Iraq

Months of hints, hours of closing in, a moment to lift a rug

THE CAPTURE

2:50 a.m. Saturday * (10:50 a.m. in Iraq): U.S. intelligence gets tip about Saddam Hussein’s whereabouts. Noon: 4th Infantry Division and special ops troops cordon off area near Dawr. 12:36 p.m.: Hussein found at bottom of hole near farmhouse. 5:14 a.m. Sunday: President Bush is told DNA confirms it is Hussein. 7:14 a.m.: U.S. military says Saddam Hussein has been captured. 12:15 p.m.: Bush addresses nation. * All times EST

Aerial view showing farm near Dawr, Iraq where Hussein was captured: Click to enlarge graphic

Operation Red Dawn, the raid that ended with 66-year-old former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in U.S. custody, was the product of months of intelligence gathering, searches, raids and, perhaps, a $25-million reward.

A few weeks ago, military and intelligence officials began a more concerted effort to penetrate Hussein's inner circle, systematically capturing or interrogating supporters and family members in the area around Tikrit, U.S. officials said.

"A combination of human intelligence tips, exceptional intelligence analytical efforts and detainee interrogations narrowed down the activities of Saddam Hussein," said Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of coalition forces in Iraq.

Over the past few weeks, as U.S. intelligence agencies began to focus on Hussein's extended family, prisoners captured in raids and intelligence tips began to lead to increasingly precise information, the Associated Press reported, quoting a U.S. official in Washington who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Gradually, CIA and military analysts narrowed their list of sites where Hussein could be hiding, the official said. On Friday, the 4th Infantry captured 22 people in the Tikrit area, and a raid on a house in Baghdad led to the capture of an Iraqi who, under questioning in the hours that followed, identified the location where Hussein was ultimately found, the New York Times reported, quoting an unnamed senior administration official.

Sanchez, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said U.S. forces questioned "five to 10 members" of a branch of Hussein's extended family. At 10:50 a.m. Saturday, Iraq time, "we got the ultimate information from one of these individuals," said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, which captured Hussein.

The military planned the raid swiftly, and about 6 p.m., the forces launched Operation Red Dawn, Sanchez said. Commanders knew their target - "We thought it was Saddam," Odierno said - but the soldiers didn't.

The Americans, 600 of them, went to a farm near Dawr, nestled among palm trees along the Tigris River about 9 miles southeast of Tikrit, the heart of Hussein's ancestral homeland and a few miles from his birthplace of Uja. One of the many palaces built by the dictator is just across the Tigris River, and Hussein used to go there to swim - most notably in a feat that became part of his legend.

In 1959, after taking part in a failed assassination attempt on then-Prime Minister Abdel-Karim Kassem, a young Hussein arrived on horseback at the edge of the Tigris at Dawr, fleeing Iraqi authorities.

He was unable to find a ride across the water so, despite a leg wound, he swam northwest across the river, to Uja. Dawr is also the hometown of one of Hussein's most trusted aides, Izzat Ibrahim, who is now the most wanted man in Iraq.

U.S. forces had been watching the area for months. Odierno said forces had patrolled the dirt road running alongside the shack, and searched the area repeatedly.

The soldiers and special operations forces backed by tanks, artillery and Apache helicopter gunships targeted two houses. Someone big was inside.

At 8 p.m. the soldiers attacked their two objectives but initially came up empty. Troops saw two men fleeing from another house about 200 yards from the original target. The men were arrested.

The troops cordoned off 1.5 square miles around the house and began a careful search, Odierno said.

What they found was a small walled compound with a metal lean-to and a mud hut, Sanchez said. One of the soldiers saw a white rug on the ground near a small tree with red flowers. It looked odd, out in the dirt. They pulled the rug aside.

Underneath was what looked like a mud-panel in the ground. They dug down, finding a plastic foam panel that covered a tiny tunnel, Odierno said. Sanchez called it a "spider-hole."

"The spider-hole is about 6 to 8 feet deep and allows enough space for a person to lie down inside of it," Sanchez said. He showed video images of an air duct and a ventilation fan.

It was 8:26 p.m. Inside lay Hussein, his salt-and-pepper beard long, his hair disheveled. He had a pistol on his lap but didn't move to use it.

The soldiers didn't recognize the wild-looking, bewildered man inside. But when they asked who he was, he gave a shocking answer.

He said he was Saddam Hussein.

"He was just caught like a rat," Odierno said.

Along with Hussein, soldiers found a knife, two AK-47 assault rifles and a suitcase with $750,000 of U.S. currency in $100 bills. They also discovered a white and orange taxicab not far away, as well as several boats at the Tigris that may have transported visitors, Odierno said.

About 9:15 p.m., a helicopter whisked Hussein away, heading south toward Baghdad, Odierno said. Officials didn't say where he was being held.

President Bush was first informed of the capture at 3:15 p.m. Eastern time Saturday (11:15 p.m. Baghdad time) by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who called the president at Camp David to tell him that he believed U.S. forces had caught Hussein.

Confirmation that the man in the hole was indeed Hussein came early Sunday, when U.S. Iraq administrator L. Paul Bremer called national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. She relayed the news to Bush in a call at 5:14 a.m.

The operation - and its dramatic conclusion - were kept secret for almost 19 hours so coalition forces could conduct health and identity checks, including DNA analysis, said members of Iraq's Governing Council.

News of Hussein's capture broke on Baghdad radio about 90 minutes before Bremer made the official announcement. Then, about 3 p.m. Sunday, Baghdad time, it came.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!" a clearly tired but jubilant Bremer proclaimed.

Five hours later, just after noon Eastern, Bush welcomed the capture of Hussein with a four-minute address to the nation.

Who squealed on Hussein? Officials won't say, and they dismissed reports that it was his second wife, Samira Shahbandar, who had been living in Lebanon with his only surviving son, Ali, 21.

But someone "close to Saddam," they said, may be entitled to $25-million.

- Information from the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, Cox News Service, Washington Post, New York Times, Knight Ridder Newspapers and Chicago Tribune was used in this report.

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