BillyC

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/i...m-caught_x.htm

'The tyrant is a prisoner,' Bremer says after Saddam captured in Iraq
By Steven Komarow, USA TODAY
BAGHDAD — U.S. troops captured Saddam Hussein, ending an eight-month manhunt and erasing the final vestige of a regime that has been the target of two wars and has preoccupied U.S. foreign policy for more than a decade.

U.S. soldiers found a bearded Saddam Hussein trying to bury himself in a cellar in Tikrit.
MSNBC

The 66-year-old former dictator, bearded and haggard, was pulled from an eight-foot-deep hole in the ground in a rural area just a few miles from his hometown of Tikrit, 90 miles north of Baghdad.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!" Paul Bremer, administrator of the U.S. occupation, announced to reporters a short time later. "The tyrant is a prisoner."

Even before the announcement, celebratory gunfire rang through the air as rumors of Saddam's capture spread across Iraq. But many questions remained unanswered, including whether the capture would curtail violence in the country that has persisted since President Bush declared the end of major combat operations on May 1.

"We do not expect at this point in time that we will have a complete elimination of those attacks," said Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, ground force commander. A car bomb exploded Sunday at a police station in Khalidiyah, in western Iraq, killing at least 17 — the worst such incident in at least four months.

The capture of Saddam, who oppressed millions while he built himself gilded palaces of marble and stone, ended a frustrating eight-month search. He was last seen in public in early April, just before U.S. troops captured Baghdad. Although out of power, his continued freedom was seen as a major impediment to progress. His supporters continued to rally while other Iraqis still feared that he could return to power.

saint5221

He was armed when they came to get him and just rolled over without a fight. All his tough talk and he went down like nothing. Glad he didn\'t shoot himself the trial will be a fitting end and great humiliation to his followers. The sad thing is his new cell is far better than the rat hole they found him in. Great day for our troops over there, hope this stops the tide of daily deaths and gets our boys home sooner.

[Edited on 12/14/2003 by saint5221]