Free Republic

A day after the fourth anniversary of Saddam Hussein's capture, Chico veterans and others welcomed one of the participating soldiers on Friday. Now retired, Army Lt. Col. Steve Russell of Oklahoma City praised American soldiers for their role in the Iraq war, and their families for making sacrifices. His appearance came during the Red, White and Blue Christmas dinner and fundraiser for local National Guard families at the Elks Lodge. More than 500 attended. The unit that Russell commanded was one of the central players in Hussein's capture. "It was one of the proudest days in my life," Russell said...

Statement of President Bush on the death by hanging of Saddam Hussein, as provided by the White House: Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial — the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime. Fair trials were unimaginable under Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule. It is a testament to the Iraqi people's resolve to move forward after decades of oppression that, despite his terrible crimes against his own people, Saddam Hussein received a fair trial. This would not have been possible without the Iraqi people's determination to create a society governed by the rule...

Since it now seems very imminent, I decided that it was an appropriate time to start this up. Links to information and pictures (if we get them) can be posted here.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview published yesterday in the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir that his organization would remain armed and reserve its right to attack Israel at Shaba Farms, but stressed he would not rush to do so. "We are coming out of a war now and are not in a hurry to carry out actions at the farms, but this is our right and nobody is entitled to give the Israelis security guarantees gratis," Nasrallah said. He underscored that Hezbollah would keep its missiles but not use them, as it did during the decade preceding the...

Senior officer briefs MKs on 'harsh crush' of Hizbullah; along Lebanon border, army 'leveling' area in order to thwart attempts to rebuild organization's posts. MK Tibi: Generals, Admirals have taken Peretz hostage On the sixth day of the war in northern Israel and in Lebanon, on the day in which an IDF soldier was killed in Nablus and the Qassam fire in the south continued, the army chief and his senior officers arrived at the Knesset in order to brief the Knesset members on the various fighting scenes. A senior military officer said at the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee...

Across the Tigris River from his opulent palaces, Saddam Hussein shuttered himself at the bottom of a narrow, dark hole beneath a two-room mud shack on a sheep farm, a U.S. military official said Sunday. Having opted not to travel with security forces or an entourage that might bring attention to him, only a Styrofoam square, dirt and a rug separated the deposed Iraqi leader from the U.S. soldiers who routed him from his hiding place Saturday night. "He was in the bottom of a hole with no way to fight back," said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno. "He was caught...

Mainstream media outlets have paused coverage of the trial against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein because of a delay into late November, but Kuma Reality Games plans on showing gamers first-person, interactive takes on the different crimes being charged against Hussein between now and then. Coming up with an accurate representation of the events is accomplished through research the company pulls from traditional news outlets, first-person accounts, AP photo archives, original video footage and audio reports, declassified documents from the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense and its personal Military Advisory Board comprised of "decorated veterans who lend...

An Iraqi who worked with US special forces tells Alex Leith how he wrestled with the dictator after flushing him from his hiding hole The photograph shows Saddam Hussein moments after he was pulled from his “foxhole”, bloodied and bewildered. Crowded around are members of an American elite special forces unit. But kneeling on his prostrate body and staring defiantly into the lens is a young man in a camouflage anorak. His look betrays more than the professional satisfaction of a job well done.

Dedicated to the Soldiers of Task Force 1-22nd Infantry whose skill, perseverance and bravery ensured Saddam's capture In the end, at the culmination of months of dangerous missions and painstaking intelligence work, he was pulled out of his hidey-hole in a farmyard near Ad Dawr on the east side of the Tigris River south of Tikrit. Looking more like a homeless guy than a recent and ruthless dictator, Saddam Hussein had finally been captured. “A dark and painful period is over,” said President George W. Bush. Coalition Provisional Authority chief, L. Paul Bremer announced at the subsequent press conference: “We...

Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry will be the guest at 7:29 am eastern. Senator Kerry has a lot of convincing to do, beginning with the I-Man.. whose support has waned in recent weeks. Despite several polls to the contrary, both campaigns acknowledge a 5-6 point lead for President Bush. Many analysts say it's a result of a post convention bump, and the GOP's ability to make the focus of the election national security and Kerry's record. The challenge for the Senator is to now put the emphasis back on domestic issues while separating the War in Iraq from the War...

MIDI - FOREVER IN BLUE JEANS (second column) Ain't it sweet...for DemocRATS, this is no special treat We plucked him from deep in his spider hole...he's under control It's Saddam in shackles He's in court...this day the lefties tried so hard to thwart We plucked him from deep in his spider hole...he's under control It's Saddam in shackles He must die...should he fry? Use a rope...many hope Would he enjoy meeting a guillotine? Should he be shot? Bullets we've got Oh, that would be a marvelous scene Liberals cry...brave soldiers went out and they got their guy We plucked...

May 30) -- When Saddam Hussein was rousted from his spider hole in Dawr, a town near Tikrit, by U.S. soldiers last December, Iraq's fallen dictator was clutching a pistol. He is now in detention at an undisclosed location, being questioned by American authorities and awaiting charges for war atrocities and crimes against humanity. But what ever happened to the pistol? The sidearm has made its way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Sources say that the military had the pistol mounted after the soldiers seized it from Saddam and that it was then presented to the president privately by some of...

When Saddam Hussein was rousted from his spider hole in Dawr, a town near Tikrit, by U.S. soldiers last December, Iraq's fallen dictator was clutching a pistol. He is now in detention at an undisclosed location, being questioned by American authorities and awaiting charges for war atrocities and crimes against humanity. But what ever happened to the pistol? The sidearm has made its way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Sources say that the military had the pistol mounted after the soldiers seized it from Saddam and that it was then presented to the President privately by some of the troops who...

How Saddam Hussein was captured BBC News Online looks at how the operation to capture former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein unfolded. SADDAM HUSSEIN'S HIDING HOLE 1050: Tip-off received, two targets identified and given codenames 1800: 600 troops move towards 'Wolverine 1' and 'Wolverine 2' 2000: Targets searched, Saddam Hussein not found 2030: Hole found, Saddam Hussein captured with no resistance Saddam Hussein was captured after a tip-off led American troops to a small, underground hole concealed next to farm buildings near the former leader's hometown of Tikrit. Soldiers were seconds away from throwing a hand grenade into the hole,...

<p>TIKRIT, Iraq  — U.S. Army engineers have sealed the underground bunker where former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was captured to prevent it from becoming a tourist attraction, a military spokesman said Saturday.</p> <p>Soldiers lowered a 300-pound slab of concrete over the hole Feb. 4, said Master Sgt. Robert Cargie, a spokesman for the 4th Infantry Division.</p>

Phil Says Expect 6 More Weeks of Winter! Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear Ye! On this Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2004, Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, King of the Groundhogs, Prognosticator of Prognosticators has responded to the tapping welcome of Groundhog Club President Bill Cooper at 7:27 a.m. here on Gobbler's Knob, Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. He was greeted by his longtime friend and handler Bill Deeley who said, "I bring greetings from Presidents Bush and Cooper." He then held him high so he could view and greet the large exuberant crowd of Faithful Followers. It was time for Phil to...

FROM across the Tigris the chants begin, rising until they are audible around the spiderhole where the dictator was caught: “Saddam, Saddam will live for ever. He is the leader for us.” Around the shaft Iraqi guards sprint for the sandbags, their lieutenant shouting “Withdraw! Withdraw!” before firing a warning round into the air. This is al-Dawr, the loyalist Tikriti town where a month after Saddam’s capture on December 13, his last refuge has become a focus for Baathist attacks. US soldiers want to fill in the hole to stop it becoming a shrine. With graffiti already appearing on the...

Saddam's bolt-hole has to go, say Americans By Jack Fairweather in Baghdad (Filed: 26/01/2004) Iraqis have reacted with a mixture of bemusement and annoyance to plans by the US military to fill in the spider hole where Saddam Hussein was captured. The spot marking Saddam's humiliating seizure has been guarded round the clock by American troops since the former dictator surrendered without a fight in December. It was the second time he had hidden at the farmhouse in the village of ad Dawr, on the outskirts of Tikrit - the first was in 1959 after a botched assassination attempt on...

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - The hole in which U.S. soldiers found former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein hiding could be filled in to prevent it becoming a "shrine," a U.S. military spokesman said on Friday. The U.S. 4th Infantry Division, which captured Saddam at a farm in central Iraq last month, has asked for permission to destroy the hole and the nearby mud hut which were his last refuges. "In order to avoid making it a tourist attraction and/or a shrine, we believe the best course of action is to eliminate it," 4th Infantry Division spokesman Master Sergeant Robert Cargie said....