Saturday at one of dozens of safehouses Saddam is thought to have: a walled compound on a farm in Adwar, a town 10 miles from Tikrit, not far from one of Saddam’s former palaces, Odierno said. The crucial information came after prisoners from raids and intelligence tips led to increasingly precise information, as CIA and military analysts gradually narrowed down their list of potential sites where Saddam was staying, a U.S. Saddam’s capture was based on information from a member of a family ``close to him,″ Odierno told reporters in Tikrit. ``I believe he was there more for moral support,″ Odierno said. Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, which captured Saddam, said the ousted leader did not appear to be directly organizing resistance _ noting no communication devices were found in his hiding place. Washington hopes Saddam’s capture will help break the organized Iraq resistance that has killed more than 190 American soldiers since Bush declared major combat over on May 1 and has set back efforts at reconstruction.īut Maj. soldier died while trying to disarm a roadside bomb south of the capital. Hours before the capture was announced, a suspected suicide bomber detonated explosives in a car outside a police station west of Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding 33 more, the U.S. ``In the history of Iraq, a dark and painful era is over. He showed a news conference a videotape of a dishevelled and heavily-bearded Saddam Hussein being examined by an American doctor.``The former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions,″ President Bush said in a midday televised address from the White House, eight months after American troops swept into Baghdad and toppled Saddam’s regime. The former Iraqi leader was removed at 2115 and taken to an undisclosed secure location, General Sanchez said. Top US military commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez said the former dictator was "talkative and co-operative", had no injuries and was in good health.Īlong with the former Iraqi dictator, troops discovered $750,000 cash in $100 bills, two AK-47 machine guns and a briefcase of documents.Ī white and orange taxi was parked near the compound. No mobile phones or other communications equipment were found, suggesting that Saddam Hussein was providing "moral support" and was no longer co-ordinating the Iraqi resistance, Major General Odierno added. The spokesman said it was likely he had been there for a short time when the "ultimate information" came from a member of a family brought in for questioning. "I think it was rather ironic that he was in a hole in the ground across the river from these great palaces that he has built, where he robbed all the money from the Iraqi people," Major General Odierno said.Īlthough the area had been searched before, it was likely Saddam Hussein had not been there, as he was thought to have moved often and at short notice. He said the hole was very close to the Tigris river, within view of some of the captive's palaces.
Saddam Hussein would have moved from the building into the hole whenever coalition forces were in the area, Major General Odierno added. He said one was a bedroom that was cluttered with clothes, including new T-shirts and socks and a "very rudimentary" kitchen, with running water.
Major General Odierno said the farm where the former leader was found consisted of "two very small rooms in an adobe hut". The underground chamber the former Iraqi leader had secreted himself in was six-to-eight feet (1.8 metres - 2.4 metres) deep, with enough space for a person to lie down, and an air vent and extractor fan. Two other people, believed to have formed Saddam Hussein's small entourage, were also captured and taken away for interrogation. "Regards from President Bush," US special forces replied, Major Reed recounted.
I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate," he told the US troops in English, according to Major Bryan Reed, operations officer for the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. He put up no resistance although armed with a pistol. Saddam Hussein was pulled out at 2036, "disoriented" and "bewildered", according to Major General Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division. The individual clearly wanted to surrender," he said. Saddam Hussein was found in a carefully hidden holeĬolonel Hickey said that the soldiers looked into the hole and saw a figure inside it.
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