The world learned of the capture of the most
wanted man in Iraq, when former American Administrator in Iraq Paul Bremer
told a news conference in Baghdad, "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him."
It was December 13th, eight months after coalition forces seized
control with Baghdad.
Arab and Iraqi reporters attending the news conference, stood and
cheered for several minutes.
Iraqis began celebrating in the streets of the capital.
Baghdad University college student Alia Hadi, remembers.
The second-year college student says she was very glad to see Saddam
Hussein on the television, looking confused from hiding in a hole. She
says this was the last right of all Iraqis, to see their God punish him
like he punished the Iraqis. She says he should be prosecuted and put to
death.
At about 8:30 at night, the once defiant 66-year-old former dictator was
found hiding in a small hole, near a farmhouse about 15 kilometers south
of his hometown, Tikrit.
His arrest occurred as the result of
information provided by former bodyguards and relatives of people close to
the former Iraqi president.
$750,000 in cash, two AK-47 machine guns and a pistol were in his
possession. But, he gave up without a fight. One of the American
commanders involved in the capture says Saddam Hussein was "caught like a
rat."
With long hair and a long graying beard, Saddam Hussein looked confused
and very tired. Within hours of his capture, a videotape was released,
showing a doctor examining the former dictator, including an examination
of his teeth. It was not an image most Iraqis ever expected to see.
The general manager of Radio Dijla, a station that broadcasts the views
and opinions of Iraqis, is Karim Yousef.
Mr. Yousef says many Iraqis were saddened to see Saddam Hussein
captured in this way. He says Saddam held the power of Iraq for 35 years
and many people considered him to be a brave and powerful man. He says it
was sad to see Saddam looking so confused, with his long hair and beard.
Such images of the former dictator angered some Iraqis, who saw the
video as an attempt to embarrass Saddam Hussein. However, Baghdad
University political-science professor Abdel Jabbar Abdullah, says he
believes the images of Saddam were broadcast in an attempt to send a
message.
"They deliberately show us this picture in order to send some message,
not to the Iraqi people, to all Arab homelands to tell them that this is
the future of your ruler, unless you cooperate with the American strategy
in this region," he says.
Pentagon officials said it was necessary to show proof to the Iraqi
people that Saddam Hussein had been taken into custody, because many
Iraqis were afraid the former dictator would, one day, return to power.
Today, the former Iraqi leader sits in a jail cell in the Baghdad area.
He is expected to go before an Iraqi war crimes tribunal some time in the
coming year.
Iraqi officials who have seen the former leader have
say he remains unapologetic to
the Iraqi people.
But, according to potential future candidate for prime minister of
Iraq, Nadim al-Jabbri, whether Saddam Hussein ever apologizes makes very
little difference.
Mr. al-Jabbri says he knew that God would create this destiny for
Saddam Hussein because he killed so many Iraqis. He says God has always
intended to punish Saddam, just as Saddam punished his own
people. |