Having figured out who their captive might be, US troops wanted to get him out of there as fast as possible. "He was in a hole in the ground across from these great palaces that he had built," said Gen. Across the river stood some of the ornate homes Hussein had constructed for himself, friends, and relatives in an area that had always been a stronghold of Baathist Party support. Ray Odierno, 4th infantry division commander, on Sunday. "He was a little disoriented, obviously, as he came up," said Maj. They pulled it up, and there was HVT 1, Saddam Hussein himself, bearded and tired and looking more likely to ask for a quarter than order a strike of chemical weapons. There was not a trapdoor, but a plug, a light styrofoam plank. There was also the suspicious debris, and a rug just outside the structure, which US troops removed. A box contained $750,000 in US $100 bills. Inside was a bedroom strewn with clothes that were newish, if not new.
Undoubtedly hardened insurgents, aware of who was inside the compound, these men saw what was coming - and ran. local time on Saturday, two armed guards saw them. There were two buildings there: a metal lean-to and a farmhouse, a hut really, just a two-room adobe structure not even nice enough to be described as "humble."Īs they approached the compound, at about 8:30 p.m. After surveillance they become suspicious of a small walled compound between a field and a sheep pen. They established a perimeter first, cordoning off an area of about 1.2 miles square in Ad Dawr, near Hussein's birthplace of Tikrit in northern Iraq. But the operation was clearly a search for an HVT, in military parlance, "High Value Target." "It marks the end of the road for him and for all who bullied and killed in his name."įor the troops that took part in the capture - a total of some 600, from the US 4th Infantry Division, and Special Forces - the raid was not exactly business as usual.
#Saddam hussein capture 2003 free#
"The capture of this man was crucial to the rise of a free Iraq," said Presdient Bush Sunday. Perhaps only now can Iraqis begin to truly shed the dead weight of a regime which shaped their lives so much in its 24 years of power.
#Saddam hussein capture 2003 trial#
The result will be a trial of a man personally responsible for an intricate infrastructure of oppression. The US even fluttered $25 million in reward money at those who might be able to reveal the tyrant's whereabouts.
It was probably the most intensive manhunt in history, with thousands of troops, secret units, and intensive pressure from Washington. The chamber was quite small, considering that it held not just a man but in some ways decades of Iraqi national history.Įight months after a giant statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled to the ground in Baghdad in a gesture of celebration, the US finally has Mr. They discovered a hole, which led to a modest hiding chamber, complete with ventilation fan. So US troops taking part in the early evening "Red Dawn" sweep shoveled the debris away. Bricks and dirt were spread about in a studied way, as if someone were trying to conceal something beneath.
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