Iraq

Saddam Hussein: Answering some key questions

How did the U.S. find him?

A family close to Saddam Hussein provided the information that led to his capture, said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, the commander of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division. "Finally we got the ultimate information" from one of the family members, he said. Some 600 troops from the Fort Hood, Texas-based 4th Infantry along with Special Forces captured Hussein at 12:30 p.m. EST Saturday in a walled farm compound in Dawr, a town 10 miles from Tikrit. There were no shots fired or injuries in the raid, called "Operation Red Dawn."

In the farm courtyard there was a small cellar with a 6-foot-deep vertical tunnel that flattened out to provide space to lie down. A pipe leading to the surface provided fresh air. Bricks and dirt camouflaged the entrance. Hussein carried a pistol but didn't fire it. The farm was across the Tigris River from one of his palaces. Two men were detained with him, and U.S. soldiers confiscated weapons, a taxi and $750,000 in $100 bills.

He was described as "very disoriented" as soldiers brought him out of the hole; later as "a tired man, a man resigned to his fate." But Adel Abdel-Mahdi, a senior official of a Shiite Muslim political party who, visited Hussein in captivity, found him "unrepentant and defiant. When we told him, "If you go to the streets now, you will see the people celebrating,' he answered, "Those are mobs.' When we told him about the mass graves, he replied, "Those are thieves.' "

He is being held and interrogated at an undisclosed location. His questioners are initially focusing on his knowledge of the current guerrilla war. Of secondary concern is whether he will shed light on the many unresolved questions about Iraq's alleged efforts to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and his government's ties to terrorism.

According to Time magazine, no. Asked whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, he replied, "No, of course not," according to Time. "The U.S. dreamed them up itself to have a reason to go to war with us."

It will mean, hopefully, a reduction in violent resistance. But even that is uncertain. Maj. Gen. Odierno of the 4th Infantry said the ousted leader did not appear to be directly organizing resistance, noting no communication devices were found in his hiding place.

U.S. authorities have not yet said what his status will be. Leading members of the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council said they would put Hussein on trial in Baghdad under a tribunal agreement reached with Washington only last week. Amnesty International said Sunday that Hussein should be given POW status and allowed visits by the International Red Cross.

It's a big boost. But the election is still almost a year away, and events in Iraq could still follow an uncertain course. In the near future, it may offer some comfort to James Baker, the former secretary of state, who leaves today to persuade European opponents of the Iraq war to help reduce the country's estimated $120-billion foreign debt.

Bush was told that Hussein may have been captured on Saturday afternoon and was given confirmation early Sunday. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the president, who was spending part of the weekend at Camp David, Saturday afternoon to deliver the news of the raid's possible success. Just after 5 a.m. Sunday, Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Iraq, called national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to confirm that the person in custody was Hussein. Rice immediately informed Bush, by then back at the White House.

Yes, they're sure. U.S. officials waited to make a public announcement until medical tests and testing confirmed Hussein's identity. Hussein had admitted his identity when captured, and some marks on his body and other information gave the U.S. military an initial confirmation. President Bush was told when the DNA match was confirmed.

Positively, for the most part. Over the long haul reaction might be more complex. In the capital, radio stations played celebratory music, residents fired small arms in the air and passengers on buses and trucks shouted, "They got Saddam!" But there was virtual silence in Hussein's Sunni Muslim power base of Tikrit. Some in Iraq, and elsewhere in the Arab world, see Hussein's capture as just another humiliation at the hands of the West, even if they did not like the man.

Possibly. The U.S. occupation authority suspended use of the death penalty, but Iraqi officials have said they might reinstate it when a transitional government assumes sovereignty next July. "We want Saddam to get what he deserves," said Amar al-Hakim, a leader of the powerful Shiite party.

Iraq's war crimes tribunal would cover crimes committed from July 17, 1968 - the day Hussein's Baath Party came to power - until May 1, 2003, the day President Bush declared major hostilities over. The tribunal would try cases stemming from mass executions of Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s, as well as the suppression of uprisings by Kurds and Shiite Muslims soon after the 1991 Gulf War. It would also try cases committed against Iran, with which Iraq fought a bloody 1980-88 war, and against Kuwait, which Iraq invaded in 1990. Prosecutors will use documents seized from the former regime and evidence from the excavation of some of the 270 mass graves in Iraq that may hold the remains of many thousands of people.

We may have to wait until he tells us, but he might have thought it safer to stay near his underground hiding place than risk travel. He also may not have felt welcome in neighboring countries - the U.S. leaned heavily on Syria, for example - and that would have made him fear betrayal.

It's not clear. The U.S. authorities offered $15-million each for the sons, Uday and Qusay, who were killed in a raid by U.S. troops on July 22. So $30-million was paid to one individual, but Washington has never indicated who it was.

Some think so. Afghan officials praised the capture and said it might blunt the growing insurgency there. "This is a warning to all the other outlaws who are at large," said Omar Samad, a spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Ministry. Bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the mountainous no-man's land between Pakistan and Afghanistan, possibly drawing the support of deeply conservative tribal villagers who share his hardline vision of Islam. Taliban rebels and their al-Qaida allies have been waging an ever-fiercer campaign against U.S. troops, the Afghan government and aid workers seeking to rebuild the country.

Hussein's capture leaves 13 figures still at large from the original list of 55. The highest ranking among them is Izzat Ibrahim, a close Hussein aide who U.S. officials have said may be directly organizing resistance.

After the Iraq war in March, Samira Shahbandar, Hussein's second wife, said she crossed the border into Syria, then traveled to Beirut, where she was given a Lebanese passport. She said Hussein had given her $5-million in cash and a hoard of jewelry and gold before sending her and his 21-year-old son, Ali, over the border into Syria. Hussein's two elder sons, Qusay and Uday, were killed by U.S. forces in the war. Their mother and Hussein's first wife, Sajida, is thought to be in Syria.

- This Q & A was assembled by Times researchers Caryn Baird and John Martin and staff writer David Ballingrud.

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