How Saddam was captured
AD DAWR, Iraq, Monday- Deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein lived his last days of freedom in the squalor of a ramshackle mud hut surrounded, oddly enough, by Christian pictures.
AD DAWR, Iraq, Monday- Deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein lived his last days of freedom in the squalor of a ramshackle mud hut surrounded, oddly enough, by Christian pictures.
“God Bless our Home,†says in English one sign hung in a tiny garden outside the corrugated-roofed dwelling, set in a orchard of rotting fruit.
Garbage is strewn about mixed with a jumble of old clothes.
A picture of the Last Supper and the Virgin Mary also adorn the yard.
Inside, beyond the makeshift kitchen in a tiny bedroom, hangs a 2003 calendar showing pictures of Noah’s Ark.
In the fridge sat canned Bounty bars of chocolate and a can of Seven Up lemonade. Dried sausage hung just outside the door, along with cooking implements.
The “rat-hole†where US troops captured Saddam on Saturday night ending eight months on the run is just outside, under a date-bearing palm tree.
Held together by wooden beams and bricks, it is just big enough for a man to lie in and boasts an electric strip light and a ventilator, while a styrofoam lid covers the entrance, like a trapdoor.
The ex-president had astonishingly asked to negotiate when he was pulled out of the hole, said Major Brian Reed, operations commander 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, on Monday.
“He said, ‘I am Saddam Hussein, I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate’,†according to Reed, talking to reporters near the site reporters were shown on Monday.
“The response was ‘President (George) Bush sends his regards’,†Reed said, adding that a US soldier reported the conversation.
Brigadier commander Colonel James Hickey said that when they looked into the hole the soldiers saw “there was a man down there.
“Two hands appeared. The individual clearly wanted to surrender.
“We expected something more elaborate,†Hickey admitted. “What we found surprised us. We didn’t think it would be so humble and simple.â€
The colonel said he was also surprised there was no firefight.
“We were prepared to have a fight ... and use overwhelming power.â€
Hickey said the all special forces mission, which was characterised by “stealth and speedâ€, was to “capture or kill†Saddam Hussein.
Saddam was whisked away by helicopter 25 minutes after troops secured the area round the remote farm house, Hickey said.
Beyond the fence round the mud hut stood a lone cow stuck in mud.
A dirt road runs away alongside a field of dried sunflowers to the small town of Ad Dawr on the banks of the Tigris.
Further down the river rises one of Saddam’s great palaces, symbol of an era past.
The former president who lived in unbelievable luxury at the expense of millions of impoversihed Iraqis is also accusd of buthchering thousands of them at will. He is also accused of attacking Khurd villages with deadly gas.
“God Bless our Home,†says in English one sign hung in a tiny garden outside the corrugated-roofed dwelling, set in a orchard of rotting fruit.
Garbage is strewn about mixed with a jumble of old clothes.
A picture of the Last Supper and the Virgin Mary also adorn the yard.
Inside, beyond the makeshift kitchen in a tiny bedroom, hangs a 2003 calendar showing pictures of Noah’s Ark.
In the fridge sat canned Bounty bars of chocolate and a can of Seven Up lemonade. Dried sausage hung just outside the door, along with cooking implements.
The “rat-hole†where US troops captured Saddam on Saturday night ending eight months on the run is just outside, under a date-bearing palm tree.
Held together by wooden beams and bricks, it is just big enough for a man to lie in and boasts an electric strip light and a ventilator, while a styrofoam lid covers the entrance, like a trapdoor.
The ex-president had astonishingly asked to negotiate when he was pulled out of the hole, said Major Brian Reed, operations commander 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, on Monday.
“He said, ‘I am Saddam Hussein, I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate’,†according to Reed, talking to reporters near the site reporters were shown on Monday.
“The response was ‘President (George) Bush sends his regards’,†Reed said, adding that a US soldier reported the conversation.
Brigadier commander Colonel James Hickey said that when they looked into the hole the soldiers saw “there was a man down there.
“Two hands appeared. The individual clearly wanted to surrender.
“We expected something more elaborate,†Hickey admitted. “What we found surprised us. We didn’t think it would be so humble and simple.â€
The colonel said he was also surprised there was no firefight.
“We were prepared to have a fight ... and use overwhelming power.â€
Hickey said the all special forces mission, which was characterised by “stealth and speedâ€, was to “capture or kill†Saddam Hussein.
Saddam was whisked away by helicopter 25 minutes after troops secured the area round the remote farm house, Hickey said.
Beyond the fence round the mud hut stood a lone cow stuck in mud.
A dirt road runs away alongside a field of dried sunflowers to the small town of Ad Dawr on the banks of the Tigris.
Further down the river rises one of Saddam’s great palaces, symbol of an era past.
The former president who lived in unbelievable luxury at the expense of millions of impoversihed Iraqis is also accusd of buthchering thousands of them at will. He is also accused of attacking Khurd villages with deadly gas.