The contractors, in turn, gathered intelligence on the whereabouts of suspected militants and the location of insurgent camps, and the information was then sent to military units and intelligence officials for possible lethal action in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the officials said.
Mr. Saleh's government has made much of its role in providing the United States with the crucial intelligence on the whereabouts of the American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, enabling the C.I.A. to kill him in a drone strike at the end of September.
Rebel leaders also acknowledged that they had little intelligence on the whereabouts of Colonel Qaddafi.
He said that if the United States would provide the intelligence on the whereabouts of suspects, "we will do the dirty work".
The Kadyrovtsi were all well-connected former separatists, able to provide superb intelligence on the whereabouts of their former allies and contemporary foes.
Bombing Kabul might only create more refugees, who would most likely pour into Pakistan, potentially destabilizing a country on whom the United States is heavily dependent for intelligence on the whereabouts of the terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden.
When the C.I.A. obtains specific intelligence on the whereabouts of someone on its kill list, an American drone can carry out a strike without the permission of Yemen's government.
American and British special forces can be pivotal, providing the United States obtains good intelligence on the whereabouts of Mr. bin Laden and the Taliban leadership, which is a big if.
Although the tanks were gone by midafternoon, military officials said United States Special Operations forces were operating in and around Baghdad, seeking to develop targeting information and political intelligence on the whereabouts of key leaders.
The Bush administration has resisted temptation to retaliate immediately for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as it rallies broader international support for battling terrorism and gleans intelligence on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and his allies.
