U.S.: 'We got him'
Saddam captured near Tikrit
TIKRIT, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. forces have captured Saddam Hussein in a late night raid near his hometown of Tikrit, according to the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
"Ladies and gentleman, we got him," L. Paul Bremer announced Sunday. The announcement was greeted with cheers from the audience.
Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez showed video of Saddam, who had graying hair and a long beard, undergoing a medical examination after his capture.
Several Iraqi journalists stood up and shouted "Death to Saddam" after the video was shown.
Sanchez said the former leader was not injured and has been "talkative and cooperative," after 4th Infantry Division and special operations forces nabbed him at a "rural farmhouse."
"Today is a great day for the Iraqi people and the coalition," Sanchez said.
Not a single shot was fired in "Operation Red Dawn," carried out based on intelligence gathered over several months, Sanchez said.
"This is very good news for the people of Iraq," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a statement Sunday. "It removes the shadow that has been hanging over them for too long of the nightmare of a return to the Saddam regime. This fear is now removed." (Blair reaction)
A senior U.S. official told CNN's Dana Bash in Washington that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told President Bush Saturday afternoon (EST) of the likely capture.
In Baghdad, hundreds of Iraqis flooded the streets, firing guns into the air, singing, dancing and throwing candy into the air -- celebrating the apparent capture of the man who had ruled their lives with terror and repression for more than three decades.
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. (Saddam profile)
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.
U.S. troops celebrate in Tikrit, after a raid that captured a man believed to be Saddam Hussein.
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.
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 www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/14/sprj.irq.main/index.html
Twisted thoughts run through my mind,