture Saddam, the Post said, citing informed sources.

Bush has openly declared his desire to remove the Iraqi president, by military force if necessary, but has offered few details of how he plans to accomplish that.

The Post said the presidential order directs the CIA to use all available tools, including:

— Increased support to Iraqi opposition groups and forces inside and outside Iraq including money, weapons, equipment, training and intelligence information.

— Expanded efforts to collect intelligence within Iraqi government, military, security service and overall population where pockets of intense anti-Saddam sentiment have been detected.

— Possible use of CIA and US Special Forces teams, similar to those that have been successfully deployed in Afghanistan since the Sept. 11 airliner attacks. Such forces would be authorized to kill the Iraqi president if they were acting in self-defence.

Sources said CIA Director George Tenet told Bush and his Cabinet that the covert programme alone — without military action or diplomatic and economic pressure — had only about a 10 per cent to 20 per cent chance of succeeding, the Post said.

One source said the CIA covert action should be viewed largely as “preparatory” to a military strike so the agency can identify targets, intensify intelligence gathering on the ground in Iraq, and build relations with alternative future leaders and groups if Saddam is ousted, the Post said.

“It is not a silver bullet, but hopes are high and we could get lucky,” the Post quoted another source as saying.—Reuters