A photo of Saddam Hussein after his capture is shown during a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday.
"We got him" U.S. administrator Paul Bremer announces the capture Saddam.
 

NBC News and news services
Updated: 10:55 a.m. ET Dec. 14, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Eight months after the fall of his government, Saddam Hussein was captured by coalition forces near his hometown of Tikrit, where he was hiding in a farmhouse cellar, U.S. officials said Sunday. The arrest was a major victory for the coalition that has been battling an insurgency for months.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him," U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer said at a news conference in Baghdad, adding: "The tyrant is a prisoner."

Bremer said the former Iraqi president was captured Saturday at 8:30 p.m. in the town of Dour, 10 miles south of Tikrit, ending one of the most intense manhunts in history.

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

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!"

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.

Iraqi journalists in the audience stood, pointed and shouted "Death to Saddam!" and "Down with Saddam!"

The former Iraqi leader was being held at an undisclosed location, said the top U.S. soldier in Iraq, 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.

"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 the did for more than 35 years."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed the capture. "This is very good news for the people of Iraq. It removes the shadow that has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam regime," he said in a statement released by his office.

This fear is now removed," the statement continued. "It also gives an opportunity for Saddam to be tried in Iraqi courts for his crimes against the Iraqi people. We should try now to unite the whole of Iraq in rebuilding the country and offering it a new future."

Blair added, "I pay tribute to the work of the coalition intelligence and military forces in capturing him."

The prime minister faced substantial domestic opposition for his decision to commit British troops to the Iraq war and is sure to get a major political boost from the reported capture.

Operation Red Dawn
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.

Celebrations in Baghdad
Celebratory gunfire erupted in the capital, and shop owners closed their doors, fearful that the shooting would make the streets unsafe.

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

Reuters file Saddam Hussein stands on a car in northern Baghdad on April 9 in the last available footage taken of the Iraqi dictator before he went underground following the fall of his capital to U.S.-led coalition forces on the same day.

Earlier in the day, rumors of the capture sent people streaming into the streets of Kirkuk, a northern Iraqi 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 after hearing the news of Saddam's capture.

"The intimidation and fear this man generated for over 30 years are now gone," said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, who commands the division that carried out the raid.

Some skepticism
Despite the celebration throughout Baghdad, many residents 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.

After invading Iraq on March 20 and setting up their headquarters in Saddam's sprawling Republican Palace compound in Baghdad, U.S. troops launched a massive manhunt for the fugitive leader, placing a US$25 million bounty on his head and sending thousands of soldiers to search for him.

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