U.S. forces capture Saddam near hometown

[David]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Eight months after the fall of his government, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured by U.S. forces near his hometown, Tikrit, where he was hiding in a farmhouse cellar, U.S. officials said Sunday.

The arrest, which was carried out without a single shot being fired, was a major victory for the coalition, which has been battling an insurgency for months, and for President Bush, who has fended off criticism for failing to find him for almost as long.

Saddam had evaded capture and assassination attempts since the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq on March 20. Despite a $25 million bounty on his head, Saddam remained a political thorn in Bush's side and an inspiration to anti-U.S. insurgents even as the coalition sent out thousands of soldiers to search for him from its new headquarters in the sprawling, gold-edged Republican Palace compound in Baghdad.

Sunday, Bush was able to make the proclamation that the White House had awaited for months: ?Yesterday, December the 13th, at around 8:30 p.m. Baghdad time, United States military forces captured Saddam Hussein alive.?

Addressing the nation from the Cabinet Room, Bush promised that "the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions. In the history of Iraq, a dark and painful era is over. A hopeful day has arrived."

But Bush warned that "the capture of Saddam Hussein does not mean the end of violence in Iraq. We still face terrorists who would rather go on killing the innocent than accept the rise of liberty in the heart of the Middle East."

Within hours, large explosions rocked central Baghdad and flames and thick smoke rose from central Baghdad. Police said a fuel canister exploded on a truck, but witnesses told Reuters that a car bomb detonated. Shortly afterward, bursts of gunfire rang out from the central Baghdad area of Karadah.

Video of a tired Saddam
The U.S. administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, said Saddam was captured in the town of Dour, 10 miles south of Tikrit, ending one of the most intense manhunts in history. Dour holds special significance for Saddam; it is the place where his official biography says he swam to freedom, while wounded, after a failed assassination attempt on the life of Iraqi President Abdul Karim Qassem in 1959.

U.S. military officials told NBC News that while Saddam appeared disoriented at first, "he wouldn't stop talking" once he got his bearings. "He was so tired of running,? one of the officials said. ?He almost appeared relieved it was over."

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, who saw Saddam overnight, confirmed that the deposed leader "has been cooperative and is talkative." He described Saddam as "a tired man, a man resigned to his fate."

At the news conference announcing his capture, U.S. forces aired a video showing a bearded Saddam being examined by a doctor who held his mouth open with a tongue depressor, apparently to get a DNA sample. Then they showed a photograph of Saddam after he was shaved. U.S. military officials told NBC News that he suffered a slight head injury.

Sanchez would not disclose where Saddam was being held, but U.S. military officials told NBC News that he was still in Iraq and was most likely being held at Baghdad International Airport, where other high-level detainees are in custody.

"This success brings closure to the Iraqi people," Sanchez said. "Saddam Hussein will never return to a position of power from which he can punish, terrorize, intimidate and exploit the Iraqi people as he did for more than 35 years."

Sanchez said U.S. authorities had yet to determine whether to turn Saddam over to a new Iraqi tribunal for trial. But Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, said later Sunday that he would be handed over to the Iraqi people for trial in the very near future.

Operation Red Dawn
Forces from the Army's 4th Infantry Division along with Special Forces captured Saddam, the U.S. military said. There were no shots fired or injuries in the raid, which was called Operation Red Dawn, Sanchez said.

A Pentagon diagram showed the hiding place as a 6-foot-deep vertical "spider hole," with a shorter tunnel branching out horizontally from one side. A pipe to the concrete surface at ground level provided air. The entrance to the hideout was under the floor of a small, walled compound with a room in one corner and a lean-to attached to the room.

The hideout was across a river from one of Saddam?s palaces, roughly in the middle of the compound.

A U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Saddam admitted his identity when captured. Sanchez, meanwhile, said that two men affiliated with Saddam were also detained and that soldiers confiscated two Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol, a taxi and $750,000 in $100 U.S. bills.

The operation was based on information from a member of a family ?close to him,? Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of 4th Infantry Division, said in Tikrit. ?Finally we got the ultimate information from one of these individuals.?

U.S. military officials told NBC News that it was unlikely that the informer would be eligible for the $25 million bounty on Saddam's head because they were U.S. captives likely to face charges themselves.

Celebrations in Baghdad
Celebratory gunfire erupted in the capital, and shop owners closed their doors, fearful that the shooting would make the streets unsafe. The last time Baghdad residents heard celebrations of that sort was July 22, after Saddam's sons Qusai and Odai were killed in a four-hour gunbattle with U.S. troops.

"I'm very happy for the Iraqi people. Life is going to be safer now," said Yehya Hassan, 35, of Baghdad. "Now we can start a new beginning."

Earlier in the day, rumors of the capture sent people streaming into the streets of Kirkuk, a northern city, firing guns in the air in celebration.

"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."

In Tikrit, U.S. soldiers lit up cigars.

"The intimidation and fear this man generated for over 30 years are now gone," Odierno said.

Some skepticism
Still, many residents of Baghdad were skeptical.

"I heard the news, but I'll believe it when I see it," said Mohaned al-Hasaji, 33. "They need to show us that they really have him."

Ayet Bassem, 24, walked out of a shop with her 6-year-old son.

"Things will be better for my son," she said. "Everyone says everything will be better when Saddam is caught. My son now has a future."

From hiding, U.S. commanders have said Saddam played some role in the anti-U.S. resistance that has killed hundreds of soldiers and civilians in Iraq.

In the latest attack, a suspected suicide bomber detonated explosives in a car outside a police station Sunday morning west of Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding 33 more, the U.S. military said.