Initial searches turned up nothing, but then, with the area already cordoned off, Special Forces soldiers began searching other houses in the area, particularly those amidst the trees on the banks of the Tigris River. The original targets of the raid were two nearby farmhouses. "We thought that night that there was a good chance that we would be successful," he said. Hickey, the commander of the 4th I.D.'s First Brigade, put his subordinate commanders on alert and began planning that night's raid. He was brought to Tikrit for questioning the morning after his arrest, and before 11 a.m., had provided enough actionable intelligence that Lt. His name has thus far been withheld, but military officials have said that he was a member of one of these families. Saddam's so-called "right hand man," who provided valuable information to the search, had been captured in the early morning hours of Dec. Instead of trying to wring information out of high ranking members of his regime, they began focusing on lower-level functionaries and a small number of families that were believed to be aiding and protecting Saddam. The intelligence scoop was the end result of a shift in the military's approach to tracking Saddam that began taking shape in mid-summer. But select officers of the Tikrit-based 4th Infantry Division knew otherwise, and they felt that intelligence collected from Iraqis detained over the past few weeks would yield what they referred to as "H.V.T. Some soldiers on the raid, those who weren't privy to the real target, thought al-Douri might be their quarry. A portion of the floor was covered with broken eggshells.Īl-Dawr, the town in which the property is located, is the home village of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, number six on the most wanted list of Iraqi political and military officials. In an adjoining lean-to that served that served as a kitchen, candy bars and dirty dishes lay on a table in front of a smeared mirror.
#Saddam hussein capture a lie full
A bedroom had two bed frames and mattresses, a trunk full of books and clothing, a small refrigerator, and two posters, one of a landscape, the other depicting Noah's Ark. Inside, a few steps from the hole, the living quarters were in post-search disarray.
Two brick pillars serve as front gate for the property dried palm fronds wall it off from a muddy road out front, and the dirt fields and dead sunflower stalks beyond it. PHOTOS AND GRAPHICS At The Epicenter Paths to Pleasure Quotes of the Week This Week's Gadget Cartoons of the WeekĪbove ground a cluster of orange, date, and palm trees provide both cover and color. SPECIAL REPORTS Coolest Video Games 2004 Coolest Inventions Wireless Society Cool Tech 2004 LATEST COVER STORY Mind & Body Happiness Jan. It's hard to imagine the confines could provide its inhabitant with a feeling of security, much less power, or anything other than a sense of claustrophobia, especially when the Styrofoam block is lowered into the entrance way, then covered with a rubber mat, a cloth rug, and dirt-as it was when Special Operations Forces soldiers discovered it shortly after 8 p.m. An electric fan was installed in one wall next to a small ventilation shaft, which emerged above ground a few feet away from the entrance. In one corner of Saddam's underground hiding place were a handful of q-tips. It tunnels forward another four feet before bisecting a roughly six-foot long chamber in which a man could lie down or crouch, but not much more. forces finally captured the former Iraqi leader goes down about four feet into the ground.
Follow Hussein, who reportedly had back problems, could not have been very comfortable in his hole.
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