Iraq

At CentCom, capture sets wheels in motion

TAMPA - U.S. military commanders in Qatar could not believe it when they got word that Saddam Hussein had been captured.

While excited, they had little time to celebrate. The immediate challenge was what to do next.

What, for example, was Hussein's legal status? Where would coalition forces hold him? How would the coalition prepare Iraqis? Where was an estimated $1-billion believed to be under his control?

Military commanders also thought about how to exploit the confusion, the jubilation and the fear that Hussein's capture would generate in Iraq.

In an interview Wednesday at MacDill Air Force Base, Lt. Gen. Lance L. Smith, the deputy commander at the U.S. Central Command, sketched the details surrounding Hussein's capture on Saturday.

Smith said coalition forces had been targeting "enablers," including former cooks, friends and mistresses of Hussein, to get information about his whereabouts.

Last Friday, the strategy paid off.

An enabler "broke," Smith said, and led the coalition to his hideout.

What was different about his information, compared with thousands of previous tips, Smith said, was this: "He ... was more convincing."

Coalition forces identified Hussein after his capture by his tattoos and his wounds. And he identified himself as the president of Iraq.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq, contacted Gen. John P. Abizaid, the Central Command commander, at his headquarters in Qatar, to share the news.

Smith, who was named deputy commander in October, returned to Tampa on Tuesday night.

The initial reaction to Hussein's capture was disbelief and excitement, and almost immediately, the military leaders sat down to decide what to do next.

After reaching Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and fielding a call from President Bush, Abizaid and his staff watched the video of the coalition operation captured by a Predator drone.

"He's still a symbol," Smith said of Hussein.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright