December 14, 2003

SADDAM

Has Saddam been caught?

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)--Saddam Hussein has been captured alive in his hometown of Tikrit, a member of the U.S.-appointed Governing Council said Sunday.

Council member Dara Noor al-Din told The Associated Press that the council was informed of the former dictator's capture in a telephone call from L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator for Iraq.

Fox says yes:

Saddam Hussein (search), the former Iraqi dictator and most-wanted figure by the U.S.-led coalition, has been captured in Iraq, U.S. officials told Fox News.

It’s looking good:

ABC News, The Associated Press and CNN are reporting that U.S. officials in Iraq may have captured former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

No local television is reporting anything yet. Kirkuk is celebrating:

A rumour that Saddam Hussein was captured or killed near his hometown of Tikrit sent hundreds of exultant people into the streets of this northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk today.

They fired in the air in celebration and congratulated each other.

An announcement on this from the US is expected in 23 minutes. The Kurds are already calling it:

Saddam Hussein, the former President of the former Iraqi regime, was captured by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Kurdish sources close to KurdishMedia.com said.

The bodyguards of Mr Kosrat Rassul, the high ranking member of the PUK, found Saddam Hussein in the city of Tikrit, his birthplace. Kosrat’s team was accompanied by a group of US-soldiers.

Further details of the capture will emerge during the day; but the Kurdish party all over the world is about to begin.

They won't be alone. Latest: Tony Blair says we’ve got the bastard:

Prime Minister Tony Blair confirmed Sunday that deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had been captured alive in Iraq, saying in a statement that Saddam was apprehended Saturday night.

"I very much welcome the capture last night of Saddam Hussein," the prime minister, U.S. President George W. Bush's closest ally in the Iraqi war, said in a statement released by his office. "This is very good news for the people of Iraq. 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," the statement continued.

Time magazine adds:

Celebratory gunfire erupted across Baghdad as the news of the fallen Iraqi president's arrest spread across the town. Iraqis showed their joy that the brutal leader had been detained by firing bursts of automatic weapons fire into the air.

Think I might go fix myself a drink. Back soon.

Posted by Tim Blair at December 14, 2003 09:15 PM
Comments

YES.

Posted by: lb at December 14, 2003 at 09:20 PM

FUCK YES.

Posted by: gaz at December 14, 2003 at 09:27 PM

GIVE HIM TO ME...HEH, HEH, HEH...

Posted by: Richard at December 14, 2003 at 09:33 PM

[Ululates]

Posted by: Döbeln at December 14, 2003 at 09:34 PM

I just love it when we're right. Do you hear anyone crying over this news?

Posted by: Vikki at December 14, 2003 at 09:36 PM

OK, that is good news. But what would be REALLY good news is capturing Osama bin Laden. Remember him? Tall bloke? Comedy beard? Hat?

Posted by: Joe at December 14, 2003 at 09:38 PM

Kickass!

I'm waiting for the bloggers in the U.S. to wake up... I'm glad I've been reading all sorts of "foreign" blogs...

Posted by: meep at December 14, 2003 at 09:39 PM

The Age says it's TRUE:

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/14/1071336813033.html

Posted by: Richard at December 14, 2003 at 09:40 PM

No...no...NOOOOOOOOOO!

Posted by: John Pilger at December 14, 2003 at 09:42 PM

Joe, predictably, denigrates the (probable) capture of Saddam. When we capture Osama (or sample a fleck of his DNA, whatever), Joe will no doubt be on about how, really, the big news would be the fall of the House of Saud, the true terror masters, or whatever.

Posted by: R C Dean at December 14, 2003 at 09:45 PM

OHHH YES!!! OHHH YES!!!! SORRY FOR THE CAPS BEING ON BUT OOOHHHH YES!!!!!!

Posted by: Rob at December 14, 2003 at 09:47 PM

And million of keyboards throughout Europe fry as the tears short circuit them.

Posted by: Clem Snide at December 14, 2003 at 09:51 PM

It's 5:45 am here in Chicago. I just woke up and logged onto Lucianne.com and SADDAM CAPTURED is the big black headline. East Coast and nighthawk Ldotters have been celebrating for a while.

My only regret is that they didn't kill him on the spot. Now the professional humanitarians and handwringers are going to start demanding that we do stuff like hand him over to the UN for custody, or give him a trial in the Hague, or send Johnnie Cochran over there to defend him. But...I think the analogy of the Little Red Hen applies here as well as to reconstruction contracts.

Happily (but still too dazed to show it)....

Posted by: Annalucia at December 14, 2003 at 09:54 PM

Is anyone else trawling the internet for any little itty bit of extra info? Seems like Tim is, only a lot faster than me!

Go, Tim, go!

Posted by: Vikki at December 14, 2003 at 09:56 PM

Joe:

The capture of Osama has been penciled in for the last week of October.

Posted by: nofixedabode at December 14, 2003 at 09:57 PM

I love the sound of celebratory gunfire in the morning!

Meanwhile, the Democrats are going to be crying in their coffee this morning...

Posted by: BarCodeKing at December 14, 2003 at 09:59 PM

If this doesn't bring some movement on the finding of WMD's, I'll be surprised. Looks like Adams, Margo etc will soon be eating their words again.

Still, we haven't caught Osama yet. Predicted start to future Adams column...

"We all welcome the news that Saddam's been captured and his WMDs have been secured. But without the capture of Osama Bin Laden, the US's efforts can only be considered abject failure..."

Posted by: PK at December 14, 2003 at 09:59 PM

Is anyone else in the U.S. watching CBS? Dan Rather looks like he's been sniffing glue. he looks like utter shit.

Posted by: Cope_Freeland at December 14, 2003 at 10:00 PM

I'm not sure that this is really good news.

Posted by: Howard Dean at December 14, 2003 at 10:03 PM

Grate news for the Iraqi people.

Posted by: Gary at December 14, 2003 at 10:04 PM

Wow, this is really bad news for Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose place as the No. 1 political prisoner cause celeb among the anti-American far left is about to take a major hit, as soon as their shock over Hussein's capture wears off.

I would assume that, like Mumia, Saddam will be named an honorary citizen of Paris sometime well before the November 2004 presidental election, to really teach George W. Bush a lesson...

Posted by: John at December 14, 2003 at 10:06 PM

OK, that is good news. But what would be REALLY good news is capturing Osama bin Laden. Remember him? Tall bloke? Comedy beard? Hat?

I thinking of the capture of Osama when someone told me to listen to the news for something good.

Reports claim that Saddam was wearing a fake beard.

What if Osama bin Laden was Saddam with a beard on? Has anyone seen the two in the same room together?

It'd put a whole new spin on whether Saddam played a role in September 11.

Posted by: Andjam at December 14, 2003 at 10:07 PM

Bugger handing him to the UN. Hand him back to the Iraqis, then sit back and watch the world's first 20,000 man firing squad.

Posted by: Osamas Psychotic Proctologist at December 14, 2003 at 10:09 PM

This is a first. We never get Dictators alive. What do we do with him now? OK to heck with it. We'll think about it later.

Standby for perp walk.

Posted by: papertiger at December 14, 2003 at 10:10 PM

Paul Bremmer: "Gentlemen, we got him!"

Posted by: Jason at December 14, 2003 at 10:14 PM

The capture of Saddam isn't neccessary for Iraq to become a democracy, but it would be really really nice. The Baathists need someone to be a potential leader, and now it won't be Saddam, Uday and Qusay.

According to http://www.abc15.com/news/iraq/cards/ , only 5 "face cards" (two kings and three jacks) are yet to be accounted for, and 14 of the 55 overall are yet to be accounted for.

Posted by: Andjam at December 14, 2003 at 10:17 PM

Two of my favorite visuals,
1. G.W. holding up a turkey platter.
2. Sadaam hiding in a hole.

God Bless the U.S. Army!

Posted by: Polly at December 14, 2003 at 10:22 PM

Best Christmas Eve news for freedom-lovers since Nic Ceausescu got hanged by the heels in Dec 1989.

I vote for Jonah Goldberg's suggestion -- borrow a leaf from Marvel Comics and build a top-secret prison for the world's super-villains (Mugabe, Castro, Kim Jong-Il, Hu Jintao, and others) on a remote island somewhere ...

Posted by: Noami Kleimpsky at December 14, 2003 at 10:23 PM

Loving the video. Listen to the reactions.

Posted by: Vikki at December 14, 2003 at 10:23 PM

It's party time. The old thug looks well defeated at last.

Posted by: Scott Wickstein at December 14, 2003 at 10:26 PM

Great news. Now I know hundreds of thousands of Islamofacists won't blow up anything ever again.

Posted by: Norm Chompsky at December 14, 2003 at 10:27 PM

but Halliburton is claiming the reward money!!!

Posted by: procrustes at December 14, 2003 at 10:31 PM

Hey, this is not newsworthy. It is just a desparate attempt to distract people from the more important issue of Bush's turkey.

Posted by: Andjam at December 14, 2003 at 10:34 PM

*happy dance*

Posted by: samkit at December 14, 2003 at 10:40 PM

Joe, predictably, denigrates the (probable) capture of Saddam.

No, I said it was good news. GOOD news. Which of course it is - I'm happy. Hell, who wouldn't be? But the Bali bombings and September 11 had little to do with Saddam Hussain. Let's not lose focus here.

The capture of Osama has been penciled in for the last week of October.

Excellent.

Posted by: Joe at December 14, 2003 at 10:45 PM

LOVED the video of Saddam being given a dental exam! Does he look like a cowardly piece of s%#t now or what?!?!?!?!

Posted by: Richard at December 14, 2003 at 10:46 PM

A vast number of cheers. (I love the way that General Sanchez was unable to keep control of his grin during the press conference).

Posted by: Michael Jennings at December 14, 2003 at 10:48 PM

Merry Christmas, Iraq!

Posted by: Sean M. at December 14, 2003 at 10:56 PM

This is interesting on two fronts. firstly, it may take the fight out of some of the Baathists making life difficult for the US and thus as things settle down more, the progress being made in Iraq will become more and more obvious.

Secondly, with Saddam gone, Iraqi's may feel more confident in coming forward with evidence of some of the more horrific things that happened under the regime.

I wonder how the left will begin their spin?

Posted by: nic at December 14, 2003 at 10:57 PM

GAWN.

Suck shit, Margo, Phat Phil, and the rest of you SMH drongo's.
Oh what a wonderful evening. Cudos to "Channel Rex" for the live fee.
As for Auntie, 9, SBS and 10......Fuck the rest of youse!

Posted by: Jon at December 14, 2003 at 11:00 PM

"I wonder how the left will begin their spin?"

Well, the more idiotic ones usually begin with: "G'Day......"

Posted by: Osamas Psychotic Proctologist at December 14, 2003 at 11:02 PM

Is this the 2nd worst day of George Galloway's life?

Posted by: Justin at December 14, 2003 at 11:03 PM

I can't add much to what others have said except: YES!

This might be the turning point in the fight.

Posted by: Randal Robinson at December 14, 2003 at 11:04 PM

Well, the more idiotic ones usually begin with: "G'Day......"

Peter Russell Clarke's a leftie?

Posted by: LD at December 14, 2003 at 11:06 PM

GODDAMNIT I WENT ON THE RECORD SAYING HE WAS DEAD!!!!!!!!! !!!@@$$#)(*!!

This is a black day for me.

Posted by: Amos at December 14, 2003 at 11:07 PM

I bet Jaques Chirac and George Galloway are shitting themselves right now.

Posted by: Ross at December 14, 2003 at 11:07 PM

For a sample of what's to come from the antiwar crowd, see
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3106787.stm

Posted by: eddie at December 14, 2003 at 11:11 PM

From multiple palaces to a hole in the ground to coalition custody. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

What was his mental state? Tired and resigned to his fate.

Two AKs and a pistol but no resistance much less a fight to the death.

Posted by: ZsaZsa at December 14, 2003 at 11:13 PM

CNN seemed keen to find a cloud over the silver lining. Told that Iraqis were firing into the air on the news, the anchor said "that suggests that the coalition have been ineffective in their efforts on disarmament".

Posted by: JML at December 14, 2003 at 11:15 PM

"And million of keyboards throughout Europe fry as the tears short circuit them."

Not here =P Well, tears of joy perhaps, but this Swede sure is happy! =)

/Döbeln

-Stabil som fan!

Posted by: Döbeln at December 14, 2003 at 11:16 PM

Yes, we have found the most important WMD of all. Good work and congrats to all the Coalition partners.

Posted by: John McCrarey at December 14, 2003 at 11:16 PM

Watching CNN here, and the spin the put on was thus (not exact, but close since I'm transcribing as it happens):
"In this post-Cold War world, one of the many things that has been unleashed is a large amount of hatred for America, and Hussein had little to do with that except, of course, that his removal has allowed those elements to come to Iraq and launch those attacks against Americans."

Gah. Nevertheless, what a great day it is!

Heh, there's a British person on now; he said "Looking at him, you can see a man out of touch, defeated....one can almost feel sorry for him, although I don't, I think he's a ghastly person.."

I like that sentiment better.

Posted by: Ryan J at December 14, 2003 at 11:23 PM

eddie- That BBC reaction is hilarious my favourite one is the guy who says:

"We can only hope this will prove yet another spectacular failure on their part that will result in a continued, inflammatory and detrimental reaction in Iraq and elsewhere around the globe. In turn this should prove yet another disaster for Bush and his re-election plans."

Posted by: Ross at December 14, 2003 at 11:23 PM

I'm with Amos; I also thought Saddam was dead, as none of the messages coming out had any sort of convincing proof he was still alive. It's certainly wonderful news he was caught.

The only down side is that it raises the possibility Bin Laden's still alive. Bin Laden hasn't given out any convincing evidence he's still alive -- but neither did Saddam. Why is that?

Posted by: John Nowak at December 14, 2003 at 11:28 PM

Congratulations to the US Army on getting the job done with a minimum of unnecessary bloodshed.
Congratulations to Saddam Hussein, who has gone from looking and acting like a homeless person to long term furnished accomodation.
Congratulations to Bush, Blair and Howard for winning their next elections.
Congratulations to Tim Blair for tipping off the US army on Saddam's whereabouts.
Commiserations to France, who have just lost their last chance at getting any Iraqi contracts filled.

Posted by: Jack Strocchi at December 14, 2003 at 11:30 PM

Most idiotic, dickheaded and just plain lefty statement of the day:

"The American administration must now be very nervous. If a proper war crimes tribunal is allowed, Saddam will implicate most of them (and previous UK administrations as well). I think we should think where Saddam's support, funds and weapons came from when he was actually committing the worst atrocities for which he may now stand trial.
Peter Budek, Bedford
"

I am picturing George W. fluttering around the Oval Office, absolutely shitting himself. "Oh no, we found him !! That wasn't supposed to happen !"


(Merry Xmas Tim and blog-people !!)

Posted by: Osamas Psychotic Proctologist at December 14, 2003 at 11:37 PM

Predictions of coming SMH and Indimedia stories:

1. Seething over the inhumane treatment of a Prisoner of War being shown in a degrading video. Allegations that this is a War Crime and Bush the War Criminal. Calls for his trial by an International tribunal. Bush that is, not Saddam.

2. It's taken Halliburton 8 months to grow a Clone using their diabolical Genetic Modification techniques. They got the DNA from the martyred children, Uday and Orsay. It's a fake by a fake President, just like 9/11 and the Moon Landings were faked. And it's all Bush's fault.

3. Yeah, yeah, they captured Saddam. But what about Bin Laden? Iraq's a Quagmire, and it's all a plot by Bush to mislead the Murican People and get them to forget about important stuff. Like the genetically-modified plastic turkeys they forced the soldiers to eat.

4. It's actually bad news, this will trigger off a whole new round of attacks on America and its Allies. Australia will be less safe than before because of.... well, just because. And it's all Howard's fault. And Bush's.

But if they say this, so what? It won't alter the facts.

Posted by: Alan E Brain at December 14, 2003 at 11:38 PM

"I think we should think where Saddam's support, funds and weapons came from when he was actually committing the worst atrocities for which he may now stand trial."


Yeah, I've always loved this line. Let's see: AK-47's, RPG's, MIGs, T-55's, BMP's, Mi-24's... funny, I can't see a single weapon in Saddam's arsenal that isn't Russian.

Posted by: Dave S. at December 15, 2003 at 12:58 AM


Here's what the US ought to do now - put Saddam in a cell in a police station in a Shiite town, then tell the townspeople that the guards will be going to lunch from 12:00 to 2:00 in a neighboring town, and if they wouldn't mind, could they keep an eye on the place while they're gone?

Posted by: Dave S. at December 15, 2003 at 01:33 AM

Dave S. - Don´t forget those Mirage F1 fighter-bombers and Roland SAMs!

Posted by: wf at December 15, 2003 at 01:49 AM

Yeeeeeeeeeeee-HAW!!

Posted by: Donnah at December 15, 2003 at 01:52 AM

Saw the news when it broke in Australia at about 11:00PM... Ohhhh Goddd Ohhh Goddddd ..... BETTER THEN SEX....

Oh yeah, and I've decided to stop practising law in Melbourne and relocate to Baghdad ... You see, I believe there's this guy there that REALLY needs a lawyer...

WOOOOOOOOOO - HOOO!

Posted by: National Party Headcase at December 15, 2003 at 06:28 AM

Saw him on the early morning TV news with that beard. Did Saddo look like Gandalf or what.

Posted by: Noami Kleimpsky at December 15, 2003 at 08:31 AM

Ding, dong, the witch is dead! (Well, caught at least, which may in the end be even better).

Nice piece of reporting, Tim!

REMEMBER JACK RUBY.

Posted by: Nemesis at December 15, 2003 at 02:22 PM

Come on Bastard... say "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH"...

Posted by: TheDentist at December 16, 2003 at 04:23 AM