defense official said.Ĭelebratory gunfire erupted in the capital, and shop owners closed their doors, fearful that the shooting would make the streets unsafe. The two men were ''fairly insignificant'' regime figures, a U.S. 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. There were no shots fired or injuries in the raid, called ''Operation Red Dawn,'' Sanchez said. Some 600 troops from the 4th Infantry Division along with Special Forces captured Saddam, the U.S. soldiers lit up cigars after hearing the news of Saddam's capture. ''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.
SADDAM HUSSEIN CAPTURE PWNED 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.īritish Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the capture, saying the deposed leader ''has gone from power, he won't be coming back.'' ''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.''Īhmad Chalabi, a member of Iraq's Governing Council, said Sunday that Saddam will be put on trial. ''This success brings closure to the Iraqi people,'' Sanchez said. Iraqi officials want him to stand trial before a war crimes tribunal created last week. authorities have not yet determined whether to hand him over to the Iraqis for trial, Sanchez said. Saddam was being held at an undisclosed location, and U.S. 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. commanders have said that while in hiding Saddam played some role in the guerrilla campaign blamed on his followers. 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. officials went to great length to keep it quiet until medical tests and DNA testing confirmed Saddam's identity. Though the raid occurred Saturday afternoon American time, U.S.
Iraqi journalists in the audience stood, pointed and shouted ''Death to Saddam!'' and ''Down with Saddam!'' 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. Saddam touched his beard during the exam. 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. 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!''Įager 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. 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.'' defense official said Saddam admitted his identity when captured. 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.Ī U.S. in a specially prepared ''spider hole'' in a house in Adwar, a town 10 miles from Tikrit, said Lt Col. Saddam was captured Saturday at 8:30 p.m. Paul Bremer told a news conference Sunday. ''Ladies and gentlemen, we got him,'' U.S.
The arrest, eight months after the fall of Baghdad, was carried out without a shot fired and was a huge victory for U.S. 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.
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