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Topic: U.S. officials: Saddam OFFICIALLY captured (Read 282 times)

MzWings
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U.S. officials: Saddam OFFICIALLY captured
« on: Dec 14^th, 2003, 5:41am »

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Updated: 06:24 a.m. EST (1124 GMT) December 14, 2003

U.S. officials: Saddam ~~possibly~~ captured Cool

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has ~~possibly~~ been captured in a raid near his hometown of Tikrit, U.S. officials said today. The officials told CNN that the identity of the individual, who was one of a number of wanted Iraqis caught, ~~was still being confirmed~~. Cool

However, the officials in Washington told CNN on Sunday that the identity of the individual, who was one of a number of suspected insurgents caught, was ~~still being confirmed~~. Cool

The person in U.S. custody was disguised in a fake beard when he was captured in the basement in a Tikrit building, Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress said.

Hours after the word leaked out on the possible capture, there were volleys of what was perceived to be celebratory gunfire in Baghdad.

A coalition news conference in Baghdad, scheduled for 3 p.m (1200 GMT), is expected to shed more light on the status of the Iraqi leader.

A briefing in Madrid by the Iraqi Governing Council president and Spanish foreign minister was also expected shortly.

The raid was based on intelligence that Saddam was at a particular location in the area, the officials said.

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.

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.

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 later, a defiant Saddam wearing a military uniform appeared on Iraqi television to denounce the U.S.-led military campaign as "criminal" and to say his countrymen would be victorious.

At least a dozen audiotapes believed to have been recorded by Saddam, 66, have been released since he was forced out of power by the coalition forces during the Iraq war. The most recent was broadcast in November.

His sons Uday and Qusay -- also on the coalition's most wanted list -- were killed in July, after U.S. forces stormed their hideout in Mosul.

Initial hopes that their father would soon be found faded in the months following that raid.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, has been dogged by reporters wanting to know the status of the search for Saddam.

"It is difficult to find him," Sanchez said, at a press briefing earlier this month. "Given that I haven't found him killed him or captured him, and I need the Iraqi people's help, and together we will find him, we will capture him, we will kill him."

The announcement comes on the same day that 20 people were killed and 32 wounded by a car bomb outside an Iraqi police station west of Baghdad, an Iraqi police officer told CNN.

Sixteen policemen were among those killed in Sunday's explosion at Khaldiyah, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Iraqi capital, the officer added. (Full story)

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

« Last Edit: Dec 14^th, 2003, 8:19am by MzWings »

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MzWings
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Re: U.S. officials: Saddam possibly captured
« Reply #1 on: Dec 14^th, 2003, 5:49am »

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Iraqi Governing Council: Saddam in Custody

Saddam Hussein ~~Believed~~ CAPTURED in Iraq

Sunday, December 14, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi dictator and most-wanted figure by the U.S.-led coalition, has been captured in Iraq, U.S. officials said Sunday.

"It certainly looks good," one senior U.S. official in Washington said, cautioning more scientific testing, possibly DNA, was being done early Sunday morning to try to confirm the identity.

Prime Minister Tony Blair seemed to confirm the capture by welcoming the news, his spokesman said Sunday, adding that it "removes the shadow" of the former dictator's possible return from Iraq.

In Baghdad, the U.S.-led occupation notified reporters that a "very important" announcement will be made at a news conference scheduled for 7 a.m. EST but did not give details.

A senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the captured man's appearance did not immediately look like Saddam, but additional efforts to ascertain his identity indicated he was the former leader.

Multiple high-level sources told Fox News they were almost certain that the former Iraqi leader was captured in a raid designed to net him in his hometown of Tikrit.

The officials said the former leader, who during his rule slept in lush palaces while many ordinary Iraqis lived in poverty, was found "cowering" in a basement in a home raided by coalition soldiers. The sources said the person believed to be Saddam had millions of U.S. dollars in his possession, and that tests were being conducted to confirm his identity.

News of the potential capture made its way around Iraq like wildfire, with Iraqis in Tikrit and the capital city, Baghdad, celebrating the news by firing guns into the air.

Earlier, a member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council said Saddam had been captured alive in Tikrit.

Council member Dara Noor al-Din told The Associated Press that the council was informed of the former dictator's capture in a telephone call from L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator for Iraq.

"Bremer has confirmed to the Governing Council that Saddam was captured in Tikrit," Noor al-Din said. "He spoke on the phone to several members, including Ahmad Chalabi."

Chalabi is a leading member of the council who has close links to the Bush administration.

A council spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Bremer had relayed news of Saddam's capture to the council. A council delegation planned to visit Saddam in captivity later Sunday, the spokesman said.

Another Governing Council member, Jalal Talabani, was earlier quoted by Iran's official news agency, IRNA, as saying Saddam had been captured in Tikrit.

Talabani told IRNA that Saddam's detention will bring stability to Iraq.

"With the arrest of Saddam, the source financing terrorists has been destroyed and terrorist attacks will come to an end. Now we can establish a durable stability and security in Iraq," Talabani was quoted as saying.

In Baghdad, residents fired small arms in the air in celebration, and gunfire echoed in neighborhoods across the city. Earlier in the day, rumors of the capture sent people streaming into the streets of Kirkuk, a northern Iraqi city, firing guns in the air in celebration. (Idiots for firing ammo in the air Angry

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"We are celebrating like it's a wedding," said Kirkuk resident Mustapha Sheriff. "We are finally rid of that criminal."

"This is the joy of a lifetime," said Ali Al-Bashiri, another resident. "I am speaking on behalf of all the people that suffered under his rule."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

« Last Edit: Dec 14^th, 2003, 8:22am by MzWings »

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MzWings
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Re: U.S. officials: Saddam possibly captured
« Reply #2 on: Dec 14^th, 2003, 8:15am »

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IT'S OFFICIAL! "We got'em!

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Re: U.S. officials: Saddam OFFICIALLY captured
« Reply #3 on: Dec 14^th, 2003, 11:24am »

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GREAT now on to Osma!

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Re: U.S. officials: Saddam OFFICIALLY captured
« Reply #4 on: Dec 14^th, 2003, 12:14pm »

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Re: U.S. officials: Saddam OFFICIALLY captured
« Reply #5 on: Dec 15^th, 2003, 12:24pm »

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Bush: Iraqis will decide Saddam's fate
Saddam documents lead to arrests, U.S. military says
Monday, December 15, 2003 Posted: 12:28 PM EST (1728 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Iraqis, not the United States, will decide the fate of Saddam Hussein, President Bush said Monday.

"We will work with the Iraqis to develop a way to try him that will stand international scrutiny," he told reporters. "My personal views are not important; what matters is the views of Iraqi citizens.

"We need to work with them to develop a system that is fair, where he will be put on trial and brought to justice -- a justice, by the way, that he didn't afford any of his fellow citizens," the president said at a news conference.

"Iraqi citizens have lost a source of fear, and they can now focus with confidence on the task of creating a hopeful and self-governing nation."

Bush spoke to reporters hours after U.S. military officials said they had arrested several resistance leaders in Baghdad based on documents found when Saddam was captured.

Officials said that some of the documents detailed a meeting of resistance cell leaders -- and included their names.

Yet the deposed Iraqi leader who eluded coalition forces since the capital fell in April is replying to interrogators' questions with nationalist or patriotic rhetoric, military and other sources told CNN.

"For example, he was offered a glass of water, and Saddam said, 'Well, if I take that glass of water I will have to urinate, and if I have to urinate, I will have to go to the bathroom, and how can I possibly go to the bathroom when my people are enslaved?' " Time magazine correspondent Brian Bennett said.

A senior U.S. official said that in the first interrogation Sunday, the former Iraqi leader "was a wiseass," or in other words, that he gave only defiant and unhelpful answers.

Several sources agree that Saddam identified himself upon his capture and cooperated with U.S. forces who transported him. He also submitted to a medical examination.

But, Bennett said, he has refused to answer questions about the location of resistance cells and would not say whether he was communicating with resistance leaders. Officials declined to say where Saddam is being held, except that he is at a U.S. military facility.

Two senior Bush administration officials told CNN that Saddam also has told his captors he did not have weapons of mass destruction before the war. Bennett, speaking from Baghdad, said the former Iraqi leader asserted that the United States invented the presence of WMD to justify an invasion of his country.

"He also said he didn't play nice with U.N. [weapons] inspectors so that he could protect the privacy of his presidential areas," Bennett said on CNN's "Newsnight," quoting a U.S. official in Iraq who had seen an initial interrogation report.

Saturday, U.S. soldiers found the former leader of Iraq hiding in a hole in the ground about 6-8 feet deep. Saddam was captured about nine miles from his hometown of Tikrit and across the Tigris River from one of his lavish palaces.

Saddam had a pistol but was taken into custody without firing it.

The 66-year-old longtime Iraqi leader was No. 1 on the coalition's list of 55 most-wanted regime figures, and his evasion has been a political sore spot for the U.S. administration. (Saddam profile)

Saddam to troops: 'I want to negotiate'
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said 600 4th Infantry Division soldiers and special operations forces from Task Force 121 -- a unit set up to capture high-profile targets -- staged the operation based on an accumulation of intelligence capped by information from an Iraqi under interrogation that Saddam might be in one of two locations in Ad Dawr.

When the initial raids failed to find him, the troops launched a "cordon and search" operation that eventually brought their attention to a ramshackle compound near a farmhouse that was one of the targeted locations, said Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division troops.

Inside the small, walled compound, Odierno said, soldiers found a small, two-room adobe hut that included a kitchen with running water. Inside the hut, soldiers found clothes -- some still in their packaging -- and outside, beneath a rug covering a piece of Styrofoam, they found the entrance to the hole where Saddam was hiding.

Sanchez said the "spider hole" had a rudimentary ventilation system and was infested with mice and rats.

Soldiers who participated in the raid told CNN they were preparing to toss a grenade or fire a rifle into a hole -- a standard procedure -- when a pair of upraised hands popped out.

"I am Saddam Hussein," he said, according to military officials. "I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate." (Gallery: Saddam's capture)

The U.S. soldiers reportedly responded: "President Bush sends his regards." (Audio Slide Show: The capture of Saddam Hussein)

Exclusive CNN video shot after the raid showed soldiers on the scene patting each other on the back -- apparently in celebration -- and taking group photos in front of a military vehicle. (On the Scene: Alphonso Van Marsh)

U.S. forces found weapons and about $750,000 in U.S. $100 bills with Saddam, Sanchez said. Troops also found two AK-47s, a pistol, and a white and orange taxi.

Saddam's long, graying beard was shaved and his hair trimmed for identification purposes, military officials said.

Concerns that their prisoner could be one of Saddam's many doubles, Sanchez said, prompted the military to bring him face-to-face with other detainees and members of the Iraqi Governing Council, a meeting Sanchez described as "emotional."

"He was talkative with them. It was, I think, a moment of closure for them to understand that in fact Saddam was there, that he was being detained by the coalition forces and that he could no longer bring terror and oppression to their country," Sanchez said.

Adnan Pachachi, a leading member of the council, said Saddam would be tried by Iraqis for crimes against Iraqis.

"There will be a public hearing," Pachachi said. "A trial that is open." (Saddam's future)

Saddam's capture was based not on a direct tip, but a collection of intelligence gathered from the hostile questioning of Saddam's former bodyguards and family members, U.S. officials said Sunday.

"Over the last 10 days or so we brought in about five to 10 members who then were able to give us more information and finally we got the ultimate information from one of these individuals," Odierno said Sunday.

No one is likely to receive the $25 million offered for Saddam's capture, because most of the information that led to his capture was given up under hostile questioning, U.S. officials said.

Odierno told CNN on Monday that U.S. forces in Iraq feel a sense of satisfaction after Saddam's capture, but that a lot of work remains.

"It's a psychological victory for us," Odierno said. "But we still have insurgents on the ground still conducting operations, so all the soldiers must stay focused and mission-oriented as we continue our mission here on the ground."

U.S. officials cautioned Sunday that Saddam's capture would not mean the end of violence in Iraq. On Monday, two almost-simultaneous car bombings outside Iraqi police stations left several people dead, Iraqi officials said. (Full story)

CNN's Nic Robertson, Jamie McIntyre, Barbara Starr, Jane Arraf, Al Goodman, Alphonso Van Marsh, John King, David Ensor and Satinder Bindra contributed to this report.

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