Eight months after the fall of his government, former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was captured Saturday night by coalition forces near his hometown of Tikrit, where he was hiding in a farmhouse cellar, U.S. officials said yesterday.
Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, announced the capture during a news conference in Iraq, saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him".
Hussein was captured by U.S. forces near Tikrit in northern Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, told the press conference. He was hiding in a hole about six- to eight-feet deep, Sanchez said.
In the capital, radio stations played celebratory music, residents fired small arms in the air in celebration and passengers on buses and trucks shouted, "They got Saddam! They got Saddam!"
"Let this be more than a moment for rejoicing,'' British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a televised address. "Let it be a moment to reach out and to reconcile.''
The failure to capture Hussein, 66, had inspired loyalists to keep up attacks on U.S. and coalition troops, hampering efforts to stabilise the country and win the support of Iraqis. His capture may help dissolve the resistance and speed the rebuilding of country.
The video displayed at the news conference showed Hussein with a graying, bushy beard and long hair. A medical examination showed him to be in good health, Sanchez said.
Forces from the 4th Infantry Division along with Special Forces captured Saddam, the U.S. military said. There were no shots fired or injuries in the raid, called "Operation Red Dawn," Sanchez said.
Trapped in the cellar, Saddam was in a six-to-eight-foot-deep "spider hole" that had been camouflaged with bricks and dirt. The soldiers saw the hole, investigated and found him inside, Sanchez said.
The video showed an air vent and fan inside the hole to allow Saddam to remain hidden for an extended period.
Two men "affiliated with Saddam Hussein" were detained with him, and soldiers confiscated two Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol, a taxi and US$750,000 in $100 bills, Sanchez said.
No shots were fired in the operation, and Hussein was "talkative" and "cooperative" after his capture, Sanchez said. Hussein was "a tired man and a man resigned to his fate" when he was detained, he said.
The former Iraqi leader was being held at an undisclosed location, said the Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. He added that U.S. authorities had yet to determine whether to hand him over to a new Iraqi tribunal for trial.
Hussein's capture is a victory for US President George W. Bush as he seeks re-election next year, according to international press agencies. Bush's administration has been criticised by the Democrats for failing to capture Hussein or Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the al-Qaeda network responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S.
Saddam Hussein took control of Iraq in 1979. During his reign he declared war against Iran, invaded Kuwait and burdened his country with years of UN economic sanctions over his failure to destroy chemical and biological weapons that the UN said he had stockpiled. Iraq's gross domestic product of $59 billion is a third smaller than it was at the start of the first Gulf War.
More than a dozen companies, including Fluor Corp., Bechtel Group Inc., Parsons Corp., Louis Berger Group Inc. and Halliburton Co.'s Kellogg Brown & Root, have bid on or won contracts from U.S. aid agencies to repair Iraq's infrastructure.
Increased oil production may accompany the rebuilding. Iraq has the world's second-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and pumps about 3 percent of the world's oil. mirela.luca@zf.ro ; dorin.oancea@zf.ro
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