Inside Saddam's Hideout

Saddam Hussein, who reportedly had back problems, could not have been very comfortable in his hole. The place where U.S. forces finally captured the former Iraqi leader goes down about four feet into the ground. It tunnels forward another four feet before bisecting a roughly six-foot long chamber in which a man could lie down or crouch, but not much more.

In one corner of Saddam's underground hiding place were a handful of q-tips. In another, a black plastic bag. An electric fan was installed in one wall next to a small ventilation shaft, which emerged above ground a few feet away from the entrance. It's hard to imagine the confines could provide its inhabitant with a feeling of security, much less power, or anything other than a sense of claustrophobia, especially when the Styrofoam block is lowered into the entrance way, then covered with a rubber mat, a cloth rug, and dirt-as it was when Special Operations Forces soldiers discovered it shortly after 8 p.m. on December 13.

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Above ground a cluster of orange, date, and palm trees provide both cover and color. Two brick pillars serve as front gate for the property; dried palm fronds wall it off from a muddy road out front, and the dirt fields and dead sunflower stalks beyond it. Inside, a few steps from the hole, the living quarters were in post-search disarray. A bedroom had two bed frames and mattresses, a trunk full of books and clothing, a small refrigerator, and two posters, one of a landscape, the other depicting Noah's Ark. In an adjoining lean-to that served that served as a kitchen, candy bars and dirty dishes lay on a table in front of a smeared mirror. A portion of the floor was covered with broken eggshells.

The Search for Saddam

Al-Dawr, the town in which the property is located, is the home village of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, number six on the most wanted list of Iraqi political and military officials. Some soldiers on the raid, those who weren't privy to the real target, thought al-Douri might be their quarry. But select officers of the Tikrit-based 4th Infantry Division knew otherwise, and they felt that intelligence collected from Iraqis detained over the past few weeks would yield what they referred to as "H.V.T. 1," or high value target number one.

The intelligence scoop was the end result of a shift in the military's approach to tracking Saddam that began taking shape in mid-summer. Instead of trying to wring information out of high ranking members of his regime, they began focusing on lower-level functionaries and a small number of families that were believed to be aiding and protecting Saddam. Saddam's so-called "right hand man," who provided valuable information to the search, had been captured in the early morning hours of Dec. 12 in Baghdad. His name has thus far been withheld, but military officials have said that he was a member of one of these families. He was brought to Tikrit for questioning the morning after his arrest, and before 11 a.m., had provided enough actionable intelligence that Lt. Col. James B. Hickey, the commander of the 4th I.D.'s First Brigade, put his subordinate commanders on alert and began planning that night's raid. "We thought that night that there was a good chance that we would be successful," he said.

The original targets of the raid were two nearby farmhouses. Initial searches turned up nothing, but then, with the area already cordoned off, Special Forces soldiers began searching other houses in the area, particularly those amidst the trees on the banks of the Tigris River. They did an initial inspection of three houses, then returned to each for a closer look, keeping in mind a tip that Saddam might be hiding in an underground bunker. On the second time through the property where he was found, perhaps five strides inside the front gate, a soldier kicked away some dirt from a spot that looked odd-a spot on top of which a soldier had stood during the first pass. Underneath the dirt was a cloth rug. Underneath that was a rubber mat, which sat atop a thick Styrofoam block. "We expected something more elaborate. We expected something more well constructed," said Lt. Col. Hickey. They also expected resistance, he says, but when the block was removed, "two hands appeared. That individual clearly wanted to surrender." The bearded, bewildered looking man did not reach for the pistol in his lap. He had no chance to get to the two AK-47s that were inside the house. Instead, Lt. Col. Hickey reported, he said, "I am Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq, and I am willing to negotiate." One of the soldiers responded, "President Bush sends his regards."