Saddam Hussein found in a hole
Dec 19, 2003
After eight months of searching, American soldiers finally captured Saddam Hussein in his hometown of Tikrit last Saturday at 8.00pm
By Raphael Okello
After eight months of searching, American soldiers finally captured Saddam Hussein in his hometown of Tikrit last Saturday at 8.00pm.
The soldiers had been given information that Saddam could be hiding in two locations near Tikrit, a town in northern Iraq. However, at 6.00pm, when the soldiers began searching the two locations, they did not find him.
But they continued to search a wider area and the 66-year-old former president of Iraq was found hiding in a hole, in the compound of a ramshackle farmhouse surrounded by a wall fence.
James Hickey, an American commander, said that when the soldiers looked into the hole, they saw a man lying inside the hole like a rat. “Two hands appeared. The individual clearly wanted to surrender,†he said.
The hole 2.5m deep and 1.8m wide, was big enough for a person to lie in. Wooden beams and bricks supported it. It also had electricity, a ventilator and a lid that covered the entrance like a door.
Saddam who had earlier on, asked his soldiers to fight the Americans till the last of them died, gave up without shooting a bullet even though he had a pistol. Instead, he told the American Soldiers that: “I am Saddam Hussein, I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate.†Saddam had a bushy black and grey beard that made him look a bit different until the Americans shaved it off. Saddam was also found with US$750, 000 (About Sh1.5billion) and an orange.
The ramshackle farmhouse was very dirty. Garbage and old clothes were everywhere on the compound. Christian writings such as “God bless our home†and pictures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus having the last supper with his disciples were found in the home. In the tiny bedroom was a calendar showing Noah’s Ark.
There was also a fridge that had a lot of chocolate bars and a can of Seven Up soda. There were dried sausages and cooking utensils. However, we do not know who was cooking for Saddam.
Although Saddam has denied having had weapons of mass destruction, Americans expect him to say whether he had them.
On television, we saw an American doctor checking behind Saddam’s ears and mouth. While some Iraqis celebrated Saddam’s arrest by shooting bullets in the air, thousands of other Iraqis believed to be die hard Saddam lovers are furious. They are causing deadly violence and demonstrations all over Iraq. There are bomb blasts and gunshots. Many people are getting killed and wounded all around the country. American soldiers are trying to find the criminals by searching from one home to home.
Saddam will be taken to court for doing many bad things that they say he did when he was President. For instance, they accuse him of having killed thousands of Iraqis and attacking the Kurd villagers (in northern Iraq near Iran) with deadly gas.
Many leaders in the world want him to be judged fairly and to be judged by an Iraqi court according to Iraqi rules, although President Bush wants Saddam to be sentenced to death.
After eight months of searching, American soldiers finally captured Saddam Hussein in his hometown of Tikrit last Saturday at 8.00pm.
The soldiers had been given information that Saddam could be hiding in two locations near Tikrit, a town in northern Iraq. However, at 6.00pm, when the soldiers began searching the two locations, they did not find him.
But they continued to search a wider area and the 66-year-old former president of Iraq was found hiding in a hole, in the compound of a ramshackle farmhouse surrounded by a wall fence.
James Hickey, an American commander, said that when the soldiers looked into the hole, they saw a man lying inside the hole like a rat. “Two hands appeared. The individual clearly wanted to surrender,†he said.
The hole 2.5m deep and 1.8m wide, was big enough for a person to lie in. Wooden beams and bricks supported it. It also had electricity, a ventilator and a lid that covered the entrance like a door.
Saddam who had earlier on, asked his soldiers to fight the Americans till the last of them died, gave up without shooting a bullet even though he had a pistol. Instead, he told the American Soldiers that: “I am Saddam Hussein, I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate.†Saddam had a bushy black and grey beard that made him look a bit different until the Americans shaved it off. Saddam was also found with US$750, 000 (About Sh1.5billion) and an orange.
The ramshackle farmhouse was very dirty. Garbage and old clothes were everywhere on the compound. Christian writings such as “God bless our home†and pictures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus having the last supper with his disciples were found in the home. In the tiny bedroom was a calendar showing Noah’s Ark.
There was also a fridge that had a lot of chocolate bars and a can of Seven Up soda. There were dried sausages and cooking utensils. However, we do not know who was cooking for Saddam.
Although Saddam has denied having had weapons of mass destruction, Americans expect him to say whether he had them.
On television, we saw an American doctor checking behind Saddam’s ears and mouth. While some Iraqis celebrated Saddam’s arrest by shooting bullets in the air, thousands of other Iraqis believed to be die hard Saddam lovers are furious. They are causing deadly violence and demonstrations all over Iraq. There are bomb blasts and gunshots. Many people are getting killed and wounded all around the country. American soldiers are trying to find the criminals by searching from one home to home.
Saddam will be taken to court for doing many bad things that they say he did when he was President. For instance, they accuse him of having killed thousands of Iraqis and attacking the Kurd villagers (in northern Iraq near Iran) with deadly gas.
Many leaders in the world want him to be judged fairly and to be judged by an Iraqi court according to Iraqi rules, although President Bush wants Saddam to be sentenced to death.