Message-ID: <3FDC88AB.9060101@gideonrasmussen.com>
From: full-disclosure at gideonrasmussen.com (Gideon Rasmussen, CISSP, CFSO, CFSA, SCSA)
Subject: Saddam Hussein Captured

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/14/sprj.irq.main/index.html

U.S.: 'We got him'
Coalition captures Saddam, 'talkative,' in raid near Tikrit
Sunday, December 14, 2003 Posted: 10:10 AM EST (1510 GMT)

TIKRIT, Iraq (CNN) -- After nine months of scurrying from house to 
house, Saddam Hussein appeared to be a tired, resigned man who offered 
no resistance when U.S. troops extracted him from a hole in a rural 
farmhouse Saturday night.

L. Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, announced 
Sunday morning, "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him."

The audience responded with cheers, and Iraqis took to Baghdad streets 
dancing, doling out candy and firing rifles into the air. But in Tikrit 
-- Saddam's ancestral hometown and a base of loyalty to him -- the 
streets were quiet.

President Bush will address the nation at noon Sunday about the capture 
of Saddam.

Coalition video showed the ventilated "spider hole" six to eight feet 
underground where Saddam was hiding with two other men, who have not yet 
been identified. The video showed Saddam with graying hair and a long 
beard, undergoing a medical examination after his capture.

Several Iraqi journalists stood up and shouted "Death to Saddam" after 
the video was shown.

"I'm very happy for the Iraqi people. Life is going to be safer now," 
35-year-old Yehya Hassan, a resident of Baghdad, told The Associated 
Press. "Now we can start a new beginning."

And in Kirkuk, Mustapha Sheriff told the Associated Press, "We are 
celebrating like it's a wedding. We are finally rid of that criminal." 
(Full story)

The 66-year-old longtime Iraqi leader was number one on the coalition's 
55 most wanted list, and his evasion has been a political sore spot for 
the U.S. administration. (Saddam profile)

Raid in rural town
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who leads coalition troops in Iraq, said the 
former leader was uninjured, "talkative and cooperative," after 4th 
Infantry Division and Special Operations forces nabbed him in Operation 
Red Dawn.

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

About 600 4th Infantry Division soldiers and Special Operations forces 
conducted the raid in Adwar, near a compound of ramshackle buildings 
about 9 miles outside Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, Saturday night.

The raid was based on intelligence that Saddam was at a particular 
location in the area, the officials said. Forces arrived at the location 
within three hours of receiving a tip from an Iraqi, and Saddam had no 
time to move to another location.

The U.S. forces moved easily into the area where there were no security 
forces to protect the ousted leader.

Saddam, thin, dirty and hiding in the cellar of mud hut, willingly 
identified himself to interpreters. He was wearing a white T-shirt, dark 
trousers and a long-sleeved dark shirt.

Video following that raid -- exclusively shot by CNN's Alphonso Van 
Marsh -- showed a group of U.S.-led coalition soldiers patting each 
other on the back -- apparently in celebration -- and taking group 
photos in front of a military vehicle.

Sanchez said Operation Red Dawn targeted two locations and troops began 
a "cordon and search" operation when they failed to find Saddam 
initially. The ventilated "spider hole," its entrance camouflaged with 
bricks and dirt was near one of the locations.

"He was a tired man," the general said. "Also, I think, a man resigned 
to his fate."

Sanchez said the hole where forces found Saddam was wide enough for a 
man to lie down in, with a fan and a air hole.

Preparing for retaliation
Adnan Pachaci, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, said Saddam 
would be tried for his crimes against Iraqis, and would be tried by Iraqis.


Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez says Saddam was uninjured, "talkative and 
cooperative," after 4th Infantry Division and Special Operations forces 
nabbed him. "The terrorist, Saddam Hussein, the biggest terrorist on 
earth, has been arrested," said Hamid Ali al-Kifaey. "He will be tried 
before a special court in Iraq soon. With his arrest the Iraqi people 
will begin a new life, and hopefully they will have a democratic and 
pluralistic system and no more mass graves, and no more Saddam Hussein 
and no more terrorism."

A senior U.S. official told CNN's Dana Bash in Washington that Defense 
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told President Bush on Saturday afternoon 
(EST) of the capture.

The Iraq war began on March 19 when U.S. forces launched a "decapitation 
attack" aimed at the Iraqi president and other top members of the 
country's leadership.

Hours after the capture -- but before it was announced -- a car bomb 
exploded outside an Iraqi police station in Khaldiyah, killing at least 
10 Iraqis and wounding 20 others, most of them policemen, U.S. officials 
said. Iraqi officials reported a higher casualty toll. (Full story)

"Do I expect an increase in retaliation?" as a result of Saddam's 
capture, Sanchez asked. "I don't know. I couldn't answer that, but I 
will tell you we are prepared, and we will defeat those elements if they 
choose to attack us at any point in time."

CNN Senior Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and CNN Baghdad 
Bureau Chief Jane Arraf contributed to this report.

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