BAGHDAD, Iraq - The resistance will go on.

U.S. and Iraqi officials say despite the capture of Saddam Hussein, guerrillas are likely to continue attacking American and coalition troops. Without Hussein and his Baath Party stamp on the insurgency, according to the officials, Iraqis might join the guerrillas in what is seen as a nationalist and Islamic struggle against an occupying power.

While, in its initial days, the insurgency seemed to consist largely of former Baath loyalists and former Iraqi army and intelligence officers, it has taken on an Islamic stamp in recent months. There are signs that Iraqis and Arab volunteers who share a militant Sunni Muslim ideology have taken a large role in the insurgency.

"These are people who were suppressed to a certain extent under Saddam's rule," said Nazem al-Jassour, an Iraqi political analyst. "There's not much love lost for Saddam among some of these Islamic militants."

It has never been clear how much influence Hussein had on the insurgency and whether he was coordinating it in any way beyond sending out audiotapes to Arab satellite channels. Some U.S. commanders have cautioned against the unrealistic expectation that the insurgency would end with Hussein's capture. President George W. Bush indicated as much in his nationally televised address yesterday, saying the violence can be expected to continue.

No satellite phones or other communications equipment were found at the farmhouse where Hussein was captured, suggesting that he may not have been actively organizing the insurgency.

"I think he was more there for moral support, and I don't think he was coordinating the entire effort," said Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, which arrested the former Iraqi dictator near his hometown of Tikrit.

U.S. military commanders have put the number of insurgents at about 5,000 - a combination of former regime loyalists and foreign fighters.

Recently captured guerrillas have told U.S. interrogators that Hussein's capture could bring into the resistance recruits who oppose the occupation but who have been reluctant to join because of their hatred of Hussein, according to intelligence reports being reviewed by U.S. Central Command officers.

An intelligence source familiar with the reports said they conclude there are "a lot of Iraqis who don't support Saddam and would be happy to see him go. But they also don't support the occupation."

These "fence straddlers," the source said, did not participate in the insurgency before Hussein was captured because they felt his Baath Party was "directing and organizing most of the resistance."

There are signs of increasing foreign presence in the insurgence. Senior Iraqi security officials have told Newsday that the suicide bomber who struck the Baghdad Hotel on Oct. 12 spoke a dialect of Arabic different from the Iraqi dialect, the first solid indication that foreign fighters were involved in some of the car bombings here.

Moments before detonating his bomb, the driver exchanged a few words with an Iraqi policeman guarding a checkpoint outside the hotel. The policeman, who was injured in the attack, told investigators the man sounded like he was from Saudi Arabia or Yemen. The bombing killed eight people outside the hotel, which housed U.S. intelligence officers and members of the Iraqi Governing Council.

Other security officials have told Newsday at least two of the four suicide bombers who struck the Red Cross headquarters and three police stations throughout Baghdad on Oct. 27 appear to have been Saudis.

With a prolonged occupation, Iraq could become even more of a magnet for Arabs and Muslims who want to fight those they see as infidels occupying a Muslim land. Iraq shares porous borders with Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Jordan. U.S. officials have complained in recent months that fighters have slipped in from Syria, and they have urged Damascus to tighten security along the border.

Islamic fighters waged a similar battle against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Tens of thousands of Muslim volunteers were based and trained in neighboring Pakistan.

U.S. military officials have singled out a top Hussein deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, as a force behind attacks on American troops. But some Iraqi officials say al-Douri has leukemia and is likely expending most of his energies on avoiding capture. Under Hussein, al-Douri was vice chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, the second most powerful post in Iraq, at least on paper. Last month, the United States offered a $10-million reward for information leading to al-Douri's capture or killing.

In October, U.S. officials said al-Douri had been involved in recruiting foreign fighters and funding attacks. That assessment is based on accounts from captured members of Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaida-linked group that has been blamed by U.S. officials for car bombings and other attacks. If al-Douri is connected to Ansar, it would be the most solid indication that former regime officials are allied with foreign Islamic fighters in Iraq.

Staff writer Knut Royce in Washington contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc

###