Saddam Hussein Caught!

Got Him
Saddam Hussein Captured Near Tikrit By U.S. Forces

B A G H D A D, Iraq, Dec. 13 ? Deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has been captured near his home town of Tikrit, the U.S. military has confirmed.

Saddam, who ruled Iraq for 23 years until his ouster in April, has been a fugitive since then with a $25 million bounty on his head.

In an address to the nation, President Bush gave the following message to Iraqis: "You do not have to fear the rule of Saddam Hussein ever again."

He said Saddam's capture will bring sovereignty and dignity to Iraq and the opportunity for a better life. "It is the end of the road for him," he said. "And for the Baathists, there will be no return to priviliege in Iraq."

"Iraqis who have chosen the side of freedom, now have won," said President Bush.

Confirmation of Saddam's capture came at a news conference in Baghdad after rumors swirled through the Iraqi capital.

The U.S. administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, opened the press conference with the words, "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him."

"This is a great day in Iraq's history," Bremer said. "The tyrant is a prisoner."

Copyright © 2003 ABCNEWS Internet Ventures

Very welcome news indeed!

More links:

Full statement by Paul Bremer

Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.

Saddam Hussein was captured Saturday 13 December at about 2030 local, in a cellar in the town of al-Dawr which is about 15 kilometres south of Tikrit.

Before Dr Pachachi, who is the acting president of the governing council, and Lieutenant General Sanchez [the top US military commander in Iraq] speak, I want to say a few words to the people of Iraq.

This is a great day in Iraq's history.

For decades, hundreds of thousands of you suffered at the hands of this cruel man.

For decades, Saddam Hussein divided you citizens against each other.

For decades, he threatened an attack on your neighbours.

Those days are over forever.

Now it is time to look to the future, to your future of hope, to a future of reconciliation.

Iraq's future, your future, has never been more full of hope.

The tyrant is a prisoner.

The economy is moving forward. You have before you the prospect of a sovereign government in a few months.

With the arrest of Saddam Hussein, there is a new opportunity for the members of the former regime to end their bitter opposition.

Let them now come forward in a spirit of reconciliation and hope, lay down their arms, and join you, their fellow citizens, in the task of building the new Iraq.

Now is the time for all Iraqis - Arabs and Kurds, Sunnis, Shia, Christian and Turkmen - to build a prosperous, democratic Iraq, at peace with itself and with its neighbours.

© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2003.

Bush: Saddam Capture Ends 'Dark, Painful Era'

Iraqi journalists in the audience stood, pointed and shouted "Death to Saddam!" and "Down with Saddam!"

In the capital, radio stations played celebratory music, residents fired small arms in the air in celebration, and others drove through the streets, shouting, "They got Saddam! They got Saddam!"

Will Iraqs settle for a warcrimes, human rights, or other kind of trial? They've got decades of anger stored up for this jerk.

UPDATE(12:07pm)
I disagree with John J. Miller:

Three quick thoughts: 1) Between Hussein and Osama bin Laden, Hussein was the more desirable target

No, bin Laden is more important because bin Laden has a better idea of the ACTUAL THREAT we face from terrorists. That's the WHOLE POINT of the War on Terror, right? To protect Americans!

Similarly, I think Kathryn Jean Lopez's WAITING for the first anchor to say "Yeah, BUT Where's Osama?" is wrongly snide. It IS important to keep Osama in mind.

UPDATE(2:40pm)
The disconnect between reality and some in the Arab world is amazing.

Arabs share little of world joy over Saddam's capture

Eyes riveted to the television screen in a Cairo coffee shop, several Egyptians worried about this "American victory" and feared it would ensure the re-election of President George W. Bush next year. "It's not Saddam that they should arrest," blurted out Aziz al-Shaburi, a 34-year-old government employee when he saw television images showing an American medic inspecting a bearded Saddam's mouth.

"They would have been better to capture (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon, the real war criminal," he said, eliciting applause from other patrons in the Awlad al-Hareth cafe.

[...]

"Everybody knows who the real murderers are, they are the murderers of the Palestinians," Abdel Hamid said. "Why did no Arab king offer 25 million dollars for Sharon's arrest?" he asked, referring to Washington's reward for the capture of Saddam.

Sharon is worse than Saddam, and this was explicitly put in terms of body counts. That's insane.

Mustafa Bakri, the pro-Saddam editor in chief of the independent Egyptian weekly Al-Osbou, then appeared on the television saying: "It's a black day in the history of the Arabs. It's a humiliation. "It's Bush, Blair, Berlusconi, Aznar and Sharon who should be put on trial," said Bakri, who had organized several solidarity trips from Cairo to Bagdhad before US troops invaded in March.

Copyright © 2003 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.

If removing Saddam is a black day, then there is no hope for reform in the Middle East.

UPDATE(12/15/2003 1:22am)
Billy Beck is thinking along the same lines. The intellectual development over there is truely stagnant. It's bad in the West and the United States, but DAMN does it suck in the Middle East.

UPDATE(1:40am)
I have more than a few ideological alliances with Tim Blair, but this is too far. Since he's trying to refine the analogy to a personal level, what he's complaining about is fundamentally no different than a lefitst bitching at a businessman over divulging his political contributions for the last five years or, more aptly, at a firearm owner for not submitting to mandatory home police inspections to see if he's storing his rifles and pistols safely.

The jubilation of catching Saddam is fraying minds.

UPDATE(3:25pm)
More in the next post. Andrew Sullivan has lost it.

UPDATED 11/6/2006 9:05am
Sic Semper Tyrannis; Saddam Gets the Death Penalty

Posted by Drizzten at December 14, 2003 11:41 AM