December 14, 2003

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  U.S. forces capture Saddam in Iraq

  
  

  ‘The tyrant is a prisoner,’ top administrator proclaims

  
  
  
  
  
  

  MSNBC TV Saddam Hussein after his capture in a photograph shown Sunday at a news conference in Baghdad.

  FREE VIDEO • 'We got him' Dec. 14 — L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, announces the capture of Saddam. MSNBC

  
  

  
  

  BREAKING NEWS

  
  

  NBC News and news services

  
  

  Updated: 12:19 p.m. ET Dec. 14, 2003

  
  

  
  

  BAGHDAD, Iraq - Eight months after the fall of his government, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces near his hometown, Tikrit, where he was hiding in a farmhouse cellar, U.S. officials said Sunday.

  
  

  The arrest, which was carried out without a single shot being fired, was a major victory for the coalition, which has been battling an insurgency for months, and for President Bush, who has fended off criticism for failing to find him for almost as long.

  
  

  Saddam had evaded capture and assassination attempts since the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq on March 20. Despite a $25 million bounty on his head, Saddam remained a political thorn in Bush's side and an inspiration to anti-U.S. insurgents even as the coalition sent out thousands of soldiers to search for him from its new headquarters in the sprawling, gold-edged Republican Palace compound in Baghdad.

  
  

  Sunday, Bush was able to make the proclamation that the White House had awaited for months: “Yesterday, December 13th, at around 8:30 p.m. Baghdad time, United States military forces captured Saddam Hussein alive.”

  
  

  Addressing the nation from the White House, Bush promised that Saddam "will face the justice he denied to millions."

  
  

  The Iraqi administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, said Saddam was captured in the town of Dour, 10 miles south of Tikrit, ending one of the most intense manhunts in history.

  
  

  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."

  
  

  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!"

  
  

  Video of a tired Saddam
  At the news conference announcing his capture, U.S. forces aired a video showing a bearded Saddam being examined by a doctor who held his mouth open with a tongue depressor, apparently to get a DNA sample. Then they showed a photograph of Saddam after he was shaved.

  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  

  FREE VIDEO • In custody Dec. 14 — The U.S. military released a video of Saddam being examined and the hole where he was found. MSNBC

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

  
  

  Saddam was being held at an undisclosed location, Sanchez said.

  
  

  "This success brings closure to the Iraqi people," he 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."

  
  

  Sanchez said U.S. authorities had yet to determine whether to turn Saddam over to a new Iraqi tribunal for trial. But Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, said later Sunday that he would be handed over to the Iraqi people for trial in the very near future.

  
  

  British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed the capture. "This is very good news for the people of Iraq. It removes the shadow that has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam regime," he said in a statement released by his office.

  
  

  "This fear is now removed," the statement continued. "It also gives an opportunity for Saddam to be tried in Iraqi courts for his crimes against the Iraqi people. We should try now to unite the whole of Iraq in rebuilding the country and offering it a new future."

  
  

  Blair faced substantial domestic opposition for his decision to commit British troops to the Iraq war and, like Bush, is sure to get a major political boost from the reported capture.

  
  

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

  
  

  A Pentagon diagram showed the hiding place as a 6-foot-deep vertical "spider hole," with a shorter tunnel branching out horizontally from one side. A pipe to the concrete surface at ground level provided air. The entrance to the hideout was under the floor of a small, walled compound with a room in one corner and a lean-to attached to the room.

  
  

  The hid-out was across a river from one of Saddam’s palaces, roughly in the middle of the compound.

  
  

  A U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Saddam admitted his identity when captured. Sanchez, meanwhile, said that two men affiliated with Saddam were also detained and that soldiers confiscated two Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol, a taxi and $750,000 in $100 U.S. bills.

  
  

  The operation was based on information from a member of a family “close to him,” Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of 4th Infantry Division, said in Tikrit. “Finally we got the ultimate information from one of these individuals.”

  
  

  Celebrations in Baghdad
  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 Yehya Hassan, 35, of Baghdad. "Now we can start a new beginning."

  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  Abdelhak Senna / AFP - Getty Images Iraqis in the southern city of Nasiriyah sprayed soft drinks Sunday to celebrate the capture Saddam.

  Earlier in the day, rumors of the capture sent people streaming into the streets of Kirkuk, a northern 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."

  
  

  In Tikrit, U.S. soldiers lit up cigars.

  
  

  "The intimidation and fear this man generated for over 30 years are now gone," Odierno said.

  
  

  Some skepticism
  Still, many residents of Baghdad 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."

  
  

  From hiding, U.S. commanders have said Saddam played some role in the anti-U.S. resistance that has killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians in Iraq.

  
  

  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.

  
  

  NBC News correspondents, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.

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