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| TranceFool |
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U.S. believes Saddam captured
Sunday, December 14, 2003 Posted: 6:04 AM EST (1104 GMT)
(CNN) -- Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is believed to have been captured in a raid near his hometown of Tikrit, U.S. military officials say.
However, the officials in Washington told CNN on Sunday that the identity of the individual, who was one of a number of suspected insurgents caught, was still being confirmed.
The person in U.S. custody was disguised in a fake beard when he was captured in the basement in a Tikrit building, Ahmad Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress said.
Hours after the word leaked out on the possible capture, there were volleys of what was perceived to be celebratory gunfire in Baghdad.
A coalition news conference in Baghdad, scheduled for 3 p.m (1200 GMT), is expected to shed more light on the status of the Iraqi leader.
A briefing in Madrid by the Iraqi Governing Council president and Spanish foreign minister was also expected shortly.
The raid was based on intelligence that Saddam was at a particular location in the area, the officials said.
Video following that raid -- exclusively shot by CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh -- showed a group of U.S.-led coalition soldiers patting each other on the back -- apparently in celebration -- and taking group photos in front of a military vehicle.
The 66-year-old longtime Iraqi leader was number one on the coalition's 55 most wanted list, and his evasion has been a political sore spot for the U.S. administration.
The Iraq war began on March 19 when U.S. forces launched a "decapitation attack" aimed at the Iraqi president and other top members of the country's leadership.
Hours later, a defiant Saddam wearing a military uniform appeared on Iraqi television to denounce the U.S.-led military campaign as "criminal" and to say his countrymen would be victorious.
At least a dozen audiotapes believed to have been recorded by Saddam, 66, have been released since he was forced out of power by the coalition forces during the Iraq war. The most recent was broadcast in November.
His sons Uday and Qusay -- also on the coalition's most wanted list -- were killed in July, after U.S. forces stormed their hideout in Mosul.
Initial hopes that their father would soon be found faded in the months following that raid.
Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, has been dogged by reporters wanting to know the status of the search for Saddam.
"It is difficult to find him," Sanchez said, at a press briefing earlier this month. "Given that I haven't found him killed him or captured him, and I need the Iraqi people's help, and together we will find him, we will capture him, we will kill him."
The announcement comes on the same day that 20 people were killed and 32 wounded by a car bomb outside an Iraqi police station west of Baghdad, an Iraqi police officer told CNN.
Sixteen policemen were among those killed in Sunday's explosion at Khaldiyah, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Iraqi capital, the officer added. (Full story)
-- CNN Senior Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and CNN Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf contributed to this report
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http://www.nu.nl/news.jsp?n=246025&c=23 |
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| kolkiewolkie |
| zou wel het beste wereldnieuws van 2003 zijn IMO |
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| Cosmic |
Ja!
Het is zeker dat de man die vanmorgen in Tikrit is opgepakt, Saddam Hussein is. DNA-testen hebben dat uitgewezen, zo meldt de Iraakse Regeringsraad. Ook de Britse premier Blair heeft de arrestatie van de voormalige Iraakse president bevestigd.
De verdreven Iraakse president werd gearresteerd door elitetroepen van de Patriottische Unie van Koerdistan, samen met Amerikaanse speciale eenheden. De arrestatie was het gevolg van een aantal invallen in Tikrit, de geboorteplaats van Saddam ten noorden van Bagdad.
Saddam zou door Koerdische militairen zijn gevonden in een kelder. Bij zijn arrestatie droeg hij een witte plakbaard. Toen Amerikaanse militairen deze baard eraf trokken, zouden zij hem gevraagd hebben: "Bent u het?". De arrestant antwoordde daarop: "Ja, ik ben het".
Wel droog, dat laatste zinnetje. :D
Het duurde effe, maar eindelijk hebben ze hem.
Nu nog Bin :D |
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| sndh |
| en de massamoordenaars in het witte huis en capitol hill .... |
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| franzelare |
Ik geloof er geen reet van!
ze hebben gewoon een keer goed nieuws nodig omdat die oorlog zo kut verloopt.
dus van vangen ze hem zogenaamd maar... |
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