The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Baghdad - Without firing a shot, American forces captured a bearded and haggard-looking Saddam Hussein in a dirt pit across a river from one of his former palaces near his hometown of Tikrit, ending one of the most intensive manhunts in history. In the capital, radio stations played celebratory music, residents fired small arms in the air in celebration and passengers on buses and trucks shouted, "They got Saddam! They got Saddam!" U.S. military showed video of the ousted leader, bearded and dishevelled, being examined by a military doctor. "The former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions," U.S. President George W. Bush said in a midday televised address from the White House. Tikrit, Iraq - Saddam Hussein was captured based on information from a member of a family "close to him," Maj.-Gen. Raymond Odierno said. The commander of the 4th Infantry Division that captured Saddam, said over the last 10 days soldiers have questioned "five to 10 members" of families "close to Saddam." "Finally we got the ultimate information from one of these individuals." About 600 soldiers conducted the raid Saturday night near the village of Adwar, finding Saddam in a hole covered by Styrofoam and a carpet beside a two-room shack. When soldiers pulled the bearded man from the hole, he said, "he was very much bewildered."12/15/2003
