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From CNN
U.S. believes Saddam captured
U.S. official: 'High degree of confidence' it's him
Sunday, December 14, 2003 Posted: 6:39 AM EST (1139 GMT)
(CNN) -- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is believed to have been captured in a raid near his hometown of Tikrit, U.S. military officials say.
The arrest came with little or no resistance, a U.S. military official in Washington said Sunday. He was with a small group of aides who also were taken into custody, the official said.
There's "a high degree of confidence" that the man captured is Saddam, the official said. He said scars on his body matched those that U.S. officials believe he would have suffered in past coup attempts.
Following his capture, he was taken to Baghdad's airport where he was shown to other former Iraqi leaders already in custody at the airport to complete the identification process, the U.S. military official said.
Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, president of the Iraqi governing council, said that DNA tests have confirmed that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was captured in Tikrit.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Spain's Foreign Minister Ana Palacio, al-Hakim said he received the information from his colleagues in Iraq.
He said Saddam was sporting a fake beard and was hiding in a store in his hometown, when U.S. forces captured him.
Hours after the word leaked out on the possible capture, there were volleys of what was perceived to be celebratory gunfire in Baghdad.
A coalition news conference in Baghdad, scheduled for 3 p.m (1200 GMT), is expected to shed more light on the status of the Iraqi leader.
A briefing in Madrid by the Iraqi Governing Council president and Spanish foreign minister was also expected shortly.
The raid was based on intelligence that Saddam was at a particular location in the area, the officials said.
Video following that raid -- exclusively shot by CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh -- showed a group of U.S.-led coalition soldiers patting each other on the back -- apparently in celebration -- and taking group photos in front of a military vehicle.
The 66-year-old longtime Iraqi leader was number one on the coalition's 55 most wanted list, and his evasion has been a political sore spot for the U.S. administration.
The Iraq war began on March 19 when U.S. forces launched a "decapitation attack" aimed at the Iraqi president and other top members of the country's leadership.
Hours later, a defiant Saddam wearing a military uniform appeared on Iraqi television to denounce the U.S.-led military campaign as "criminal" and to say his countrymen would be victorious.
At least a dozen audiotapes believed to have been recorded by Saddam, 66, have been released since he was forced out of power by the coalition forces during the Iraq war. The most recent was broadcast in November.
His sons Uday and Qusay -- also on the coalition's most wanted list -- were killed in July, after U.S. forces stormed their hideout in Mosul.
Initial hopes that their father would soon be found faded in the months following that raid.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, has been dogged by reporters wanting to know the status of the search for Saddam.
"It is difficult to find him," Sanchez said, at a press briefing earlier this month. "Given that I haven't found him killed him or captured him, and I need the Iraqi people's help, and together we will find him, we will capture him, we will kill him."
The announcement comes on the same day that 20 people were killed and 32 wounded by a car bomb outside an Iraqi police station west of Baghdad, an Iraqi police officer told CNN.
Sixteen policemen were among those killed in Sunday's explosion at Khaldiyah, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Iraqi capital, the officer added.(Full story)
-- CNN Senior Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and CNN Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf contributed to this report
Osama!!!!.......YOUR NEXT!!!:firing:
U.S. believes Saddam captured
U.S. official: 'High degree of confidence' it's him
Sunday, December 14, 2003 Posted: 6:39 AM EST (1139 GMT)
(CNN) -- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is believed to have been captured in a raid near his hometown of Tikrit, U.S. military officials say.
The arrest came with little or no resistance, a U.S. military official in Washington said Sunday. He was with a small group of aides who also were taken into custody, the official said.
There's "a high degree of confidence" that the man captured is Saddam, the official said. He said scars on his body matched those that U.S. officials believe he would have suffered in past coup attempts.
Following his capture, he was taken to Baghdad's airport where he was shown to other former Iraqi leaders already in custody at the airport to complete the identification process, the U.S. military official said.
Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, president of the Iraqi governing council, said that DNA tests have confirmed that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was captured in Tikrit.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Spain's Foreign Minister Ana Palacio, al-Hakim said he received the information from his colleagues in Iraq.
He said Saddam was sporting a fake beard and was hiding in a store in his hometown, when U.S. forces captured him.
Hours after the word leaked out on the possible capture, there were volleys of what was perceived to be celebratory gunfire in Baghdad.
A coalition news conference in Baghdad, scheduled for 3 p.m (1200 GMT), is expected to shed more light on the status of the Iraqi leader.
A briefing in Madrid by the Iraqi Governing Council president and Spanish foreign minister was also expected shortly.
The raid was based on intelligence that Saddam was at a particular location in the area, the officials said.
Video following that raid -- exclusively shot by CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh -- showed a group of U.S.-led coalition soldiers patting each other on the back -- apparently in celebration -- and taking group photos in front of a military vehicle.
The 66-year-old longtime Iraqi leader was number one on the coalition's 55 most wanted list, and his evasion has been a political sore spot for the U.S. administration.
The Iraq war began on March 19 when U.S. forces launched a "decapitation attack" aimed at the Iraqi president and other top members of the country's leadership.
Hours later, a defiant Saddam wearing a military uniform appeared on Iraqi television to denounce the U.S.-led military campaign as "criminal" and to say his countrymen would be victorious.
At least a dozen audiotapes believed to have been recorded by Saddam, 66, have been released since he was forced out of power by the coalition forces during the Iraq war. The most recent was broadcast in November.
His sons Uday and Qusay -- also on the coalition's most wanted list -- were killed in July, after U.S. forces stormed their hideout in Mosul.
Initial hopes that their father would soon be found faded in the months following that raid.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, has been dogged by reporters wanting to know the status of the search for Saddam.
"It is difficult to find him," Sanchez said, at a press briefing earlier this month. "Given that I haven't found him killed him or captured him, and I need the Iraqi people's help, and together we will find him, we will capture him, we will kill him."
The announcement comes on the same day that 20 people were killed and 32 wounded by a car bomb outside an Iraqi police station west of Baghdad, an Iraqi police officer told CNN.
Sixteen policemen were among those killed in Sunday's explosion at Khaldiyah, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Iraqi capital, the officer added.(Full story)
-- CNN Senior Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and CNN Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf contributed to this report
Osama!!!!.......YOUR NEXT!!!:firing:
