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  • Saddam Hussein Captured

    BAGHDAD, Iraq — Without a single shot being fired, U.S. military forces captured former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as he hid in the bottom of a hole in a home near Tikrit, officials announced at a Baghdad press conference.



    "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him," L. Paul Bremer (search), the U.S. administrator in Iraq, announced.

    Officials showed a videotape of the former Iraqi dictator and most-wanted figure by the U.S.-led coalition as he was being inspected following his capture. He had a long black-and-grey beard and unkempt hair.

    About 600 U.S. troops took part in Operation Red Dawn, said Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez (search), the top American general in Iraq. Two other Iraqis were captured along with Saddam, who was found with $750,000 in U.S. currency, Sanchez said.

    Sanchez said he had no idea how long Saddam had been at the Tikrit location and could not say if anyone had stepped forward to claim the multi-million dollar reward for his capture.

    "Today is a great day for Iraq and the Iraqi people," Sanchez said.

    Saddam is talkative and is being cooperative, Sanchez said. He is being held at an undisclosed location.

    A delegation of the Iraqi Governing Council hopes to visit Saddam in captivity later Sunday, a spokesman for the council said.

    "With the arrest of Saddam, the source financing terrorists has been destroyed and terrorist attacks will come to an end. Now we can establish a durable stability and security in Iraq," said council member Jalal Talabani.

    In Baghdad, residents fired small arms in the air in celebration, and gunfire echoed in neighborhoods across the city. 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."

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,105706,00.html

  • #2


    What was he hiding as a bum?



    And Yes, it's really him.

    Comment


    • #3
      Wow, I really wasn't expecting this when I woke up.

      Good job by our boys :clap:
      "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

      Comment


      • #4
        Saddam Captured!!!

        A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

        Comment


        • #5
          Saddam Hussein arrested in Iraq

          Ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is in custody following his dramatic capture by US forces in Iraq.

          "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him," US administrator Paul Bremer told journalists in Baghdad, to loud cheers from Iraqis in the audience.

          The former leader was found hiding in a cellar at a farmhouse about 15km (10 miles) south of his hometown Tikrit.

          http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3317429.stm
          A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

          Comment


          • #6
            YES!!!!!

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by ironman420
              Wow, I really wasn't expecting this when I woke up.

              Good job by our boys :clap:
              Wonder if the 4th ID doing the search expected that either.

              Good job@ them. :clap:

              Comment


              • #8
                Good job 4th ID!!!

                All those left wing nuts will finally shut up now, this capture was only enevitable and quite a surprize to wake up to indeed!
                Facts to a liberal is like Kryptonite to Superman.

                -- Larry Elder

                Comment


                • #9
                  NEWS RELEASE
                  HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND

                  December 14, 2003
                  Release Number: 03-12-32


                  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


                  SADDAM HUSSEIN CAPTURED, IN COALITION CUSTODY

                  Forces from the 4th Infantry Division, coalition forces and special operations forces captured former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, at approximately 8 p.m. local time yesterday in a remote farm house near Tikrit, Iraq.

                  Operation “Red Dawn” was launched after gaining actionable intelligence identifying two likely locations near the town of Ad Dwar. The First Brigade Combat team of the 4th ID was assigned the mission to capture or kill Saddam Hussein.

                  The Forces involved in the operation consisted of approximately 600 soldiers including cavalry, artillery, aviation, engineer and special operations forces. The forces cleared the two objectives but initially did not find the target. An additional suspicious site was identified and searched. The area was a small, walled, mud hut compound with a metal lean-to structure. Within the structure a “spider hole” entrance, camouflaged with bricks and dirt was located. The hole was about 6-8 feet deep with space allowing an individual to lie down. Saddam Hussein was found hiding at the bottom of the hole. He was captured without resistance and is in the control of coalition forces at an undisclosed location

                  Items confiscated during the raid include two AK-47 rifles, a pistol, $750,000.00 U.S. dollars and one white/orange taxi. Two other individuals who have not been identified were also detained.

                  No one was injured in the operation. Saddam appears in good health and is undergoing further evaluation.

                  http://www.centcom.mil/CENTCOMNews/n...e=20031232.txt
                  "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

                  Comment


                  • #10

                    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Mission Accomplished.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        [/B]
                        what a stupid hiding place, no exit options at all:LOL

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          US interrogators grill Saddam

                          US interrogators grill Saddam

                          Deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has reportedly yielded no direct intelligence information since his capture near his home town Tikrit.

                          He has "not been co-operative in terms of talking", a senior US official said, though the capture appears to have led to a number of further arrests.

                          The US was also cautious about his eventual fate as calls came for him to go on trial either in Iraq or abroad.

                          Two car bombs exploded in the Baghdad area on Monday, killing eight people.

                          US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Saddam Hussein was being accorded the privileges of a prisoner-of-war under the Geneva Convention although America was "not defining him as such".

                          Mr Rumsfeld said Saddam Hussein's fate would be decided at a senior level, warning that any trial would have to be "acceptable and appropriate and would ensure that he would be brought to justice".

                          Iraq's new US-backed leaders have been demanding a trial under an Iraqi tribunal formed last week.

                          The US military has said it has identified a militant cell in Baghdad and made a number of arrests of anti-coalition figures in the city on the basis of information "gleaned" from Saddam Hussein's capture.

                          A "couple of key individuals" had been seized in Baghdad since Saturday including a high-ranking former figure from the Saddam government who in turn "gave up a few others", said spokesman Brigadier General Mark Hertling.

                          General Hertling told AP news agency that the arrests had been prompted by the transcript of Saddam Hussein's initial interrogation as well as a briefcase of documents found in his hideout.

                          The spokesman added that he expected Saddam Hussein to produce "some significant intelligence over the next couple of days" - on the existence of weapons of mass destruction, among other things.

                          US President George W Bush said the capture had brought to an end a "dark and painful" era for the Iraqi people but he warned it did not mean the end of violence in Iraq.

                          'I am the president of Iraq'

                          The whereabouts of the former president is unclear with reports that he has been moved to a US facility in Qatar denied by the Iraqi authorities.

                          Colonel James Hickey, who led the raid on Saddam Hussein's hideout on Saturday, has revealed that soldiers were seconds away from throwing a hand grenade into the pit where he was hiding before he surrendered.

                          The operation was launched, Colonel Hickey said, on the basis of information from an individual arrested in Baghdad on Friday, then brought to Tikrit for interrogation on Saturday morning.

                          It is not known if the Americans intend to pay a $25m reward offered for information about him.

                          The troops who came across Saddam Hussein on Saturday were offered "negotiations", spokesman Major Brian Reed said on Monday.

                          "I am Saddam Hussein, I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate," the former leader was quoted as saying in English from his pit.

                          The soldiers, according to Major Reed, replied with the words "President Bush sends his regards".

                          Calls for trial

                          Iran has added its voice to calls for Saddam Hussein to be tried for crimes, saying he should be tried in an international court over the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.



                          The US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) has called for him to be tried inside Iraq by Iraqi judges "under the supervision of international experts".

                          A special tribunal was set up in Iraq last week to try leading members of the former government and Charles Heathley, spokesman for the US-led administration in Iraq, said on Monday he expected the new tribunal would charge Saddam Hussein "in due course" and ask the coalition for him to be handed over.

                          However, some human rights groups say an international tribunal - without the power to award the death penalty - would be preferable to a trial in Iraq.


                          World leaders have welcomed the capture, including some who opposed the war to oust Saddam Hussein such as President Jacques Chirac of France who said it would strongly contribute to democracy and stability in Iraq.

                          There was also condemnation of his treatment in some parts of the Arab world.

                          Abdel Azziz Rantissi, a leader of the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas, accused the US of an "ugly and despicable... insult to all Arabs and an insult to Muslims".

                          http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3319993.stm
                          "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Ha...he wants to negotiate. :LOL :LOL :LOL

                            How about this Saddam. If you tell us everything you now right now, we'll let you live to face the justice that is coming to you.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Saddam pressed about insurgency

                              Saddam pressed about insurgency

                              (CNN) -- Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein remained defiant Monday in the face of interrogations by military and intelligence officers about the insurgency against coalition forces, U.S. officials in Washington said.

                              During questioning a day earlier, one senior official said simply that 66-year-old Saddam was a "wiseass." (Saddam profile)

                              Saddam, who is being held at an undisclosed location in Iraq, also denied having ties to terrorists or knowledge of weapons of mass destruction, according to the officials.

                              While officials say they do not expect Saddam to cooperate on questions about his weapons programs, the officials also hope more Iraqi scientists will come forward with details now that he is in custody.

                              Saddam reportedly asserted to interrogators that the United States invented the presence of WMD to justify the invasion of his country, Time magazine correspondent Brian Bennett told CNN, quoting a U.S. official in Iraq who had seen an initial interrogation report.

                              While Saddam was recalcitrant, U.S. forces have already made at least one arrest based on some of the documents found with him, officials said.

                              Officials said some of the documents detailed a meeting of resistance cell leaders -- and included their names.

                              President Bush expressed skepticism about what details Saddam might provide.

                              "He's a deceiver, he's a liar, he's a torturer, he's a murderer. I can't imagine why he would change his attitude," Bush told reporters in Washington. "I'd be very cautious about relying upon his word in any way, shape or form."

                              That assessment was echoed by members of the Iraq Governing Council who were allowed to visit the deposed leader to help identify him.

                              Governing Council member Adnan Pachachi said Saddam was "not apologetic," and instead was "sarcastic and making a mockery of the Iraqi people."

                              Tracing the cash
                              Authorities are checking the cash found in Saddam's possession to determine whether it is part of the $1 billion looted from Iraq's Central Bank shortly before his government fell, a U.S. Treasury official in Washington said Monday.

                              Officials suspect the $750,000 in U.S. currency may prove to be from the truckloads of funds Saddam allegedly authorized his inner circle to remove as U.S. troops closed in on Baghdad.

                              "That is our prime hypothesis," said Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Juan Zarate in Washington. "It appears to be in U.S. one hundred dollar bills similar to how it was packaged at the Central Bank," he said.

                              Zarate said the serial numbers are being cross-checked against Iraqi government bank documents to ensure the money is not counterfeit.

                              "The capture of the money is important. It's $750,000 that can't be used for bounty," Zarate said.

                              Zarate said about $100 million of the looted Iraq money is still unaccounted for. He said approximately $900 million has been recovered to date.

                              http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/...ain/index.html
                              "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

                              Comment

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