God bless Jim Robinson and Freepers everywhere!
God bless Jim Robinson and Freepers everywhere!
I wonder what will become of him, and I wonder what he'll have to tell us...
BAGHDAD, Iraq--Saddam Hussein, the deposed Iraqi leader, was captured in a raid on a farm house near Tikrit on Saturday night, American military officials confirmed Sunday.
The officials said they had used DNA tests to confirm his identity.
"We got him," American administrator L. Paul Bremer III said at a news conference here.
Coalition troops discovered Hussein hiding in a hole below the farm house, located in the town of Adwar, 10 miles from Tikrit.
Military officials said that Hussein had put up no resistance and that not one shot had been fired in the operation.
American officials hailed the discovery of Hussein as a major tactical victory in their fight to wipe out the vestiges of the old government.
Finding Hussein also solved one of the great mysteries that tormented the American-led occupation force in Iraq: whether he was still alive and, if so, where he was hiding. British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed Hussein's capture.
"This is very good news for the people of Iraq," he said in a statement released by his office. "It removes the shadow that has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam regime."
By midmorning in Washington, President Bush still had not made a public statement about the matter.
American officials hope the capture of Hussein will undermine the guerrilla-style insurgency that has left hundreds of coalition soldiers dead since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations on May 1.
"A man resigned"
At a news conference Sunday announcing Hussein's capture, American officials aired a video showing a bearded and scruffy-haired Hussein being examined by a doctor.Hussein was in a six-to-eight-foot-deep "spider hole" that had been camouflaged with bricks and dirt, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said at the news conference. The video showed an air vent and fan installed in the hole to allow Hussein to remain hidden for an extended period.
"The captive has been talkative and is being cooperative," General Sanchez said. Coalition troops captured two other Iraqis in the raid and seized two AK-47 assault rifles, a pistol and $750,000 in $100 bills, General Sanchez said.
He described Hussein's demeanor during the arrest, saying he seemed "a tired man--also, I think, a man resigned."
Officials said Hussein was being held at an undisclosed location and that American authorities had yet to decide whether to hand him over to the Iraqis for trial. Iraqi officials want him to stand trial before a war crimes tribunal created last week.