Saddam captured: 'Ladies and gentlemen - we got him'

BAGHDAD - Triumphant coalition leaders in Iraq early this morning announced the capture of Saddam Hussein.

The United States Administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, greeted a press conference with the words: "Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him."

Cheering erupted from Iraqis in the news conference.

On the streets of Baghdad, crowds were already celebrating. UnconfIrmed reports of the deposed tyrant's capture had emerged more than an hour earlier.

Bremer said Saddam had been found at 8.30pm Saturday Iraqi time (6.30am Sunday NZ time) in a town 15km south of Tikrit.

"This is a great day for Iraq," Bremer said.

He appealed to "members of the former regime to now end their bitter opposition" to the US occupation.

The press conference was shown a short video of a bearded Saddam shortly after he had been pulled from his hole in the ground.

Iraqis at the press conference broke into further cheers at the sight of the despot undergoing a beard and mouth search at the hands of his captors.

Saddam had eluded US troops since he was driven from power in April. He was found hiding in a cellar in his home town.

He dug a hole and buried himself as US soldiers moved into the house where he was hiding, an Iraqi official said early today and the American soldiers dug him out with shovels.

Saddam had a salt-and-pepper beard when he was captured. Soldiers photographed him, shaved the beard and photographed him again before running DNA tests.

Iraqi and American officials said the DNA tests had confirmed his identity.

Amid scenes of undisguised jubilation at US headquarters in Baghdad, Lieutenant-General Ricardo Sanchez played the video of the 66-year-old ousted leader undergoing a medical examination which appeared to include the taking of saliva swabs for DNA testing.

Sanchez also showed a still photograph, apparently taken later, of a shaven Saddam.

Across the capital, gunfire crackled in celebration.

Joy greeted final proof that the man who terrorised his people for 30 years and led them into three disastrous wars was now behind bars and facing trial, even possible execution, at Iraqi hands.

"There were no injuries. Not a single shot was fired," said Sanchez, adding that Saddam seemed "tired and resigned".

Ordinary Iraqis fired into the air and took to the streets.

In Baghdad they drove around town honking their car horns and giving the V for victory sign.

In the northern city of Kirkuk in the Kurdish north, thousands took to the streets to celebrate. Similar scenes were reported in the mainly Shi'ite southern port city of Basra.

The first rumour of the capture came shortly before midnight New Zealand time from Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani.

Soon afterwards, British Prime Minister Tony Blair confirmed the arrest.

The Pentagon was at first cautious, saying only that it believed its troops had probably caught the former dictator.

"He was found in what appeared to be an attempt to disguise himself in a beard," said a Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Saddam was among a number of people taken into custody, the official said, during what was described as a successful raid.

Washington's Iraqi allies, including Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi as well as a British diplomatic source, told Reuters that Saddam was in US custody.

"He was dug out from a cellar," Chalabi told Reuters.

The 66-year-old former leader has been on the run since US forces took Baghdad on April 9.

Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay, killed by US troops in July, were identified after comparisons with family DNA samples.

Saddam would be put on trial, Chalabi added. A tribunal system for Iraqis to try Saddam and fellow Baathist leaders was set up only last week.

"This is good for Iraq. He will be put on trial. Let him face justice," said Chalabi, who returned after the invasion from years in US exile.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called President Bush, who was spending part of the weekend at his Camp David retreat in Maryland, around midday yesterday to deliver the news of the raid's possible success.

Just after 5am Sunday morning (11pm NZT), national security adviser Condoleezza Rice called Bush - by now back at the White House - to say the person in custody had been confirmed to be Hussein, the official said.

The president had returned to Washington late yesterday to be back in town before a snowstorm hit the capital.

Aides rushed in to the White House from miles away early today, but it was still a relatively quiet day as news of Saddam's capture spread and was confirmed by a news conference in Baghdad.

Aides delivered no official reaction, despite the long-sought development that could bring significant vindication for the war Bush started nine months ago.

Dramatic military strikes came up empty in their efforts to kill Saddam at the start of the war.

Since then, he has appeared in both video and audio tapes. US officials named him No 1 on their list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis and the ace of spades in a special deck of most-wanted cards.

The word came just hours after the latest major attack on Washington's Iraqi allies, with a suspected suicide car bomber killing at least 17 people and wounding 33 at an Iraqi police station in the restive town of Khalidiyah, west of Baghdad.

The capture of Saddam is a major morale boost for US troops in Iraq, who have been under daily attack from shadowy guerrillas, some of whom they believe may have been directed by the former president from hiding.

Washington had placed a $25 million reward on his head.

An informer was paid $30 million and given refuge in the United States for turning in Uday and Qusay.

US officials had said Saddam had eluded American troops by moving every few hours, probably in disguise and aided by members of his clan in the Sunni Muslim areas around Tikrit, north of Baghdad.

Tony Blair said the capture "has lifted a shadow from the people of Iraq. Saddam will not be returning.

He said Saddam's capture opened the way for him to be tried in an Iraqi court.

"I very much welcome the capture last night of Saddam Hussein," he said. "I pay tribute to the work of the coalition intelligence and military forces in capturing him.

"This is very good news for the people of Iraq.

"The fear is now removed and it gives us an opportunity to take a step forward in Iraq."

Blair appealed for Iraq's Sunni community and former Ba'athist officials to take the opportunity for reconciliation.

"We should try now to unite the whole of Iraq in rebuilding the country and offering it a new future."


Herald Feature: Iraq