13 December, Anwar, Iraq U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein as he hid in the bottom of a hole at a farmhouse near Tikrit. The former Iraqi dictator was captured at 2030 hours (8:30 PM) in a well disguised spider hole next to a farmhouse in the town of Adwar, 10 miles from Tikrit, ending one of the most intense manhunts in history. Hussein had been on the run since the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces on April 9.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!"
L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq. |
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"He was caught like a rat," said Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno of the 4th Infantry Division at a separate press conference in Tikrit. "It was ironic that he was in a hole in the ground across the river from the great palaces he built using all the money he robbed from the Iraqi people." Officials showed a videotape of Saddam, the most-wanted figure by the U.S.-led coalition, as he was being examined following his capture. The 66-year-old had a long black-and-gray beard and unkempt black hair. |
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