Saddam Hussein's Capture
On December 13, 2003, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was captured by his hometown of Tikri, Iraq. The former Iraqi dictator, who ruled for 23 years, was captured that Saturday at 8:30 p.m. in the cellar of a farmhouse in the town of Adwar, 10 miles from Tikrit, ending one of the most intense manhunts in history. Saddam has been on the run since the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces on April 9. Operation Red Dawn was the name of the operation that was to capture Saddam Hussein. During this operation, the soldiers got lots of intelligence about Hussein’s whereabouts and knew he would rely on his family and followers. Troops with Task Force 21, the special forces unit set up to go after Saddam, surrounded a farmhouse and looked for the ex-dictator in two specific locations called Wolverine One and Wolverine Two but initially did not locate him. The search of the home continued and troops discovered something in the ground called a spider hole. The hole was six to eight feet deep, with enough space to lie down, camouflaged with bricks and dirt and supplied with an air vent to allow long periods inside. That’s where they found Hussein hiding, when they brought him out of the hole he was disoriented and bewildered. When Hussein was first captured, he had a long white beard that was then shaven to confirm his identity and was described as being in good health.