SADDAM HUSSEIN CAUGHT!

By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Without firing a shot, American forces captured a bearded and haggard-looking Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) in a dirt pit across a river from one of his former palaces near his hometown of Tikrit, ending one of the most intensive manhunts in history. The arrest was a huge victory for U.S. forces battling an insurgency by the ousted dictator's followers.

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 prove to Iraqis that Saddam was in custody, the U.S. military showed video of the ousted leader, bearded and disheveled, being examined by a military doctor.

"The former dictator of Iraq (news - web sites) will face the justice he denied to millions," President Bush (news - web sites) said in a midday televised address from the White House, eight months after American troops swept into Baghdad and toppled Saddam's regime. "In the history of Iraq, a dark and painful era is over. A hopeful day has arrived."
Hours before the capture was announced, a suspected suicide bomber detonated explosives in a car outside a police station west of Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding 33 more, the U.S. military said. Also Sunday, a U.S. soldier died while trying to disarm a roadside bomb south of the capital.

Washington hopes Saddam's capture will help break the organized Iraq resistance that has killed more than 190 American soldiers since Bush declared major combat over on May 1 and has set back efforts at reconstruction.
But Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, which captured Saddam, said the ousted leader did not appear to be directly organizing resistance - noting no communication devices were found in his hiding place. "I believe he was there more for moral support," Odierno said.
Saddam's capture was based on information from a member of a family "close to him," Odierno told reporters in Tikrit.
The crucial information came after prisoners from raids and intelligence tips led to increasingly precise information, as CIA (news - web sites) and military analysts gradually narrowed down their list of potential sites where Saddam was staying, a U.S. official said.

The capture took place at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at one of dozens of safehouses Saddam is thought to have: a walled compound on a farm in Adwar, a town 10 miles from Tikrit, not far from one of Saddam's former palaces, Odierno said.
"I think it's rather ironic that he was in a hole in the ground across the river from these great palaces that he built," Odierno said.

The event comes almost five months after his sons, Qusai and Odai, were killed July 22 in a four-hour gunbattle with U.S. troops in a hideout in the northern city of Mosul. There was hope at the time that the sons' deaths would dampen the Iraqi resistance to the U.S. occupation. But since then, the guerrilla campaign has mounted dramatically.

Saddam was one of the most-wanted fugitives in the world, along with Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), the leader of the al-Qaida terrorist network who has not been caught despite a manhunt since November 2001, when the Taliban regime was overthrown in Afghanistan (news - web sites).
"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him," U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer told a news conference. "The tyrant is a prisoner."

Some 600 troops and special forces were involved in the raid that netted Saddam - though not all were aware beforehand that the objective was "High Value Target No. 1," Odierno said.

Troops found the ousted leader, armed with a pistol, hiding in an underground crawl space at the walled compound, Odierno said. Rugs and dirt covered the Styrofoam lid covering the entrance to the hiding place, a few feet from a small, mud-brick hut where Saddam had been staying.
The hut consisted of two rooms, a bedroom with clothes scattered about and a "rudimentary kitchen," Odierno said. The commander said Saddam likely had been there only a short time, noting that new shirts, still unwrapped, were found in the bedroom.

Saddam was "very disoriented" as soldiers brought him out of the hole, Odierno said. A Pentagon (news - web sites) diagram showed the hiding place as a 6-foot-deep vertical tunnel, with a shorter tunnel branching out horizontally from one side. A pipe to the concrete surface at ground level provided air.

Saddam didn't fire his weapon. "There was no way he could fight back so he was just caught like a rat," Odierno said.
Two other Iraqis - described as low-level regime figures - were arrested in the raid, and soldiers found two Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol, a taxi and $750,000 in $100 bills.
A U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Saddam admitted his identity when captured.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, 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."
"He was unrepentant and defiant," said Adel Abdel-Mahdi, a senior official of a Shiite Muslim political party who, along with other Iraqi leaders, visited Saddam in captivity.
"When we told him, 'If you go to the streets now, you will see the people celebrating,'" Abdel-Mahdi said. "He answered, 'Those are mobs.' When we told him about the mass graves, he replied, 'Those are thieves.'"
The official added: "He didn't seem apologetic. He seemed defiant, trying to find excuses for the crimes in the same way he did in the past."

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, feeling his scalp and holding his mouth open with a tongue depressor. Saddam blinked and 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 at the press conference 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.
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 or what his status would be. Iraqi officials want him to stand trial before a war crimes tribunal created last week.

Amnesty International said Sunday that Saddam should be given POW status and allowed visits by the international Red Cross.
Ahmad Chalabi, a member of Iraq's Governing Council, said Saddam will be put on trial.
"Saddam will stand a public trial so that the Iraqi people will know his crimes," Chalabi told Al-Iraqiya, a Pentagon-funded TV station.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) 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.
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."
After sundown, three barrels of gasoline mounted on a pickup truck exploded in central Baghdad, causing a fierce blaze but no casualties, police officials said.
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."
Still, many Baghdadis 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 (news - Y! TV) leader, placing a $25 million bounty on his head and sending thousands of soldiers to search for him.
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, the so-called Ace of Spades, on their list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis.
Saddam's capture leaves 13 figures still at large from the list. The highest-ranking figure among them is Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, a close Saddam aide who U.S. officials have said may be directly organizing resistance.

Woohoo!
Hopefully the attacks will die down without Sadam.

two things-

1. What will be done with Saddam? either he will be put to death or he will be put in prison for the rest of his life... but which?

2. WHY THE HELL WASNT BIN LADEN FIRST???

and as a final note. things are far from over!

yeah i agree with that
there will be all the followers that will do more attacs and shit ..... uh why do these things happen in the first place, and why don't they ever stop happening ?

Because that's the way it works or doesn't!
Eldred
PS - Learn all you can while you can!

I just got done doing a current event on this and was also wondering how significant will this be on the war in Iraq. I mean if this were 1945 and we had Hitler then I would understand that that could lead to the end of the war. But, this is a newer age, and sometimes some people believe so much that even if their leader dies they don't stop or surrender.

I was thinking the exact same thing when I heard the news.

"Totally irrelevent of the war."
That's irrational nonesense Decius. It could have many effects on the war, namely US troops' morale will go up, IF the foreign fighters in Irak are directed by Bathists then Sadam's capture will lessen those attacks, internationally the capture will help create a feeling of accomplishment and add legitimacy to the invasion once Sadam is on trial.

" I am starting to feel so frightened of Bush.
Don't you find it extremely dissconcerning that they caught him so close to the next election?"
Sounds like a paranoid conspiracy theory to me.

Bullshit...bullfuckinshit DT. Of course the capture happened close to the election, it wqs absolutely planned that way. He was depending on that to keep himself in the race. He didn't want to lose this election.

"Saddam isn't an evil dictator"

perhaps not at the moment, but he sure as hell was.

it is far too convenient for Bush to have captured Saddam right now.

I would'nt be surprised if they had him captured him and built that hole for him, just so they could make a "red carpet" entrance.

Did anyone see what was supposed to be on the front cover of TIME before he was caught?

"It will have little to no effect on the war, DumbTeen. Troops in Iraq will be happy for a week and then resume dealing with bringing in dead comrades and civilians."
The rate of dead civilians and US soldiers in Irak is very small. The only major withdrawal of US troops in recent years was Vietnam. However, Vietnam killed far more troops per day and Vietnam hated the US because the communists were popular and democracy had been averted by the US. Irak has relatively few dead and Sadam was hated by most, your insinuation that Irak is a cesspool is nonesense.


"Internationally it "could" vindicate Bush, but I highly doubt it since this is just about as difficult a task as winning the war in Iraq."
It will help, certainly not redeem him but it will certainly help.

"Capturing Saddam was a no-brainer; it was going to happen."
Just like Osama was a no-brainer? Please. There were friendly neighboring countries which could have offered sanctuary.

"And if you think manipulating the events in the war for political means is "paranoia" you should really start reading a little more.... namely history. Start with Hitler."
Its paranoia here, your claim is based un purely circumstantial evidence you have NO FACTS BACKING YOU UP.

"Saddam isn't an evil dictator, he's a Muslim in the Middle East, and he will be a martyr."
Saddam was an evil dictator, a secular one similar to Stalin but on a much smaller scale. He waged war against fellow muslims in the middle east in two major wars (Kuwait, Iran). He is not liked.

"This will be a ploy for Bush to get re-elected and then after he wins again, we will welcome in a new era of terrorists that hate the US even more for arresting a "Muslim"."
Anything to back that claim up?

"And even if I can't think of an event in the past where Public Enemy #1 was caught really close to an election, simple political logic states that it will be good for Bush, and therefore questionable."
Perhaps, it is even possible Bush did do this, however to judge him upon circumstantial facts with no evidence whatsoever is hasty, rash and biased.

"In history many "evil dictators" created enemies in people that were not actually enemies to scare the general public into supporting whatever action that leader choose."
And I'll agree that Bush did use "terror" as an excuse for 2 wars. But Bush's shady political strategies aside (you'll be hard pressed to find any politician who doesn't resort to questionable tactics, Blair or Chirac for instance), you cannot judge a man so harshly and so arbitrarily, I am not pro-bush and I am against biased emotional conclusions when we cannot know with any accuracy.

Just a random thought..
Liberating Iraqis wasnt the reason why US went to war with Iraq. The reason was WMD. Saddam was an 'evil' dictator, but there are many other evil dictators/dictators around the world and US is not going to do anything about them ( Prez. Musharraf, pakistan, bein one).

Annnd i was just thinking was it right to show saddam in that condition on televison? He is the ex Prez. (dictator or not) of a country that was defeated in war, annnnd he is a POW and America itsself got quite mad when iraq paraded their soldiers on televison during the war. Double standards?

"Just a random thought..
Liberating Iraqis wasnt the reason why US went to war with Iraq."
Correct.

"Saddam was an 'evil' dictator, but there are many other evil dictators/dictators around the world and US is not going to do anything about them ( Prez. Musharraf, pakistan, bein one)."
Hopefully the US will stop the two faced policies it has had towards despots since the Cold War.

"Annnd i was just thinking was it right to show saddam in that condition on televison?"
He perhaps did deserve a little dignity, however, I don't think too many people will be complaining.