http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/14/sprj.irq.main/index.html
U.S.: 'We got him'
Coalition captures Saddam, 'talkative,' in raid near Tikrit
Sunday, December 14, 2003 Posted: 10:10 AM EST (1510 GMT)
TIKRIT, Iraq (CNN) -- After nine months of scurrying from house to
house, Saddam Hussein appeared to be a tired, resigned man who offered
no resistance when U.S. troops extracted him from a hole in a rural
farmhouse Saturday night.
L. Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, announced
Sunday morning, "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him."
The audience responded with cheers, and Iraqis took to Baghdad streets
dancing, doling out candy and firing rifles into the air. But in
Tikrit -- Saddam's ancestral hometown and a base of loyalty to him --
the streets were quiet.
President Bush will address the nation at noon Sunday about the
capture of Saddam.
Coalition video showed the ventilated "spider hole" six to eight feet
underground where Saddam was hiding with two other men, who have not
yet been identified. The video showed Saddam with graying hair and a
long beard, undergoing a medical examination after his capture.
Several Iraqi journalists stood up and shouted "Death to Saddam" after
the video was shown.
"I'm very happy for the Iraqi people. Life is going to be safer now,"
35-year-old Yehya Hassan, a resident of Baghdad, told The Associated
Press. "Now we can start a new beginning."
And in Kirkuk, Mustapha Sheriff told the Associated Press, "We are
celebrating like it's a wedding. We are finally rid of that criminal."
(Full story)
The 66-year-old longtime Iraqi leader was number one on the
coalition's 55 most wanted list, and his evasion has been a political
sore spot for the U.S. administration. (Saddam profile)
Raid in rural town
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who leads coalition troops in Iraq, said the
former leader was uninjured, "talkative and cooperative," after 4th
Infantry Division and Special Operations forces nabbed him in
Operation Red Dawn.
"Today is a great day for the Iraqi people and the coalition," Sanchez
said.
About 600 4th Infantry Division soldiers and Special Operations forces
conducted the raid in Adwar, near a compound of ramshackle buildings
about 9 miles outside Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, Saturday night.
The raid was based on intelligence that Saddam was at a particular
location in the area, the officials said. Forces arrived at the
location within three hours of receiving a tip from an Iraqi, and
Saddam had no time to move to another location.
The U.S. forces moved easily into the area where there were no
security forces to protect the ousted leader.
Saddam, thin, dirty and hiding in the cellar of mud hut, willingly
identified himself to interpreters. He was wearing a white T-shirt,
dark trousers and a long-sleeved dark shirt.
Video following that raid -- exclusively shot by CNN's Alphonso Van
Marsh -- showed a group of U.S.-led coalition soldiers patting each
other on the back -- apparently in celebration -- and taking group
photos in front of a military vehicle.
Sanchez said Operation Red Dawn targeted two locations and troops
began a "cordon and search" operation when they failed to find Saddam
initially. The ventilated "spider hole," its entrance camouflaged with
bricks and dirt was near one of the locations.
"He was a tired man," the general said. "Also, I think, a man resigned
to his fate."
Sanchez said the hole where forces found Saddam was wide enough for a
man to lie down in, with a fan and a air hole.
Preparing for retaliation
Adnan Pachaci, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, said Saddam
would be tried for his crimes against Iraqis, and would be tried by
Iraqis.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez says Saddam was uninjured, "talkative and
cooperative," after 4th Infantry Division and Special Operations
forces nabbed him. "The terrorist, Saddam Hussein, the biggest
terrorist on earth, has been arrested," said Hamid Ali al-Kifaey. "He
will be tried before a special court in Iraq soon. With his arrest the
Iraqi people will begin a new life, and hopefully they will have a
democratic and pluralistic system and no more mass graves, and no more
Saddam Hussein and no more terrorism."
A senior U.S. official told CNN's Dana Bash in Washington that Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told President Bush on Saturday afternoon
(EST) of the capture.
The Iraq war began on March 19 when U.S. forces launched a
"decapitation attack" aimed at the Iraqi president and other top
members of the country's leadership.
Hours after the capture -- but before it was announced -- a car bomb
exploded outside an Iraqi police station in Khaldiyah, killing at
least 10 Iraqis and wounding 20 others, most of them policemen, U.S.
officials said. Iraqi officials reported a higher casualty toll. (Full
story)
"Do I expect an increase in retaliation?" as a result of Saddam's
capture, Sanchez asked. "I don't know. I couldn't answer that, but I
will tell you we are prepared, and we will defeat those elements if
they choose to attack us at any point in time."
CNN Senior Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and CNN
Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf contributed to this report.