EFL:
"My name is Saddam Hussein," the fallen Iraqi leader told U.S. troops in English as they pulled him out of a dank hole that had become his home. "I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate."
U.S. Special Forces replied: "Regards from President Bush."
"I got your negotiation right here, pal."
The exchange, recounted by Maj. Bryan Reed, operations officer for the 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division one day after Saddam’s capture was announced, suggested the Iraqi leader may be willing to tell U.S. intelligence what he knows. Of the most immediate importance would be any information on the insurgency that has taken the lives of nearly 200 American soldiers.
He’s not going to talk without giggle juice.
Saddam’s exact whereabouts Monday were unclear. U.S. officials said only he had been moved to a secure location. The Dubai-based Arab TV station Al-Arabiya said he was taken to Qatar, though that could not be confirmed.
CENTCOM forward HQ is in Qatar, makes sense.
The former dictator - one of the world’s most-wanted fugitives - was captured by Special Forces during a massive raid on a farmhouse near Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit, according to Capt. Desmond Bailey. Troops from the 4th Infantry Division guarded the area while Special Forces found Saddam and pulled him out of the narrow hole. "We have him," they radioed to division commanders nearby, Bailey said. Saddam was then quickly taken away from the scene.
"It’s Miller Time!"
The tip off came from an individual who was arrested in Baghdad Friday and brought to Tikrit Saturday morning for an interrogation that made clear Saddam was in the area, according to Col. James Hickey, who led the raid. Soldiers were seconds away from throwing a hand grenade into the hole when Saddam surrendered, Hickey said.
"Fire in the hole!"
"Hey, wait, I give up!"
The lack of communications equipment in Saddam’s cramped quarters indicated the ousted dictator was not commanding the resistance, Odierno said.
He didn’t have a phone for fear of being traced.
"He was just caught like a rat," said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, whose 4th Infantry Division troops staged the raid. "When you’re in the bottom of a hole you can’t fight back."
In other news, rats protested being compared to Saddam.
However, during his arrest U.S. troops discovered "descriptive written material of significant value," a U.S. commander told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity. He declined to say whether the material related to the anti-coalition resistance.
They have already bagged another former big shot, name unknown, from a lead developed from evidence found here. Developing. |