Military Saddam Hussein Iraq example essay topic

U.S. military: Saddam documents lead to arrests Deposed Iraqi leader not cooperating, sources say Monday, December 15, 2003 Posted: 9: 09 AM EST (1409 GMT) An image released by the U.S. Army shows Saddam after he was captured. Story Tools ON CNN TV Watch CNN's ongoing live coverage of news of the capture of Saddam Hussein, now on-air. VIDEO Saddam to U.S. troops: 'I want to negotiate. ' PLAY VIDEO U.S. officials begin interrogating Saddam. PLAY VIDEO Two deadly car bombings in Baghdad. PLAY VIDEO Saddam's capture evokes joy, rage in Iraqis.

PLAY VIDEO President stops short of calling capture a turning point for military mission. PLAY VIDEO Tracking down bin Laden a more difficult task. PLAY VIDEO Inside Saddam's 'spider hole' PLAY VIDEO General describes the capture PLAY VIDEO International reaction PLAY VIDEO RELATED Timeline: The end of the hunt Audio Slide Show: Capture of Saddam TIME. com: Inside the daring raid On the Scene: Satinder Bindra: 'Game over' Special Report: Coalition fatalities o Behind the Scenes: Something big was happening o On The Scene: Iraqis must be top priority o On the Scene: Europe reacts o CNN Access: How Saddam should be treated o Car bombs kill at least 6 o Bush: Saddam will face justice o Iraq debates Saddam's fate SPECIAL REPORT o How Saddam was captured o Saddam's brutal regime o Blair: Shadow removed o Mideast leaders welcome news o Gallery: Saddam's capture o Map: Site of capture o Interactive: Most-wanted Iraqis o CNN Arabic. com QUICK VOTE Will the capture of Saddam Hussein help bring stability to Iraq? Yes No VIEW RESULTS YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Military Saddam Hussein Iraq or Create your own Manage alerts | What is this? BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. military officials said Monday they had arrested several resistance leaders in Baghdad based on documents found when Saddam Hussein was captured.

Officials said that some of the documents detailed a meeting of resistance cell leaders -- and included their names. Yet the deposed Iraqi leader who eluded coalition forces since the capital fell in March is replying to interrogators' questions with nationalist or patriotic rhetoric, military and other sources told CNN. "For example, he was offered a glass of water, and Saddam said, 'Well, if I take that glass of water I will have to urinate, and if I have to urinate, I will have to go to the bathroom, and how can I possibly go to the bathroom when my people are enslaved?' " Time magazine correspondent Brian Bennett said. A senior U.S. official said that in the first interrogation Sunday, the former Iraqi leader "was a wise ass", or in other words, that he gave only defiant and unhelpful answers.

Several sources agree that Saddam identified himself upon his capture and cooperated with U.S. forces who transported him. He also submitted to a medical examination. But, Bennett said, he has refused to answer questions about the location of resistance cells and would not say whether he was communicating with resistance leaders. Officials declined to say where Saddam is being held, except that he is at a U.S. military facility. Bennett said intelligence officials were hopeful they could dismantle part of the resistance structure using documents found with Saddam that detailed the minutes of a meeting of cell leaders in Baghdad, including their names. Two senior Bush administration officials told CNN that Saddam also has told his captors he did not have weapons of mass destruction before the war.

Bennett, speaking from Baghdad, said the former Iraqi leader asserted that the United States invented the presence of WMD to justify an invasion of his country. "He also said he didn't play nice with U.N. [weapons] inspectors so that he could protect the privacy of his presidential areas", Bennett said on CNN's "Newsnight", quoting a U.S. official in Iraq who had seen an initial interrogation report. For a man who killed tens of thousands of people and tortured his enemies, Saddam was taken into custody in a surprisingly peaceful manner, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday night on CBS' "60 Minutes". Eight months after Baghdad fell, U.S. soldiers found the former leader of Iraq hiding in a hole in the ground about 6-8 feet deep.

Saddam was captured about nine miles from his hometown of Tikrit and across the Tigris River from one of his lavish palaces. Saddam had a pistol but was taken into custody without firing it. "Here was a man who was photographed hundreds of times shooting off rifles and showing how tough he was, and in fact, he wasn't very tough, he was cowering in a hole in the ground, and had a pistol and didn't use it and certainly did not put up any fight at all", Rumsfeld said. "In the last analysis, he seemed not terribly brave". The 66-year-old longtime Iraqi leader was No. 1 on the coalition's list of 55 most-wanted regime figures, and his evasion has been a political sore spot for the U.S. administration. (Saddam profile) Saddam to troops: 'I want to negotiate' Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said 600 4th Infantry Division soldiers and special operations forces from Task Force 121 -- a unit set up to capture high-profile targets -- staged the operation based on an accumulation of intelligence capped by information from an Iraqi under interrogation that Saddam might be in one of two locations in Ad Dawn.

When the initial raids failed to find him, the troops launched a "cordon and search" operation that eventually brought their attention to a ramshackle compound near a farmhouse that was one of the targeted locations, said Maj. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division troops. Inside the small, walled compound, Odierno said, soldiers found a small, two-room adobe hut that included a kitchen with running water. Inside the hut, soldiers found clothes -- some still in their packaging -- and outside, beneath a rug covering a piece of Styrofoam, they found the entrance to the hole where Saddam was hiding. Sanchez said the "spider hole" had a rudimentary ventilation system and was infested with mice and rats.

When the soldiers first found Saddam, he raised his hands above his head, military officials said. "I am Saddam Hussein", he said, according to the officials. "I am the president of Iraq and I want to negotiate". The U.S. soldiers reportedly responded: "President Bush sends his regards."No way he could fight back", Odierno said. (Gallery: Saddam's capture) "He was caught like a rat". (Audio Slide Show: The capture of Saddam Hussein) Exclusive CNN video shot after the raid showed soldiers on the scene patting each other on the back -- apparently in celebration -- and taking group photos in front of a military vehicle.

(On the Scene: Alphonso Van Marsh) U.S. forces found weapons and about $750,000 in U.S. $100 bills with Saddam, Sanchez said. Troops also found two AK-47's, a pistol, and a white and orange taxi. Saddam's long, graying beard was shaved and his hair trimmed for identification purposes, military officials said. Pedestrians in downtown Hong Kong watch footage of captured Saddam Hussein on a large screen.

Members of the U.S. -appointed Iraqi Governing Council visited Saddam on Sunday and said they found him "tired and haggard, unrepentant, even defiant". Four members of the council called the former ruler "a just but firm ruler". Adnan Pachachi, a leading member of the council, said Saddam would be tried by Iraqis for crimes against Iraqis. "There will be a public hearing", Pachachi said. "A trial that is open". (Saddam's future) Saddam's capture was based not on a direct tip, but a collection of intelligence gathered from the hostile questioning of Saddam's former bodyguards and family members, U.S. officials said Sunday.

"Over the last 10 days or so we brought in about five to 10 members who then were able to give us more information and finally we got the ultimate information from one of these individuals", Odierno said Sunday. No one is likely to receive the $25 million offered for Saddam's capture, since most of the information that led to his capture was given up under hostile questioning, U.S. officials said. Bush: Saddam will 'face the justice he denied to millions' President Bush, in a short televised address Sunday from the White House, said Saddam will "face the justice he denied to millions. For the Baathist holdouts responsible for the violence, there will be no return to the corrupt power and privilege they once held."This afternoon I have a message for the Iraqi people: This is further assurance that the torture chambers and the secret police are gone forever.

You will not have to fear the rule of Saddam Hussein ever again". (Full story) Rumsfeld said the United States has not decided whether to classify Saddam as a prisoner of war but that it would abide by the Geneva Conventions in its treatment. Saddam's capture was also praised by officials from France, Russia and Germany, who opposed the war. A statement from French President Jacques Chirac said: "The president is delighted with Saddam Hussein's arrest".

(World leaders unite in cheering capture; Middle East leaders welcome news) In Baghdad, Iraqis took to the streets dancing, doling out candy and firing rifles into the air. (On the Scene: Satinder Bindra) But in Tikrit, a base of Saddam loyalists, the streets were quiet. (Map: Site of Saddam Hussein's capture) Coincidentally, senior CIA officials are scheduled to meet Monday to discuss the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, officials said. The session was scheduled before Saddam's capture. If the meeting takes place as scheduled, officials said it will have "quite a different tone".

They said that if Saddam is willing, he could be the best possible source on the location of any concealed weapons in Iraq. U.S. officials cautioned Sunday that Saddam's capture would not mean the end of violence in Iraq. On Monday, two almost-simultaneous car bombings outside Iraqi police stations left several people dead, Iraqi officials said. (Full story) CNN's Nic Robertson, Jamie McIntyre, Barbara Starr, Jane Array, Al Goodman, Alphonso Van Marsh, John King, David Ensor and Satinder Bindra contributed to this report.