Saddam Hussein Captured

[XxSuRgEoxX]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Dec. 14) -- American forces captured a bearded Saddam Hussein as he hid in a dirt hole under a farmhouse near his hometown of Tikrit, ending one of the most intensive manhunts in history. The arrest, eight months after the fall of Baghdad, was carried out without a shot fired and was a huge victory for U.S. forces.

''Ladies and gentlemen, we got him,'' U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer told a news conference Sunday. ''The tyrant is a prisoner.''

Saddam was captured Saturday at 8:30 p.m. in a specially prepared ''spider hole'' in a house in Adwar, a town 10 miles from Tikrit, said Lt Col. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq. The hole was six to eight feet deep, with enough space to lie down, camouflaged with bricks and dirt and supplied with an air vent to allow long periods inside.

A U.S. defense official said Saddam admitted his identity when captured.

Sanchez, who saw Saddam overnight, said the deposed leader ''has been cooperative and is talkative.'' He described Saddam as ''a tired man, a man resigned to his fate.''

In the capital, radio stations played celebratory music, residents fired small arms in the air in celebration and passengers on buses and trucks shouted, ''They got Saddam! They got Saddam!''

Eager to give Iraqis evidence that the elusive former dictator had indeed been captured, Sanchez played a video at the news conference showing the 66-year-old Saddam in custody. Saddam, with a thick, graying beard and bushy, disheveled hair, was seen as doctor examined him, holding his mouth open with a tongue depressor, apparently to get a DNA sample. Saddam touched his beard during the exam. Then the video showed a picture of Saddam after he was shaved, juxtaposed for comparison with an old photo of the Iraqi leader while in power.

Iraqi journalists in the audience stood, pointed and shouted ''Death to Saddam!'' and ''Down with Saddam!''

Though the raid occurred Saturday afternoon American time, U.S. officials went to great length to keep it quiet until medical tests and DNA testing confirmed Saddam's identity.

Washington hopes Saddam's capture will help break the organized Iraq resistance that has killed more than 190 American soldiers since President Bush declared major combat over on May 1 and has set back efforts at reconstruction. U.S. commanders have said that while in hiding Saddam played some role in the guerrilla campaign blamed on his followers.

In the latest attack, a suspected suicide bomber detonated explosives in a car outside a police station Sunday morning west of Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding 33 more, the U.S. military said.

Saddam was being held at an undisclosed location, and U.S. authorities have not yet determined whether to hand him over to the Iraqis for trial, Sanchez said. Iraqi officials want him to stand trial before a war crimes tribunal created last week.

''This success brings closure to the Iraqi people,'' Sanchez said.

''Saddam Hussein will never return to a position of power from which he can punish, terrorize, intimidate and exploit the Iraqi people as the did for more than 35 years.''

Ahmad Chalabi, a member of Iraq's Governing Council, said Sunday that Saddam will be put on trial.

''Saddam will stand a public trial so that the Iraqi people will know his crimes,'' said Chalabi told Al-Iraqiya, a Pentagon-funded TV station.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the capture, saying the deposed leader ''has gone from power, he won't be coming back.''

''Where his rule meant terror and division and brutality, let his capture bring about unity, reconciliation and peace between all the people of Iraq,'' Blair said in brief comments at his 10 Downing St. office.

In Tikrit, U.S. soldiers lit up cigars after hearing the news of Saddam's capture.

Some 600 troops from the 4th Infantry Division along with Special Forces captured Saddam, the U.S. military said. There were no shots fired or injuries in the raid, called ''Operation Red Dawn,'' Sanchez said.

Two men ''affiliated with Saddam Hussein'' were detained with him, and soldiers confiscated two Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol, a taxi and $750,000 in $100 bills, Sanchez said. The two men were ''fairly insignificant'' regime figures, a U.S. defense official said.

Celebratory gunfire erupted in the capital, and shop owners closed their doors, fearful that the shooting would make the streets unsafe.

''I'm very happy for the Iraqi people. Life is going to be safer now,'' said 35-year-old Yehya Hassan, a resident of Baghdad. ''Now we can start a new beginning.''

Earlier in the day, rumors of the capture sent people streaming into the streets of Kirkuk, a northern Iraqi city, firing guns in the air in celebration.

''We are celebrating like it's a wedding,'' said Kirkuk resident Mustapha Sheriff. ''We are finally rid of that criminal.''

''This is the joy of a lifetime,'' said Ali Al-Bashiri, another resident. ''I am speaking on behalf of all the people that suffered under his rule.''

Despite the celebration throughout Baghdad, many residents were skeptical.

''I heard the news, but I'll believe it when I see it,'' said Mohaned al-Hasaji, 33. ''They need to show us that they really have him.''

Ayet Bassem, 24, walked out of a shop with her 6-year-old son.
''Things will be better for my son,'' she said. ''Everyone says everything will be better when Saddam is caught. My son now has a future.''

After invading Iraq on March 20 and setting up their headquarters in Saddam's sprawling Republican Palace compound in Baghdad, U.S. troops launched a massive manhunt for the fugitive leader, placing a $25 million bounty on his head and sending thousands of soldiers to search for him.

Saddam was one of the most-wanted fugitives in the world, along with Osama bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network who hasn't been caught despite a manhunt since November 2001, when the Taliban regime was overthrown in Afghanistan.

Saddam proved elusive during the war, when at least two dramatic military strikes came up empty in their efforts to assassinate him. Since then, he has appeared in both video and audio tapes. U.S. officials named him No. 1 on their list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis, the lead card in a special deck of most-wanted cards.

Saddam's sons Qusai and Odai - each with a $15 million bounty on their heads - were killed July 22 in a four-hour gunbattle with U.S. troops in a hideout in the northern city of Mosul. The bounties were paid out to the man who owned the house where they were killed, residents said.

Adnan Pachachi, member of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council, said Saddam's capture will bring stability to Iraq.

''The state of fear, intelligence and oppression is gone forever,'' Pachachi said. ''The Iraqi people are very happy and we look forward to a future of national reconciliation between Iraqis in order to build the new and free Iraq, an Iraq of equality.''


12/14/03 08:53 ET

[Jack]

[Luke]

[Disneykid]

Although this won't end the problems in the Middle East for good, it'll certainly decrease them greatly, which makes this GREAT news.

Sadaam definitely looks like he's run the mill...

[2099net]

Hold on, are you sure that's not Nick Nolte?

[Mermaid Kelly]

This is great news!

[kcnmttcnn]

He's finally captured

[karlsen]

Hold on, are you sure that's not Nick Nolte?

hehe

I thought it was more fun that the soldiers did not recognice him, and he had to tell them who he was before they understood.

I have never been in Iraq so I can not be sure on this but it stikes me with a big wonder that the soldiers does not recognice him at all when they find him in a hole in the ground with $750.000 in $100 bills.

How often do they find people like that?

[buffalobill]

Hold on, are you sure that's not Nick Nolte?

Or Glen Campbell?

[indianajdp]

Although this won't end the problems in the Middle East for good, it'll certainly decrease them greatly, which makes this GREAT news.

Doubt it.
We'll probably see now just how involved Al qaeda is in the "resistance".

But great news, nonetheless.

[2099net]

Although this won't end the problems in the Middle East for good, it'll certainly decrease them greatly, which makes this GREAT news.

Doubt it.
We'll probably see now just how involved Al queada is in the "resistance".

But great news, nonetheless.

Well, to get a bit serious after my earlier joke, signs point to most of the resistance in Iraq being from Saddam supporters. Lots of people in high office benefited from Saddam's reign and have a double interest in the reign being reinstated. The main reason being fear for their own lives rather than financial gain (although this does play a role as well). Basically, if you think you're going to be either tried and executed by the new courts or lynched by an angry mob, you don't really have much to loose in opposing the Coalition forces.

This people are unlikely to be suicide bombers though, so yes, some of the resistance are Al Queada or similar, but the actual numbers look to be (relatively) small (or so the British media report). I don't doubt that invading Iraq has helped to create new terrorist recruits though.

But Saddam himself was not the cause of the problems in the Middle East. He was nothing more than a symptom that had grown like cancer (although some of this growth was not only with the West's encouragement, but also with their funding! - Never forget that).

The Middle East is like Europe was one or two hundred years ago. Europe has an incredibly bloody history. So did Africa and Asia. I guess it happens when you have a lot of countries in close proximity. America didn't really have anyone nearby to feud with. And let's face it, nobody can be angry with Canadians for long. They're just so adorable, eh?

The fact that the West has repeatedly gone into the Middle East and redrawn the maps a few times over the past 100 years or so is what doesn't help, and its not only resparked old internal resentments, but it's also created some resentment towards the West. But as always, there's lots of other problems too.

Did I support the war? Yes - but not for the reasons initially stated (I never believed he was a threat to the Western world). But "we" basically created him - or at least built him up, so it was down to us to correct "our" mistake. I just wish "we" were more open about it. Is it a good thing Saddam is now captured? It would be very hard to say "no", no matter how well you could argue the point (and there are some people who would argue and remember they have a right to their view, even if we disagree).

But other good things or ideas in the past have lead to unforseen problems in the future. World War I was basically started by old resentments after earlier wars, and World War II was indirectly started because of Germany's poor state of health after loosing WWI (it certainly made it easier for Hitler to rise to power). I'm sure even having the West fund and train Osama Bin Laden to fight the Russians in Afganistan or arming Saddam Hussain with weapons to fight Iran in the 80's seem like (reasonably) good ideas at the time, the lesser of two evils. Nobody can predict what affect the new Iraq will have on the world, never mind the Middle East, in five, ten or twenty years time. It already appears that the "new" Iraq is a magnet for terrorists, which by all accounts were not there before.

Can I just state I've gone to great pains to use the generic term "The West" when writing this post. It is not meant to be a critique of America - Britain and other Western countries are just as guilty. For example, Britain sold Hussain weapons and set soldiers over to train his troops. And Britain (and France? Not sure about that) was responsible for the actual creation of Iraq as a country in 1918, which certainly didn't help matters.

[ThiagoPE]

Finnally!

But in my opinion, The president bush will only become satisfied when saddam die.

Thiago

[poco]

I hope this means that the war will be over soon and that our troops come home.

[catNC]

Finnally!

But in my opinion, The president bush will only become satisfied when saddam die.

Thiago

i dont' think bush cares what happens as long as it is the iraqi people who deal out saddam's justice

[Mermaid Kelly]

Actually, I think Bin Laden would have been a better "catch"

[indianajdp]

I hope this means that the war will be over soon and that our troops come home.

Hey, I want our troops home just as soon as the next person.
But it's important that we maintain a presence there until the job is complete. The "job" being the elimination of resistance efforts and the building of and maintenance of a stable governing body.

If we leave the region too soon then we run the risk of a Taliban-esque regime taking over. You gotta remember how these people (the Iraqis) have been treated the last 30+ years. At this time it would be very easy for another tyrannical regime to move in and take control through fear if we left too soon. Think of the baby and the balloon analogy. Saddam's regime was the "pop"; next time a balloon is in their face they are gonna flinch and cower away.

We absolutely owe it to the Iraqi people to stay the course and see things though to the end. Anything less and we will have failed them just as we did in 1991.

[Captain Hook]

I only want to say that this is wonderful news that Suddam is caught, and hopefully we can get Osama.

Hook

[thomashton]

I hope this means that the war will be over soon and that our troops come home.

Hey, I want our troops home just as soon as the next person.
But it's important that we maintain a presence there until the job is complete. The "job" being the elimination of resistance efforts and the building of and maintenance of a stable governing body.

If we leave the region too soon then we run the risk of a Taliban-esque regime taking over. You gotta remember how these people (the Iraqis) have been treated the last 30+ years. At this time it would be very easy for another tyrannical regime to move in and take control through fear if we left too soon. Think of the baby and the balloon analogy. Saddam's regime was the "pop"; next time a balloon is in their face they are gonna flinch and cower away.

We absolutely owe it to the Iraqi people to stay the course and see things though to the end. Anything less and we will have failed them just as we did in 1991.

I agree with you both and probably have more at stake in it than anyone here on the boards. I am a member of the New Mexico Army National Guard. I am simply a cook in the Army and a Biologist the other 29 days of the month. Friday night I got a call that I was being deployed overseas as a result of this action. Of course I don't want to go. No one in the military REALLY wants to go. I however will go (even though I am a duel citizen of Canada and can cowardly flee there). Of course I want to see it end. I have a wife, a job, a two year old son and one semester left to finish my Masters Degree. I have a lot to keep me home in Albuquerque, but I want there to be a home to come home to when I do return in a year or so and I want you to have homes too. I'll leave all I have if it helps keep our country from any more terrorist attacks. That especially means Disneyland Now lets go get Osama.

[Luke]

Sorry to hear about that, Thomas. At least it's good that it sounds like you're trying to make the best of it. Still sounds pretty rough, though, I'm sorry.

[poco]

Thomas,

my prayers are with you. I wish you didn't have to go.