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CNN Live At Daybreak
New Details Emerging about Saddam's Capture
Aired December 15, 2003 - 06:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Those little details are coming to us fast and furious now. Some are fascinating.
For example, we now know Saddam surrendered by wanting to negotiate, and most would say that would be difficult in his situation.
Let's head live to Tikrit and our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, who just came back from the farm where Saddam was captured.
Tell us about it -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was a very small farm, Carol, a very poor farm. It was in several small buildings, small rooms, perhaps about 10 feet long by about 8 feet across. One room was a bedroom. There were two beds in there, very disheveled, a lot of clothes lying on the floor, some books in the bookcases still in their plastic wrappers, unopened. There were clothes lying on the bed, a pair of boxer shorts still in the wrappers lying there on the bed.
There was a tiny kitchen next door. It had a sink. There was a lot of fruit there -- bananas, cucumbers, kiwi fruits and melon lying rotting on the ground, a huge crate of oranges. It was very clear that somebody had been living there.
And the area where Saddam Hussein had been hiding was a tiny area. We saw those photographs of this hole in the ground. But I went down inside. And when you go down into the hole, then you find that there is an area about six feet long, about two feet across and about three feet high -- a very small area for somebody to hide in. That was where Saddam Hussein was hiding.
We were told by the soldiers there that one of the soldiers had actually stood on the rug that was covering the top of this hiding place without realizing he was actually standing on top of where Saddam Hussein was hiding.
But we were told by the soldiers there who were involved in the operation that when they lifted back the lid, Saddam Hussein's hands appeared. And as he came out, he said, "I am Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq. I want to negotiate," to which we're told the troops responded, "President Bush sent his regards."
He was immediately, we are told, pulled out of that tiny, little hole, a quick debriefing, a quick checking, before being taken away and put in a nearby helicopter.
One of the soldiers, very interestingly, who was involved in the operation told me that one of the soldiers under his command thought that they had captured Saddam Hussein's cook, not the former Iraqi president, such was the surprise. There was a lot of jubilation in the troops afterwards I was told -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, he didn't immediately know by looking at him that he was Saddam Hussein. I know he had that big bushy beard and all. Did he have a weapon with him down in that hole that he could have used?
ROBERTSON: He had a pistol, and he could have used it. He chose not to. The soldiers who said that they opened up the hole, they were about to execute their normal sort of clearing procedures, which is either to fire a shot in or toss a grenade in. And as they were getting ready to execute that procedure, not knowing what was in the hole, that's when the hands appeared.
So, it was very clear to the soldiers from the outset that Saddam Hussein had no intention of using that weapon. Of course, many Iraqis had believed that Saddam Hussein, because of the image he projected during his regime here, would go down in a gun battle or at the very least shoot himself rather than be captured. And, of course, that wasn't what happened. He actually came out, offering to negotiate, calling himself still the president of Iraq -- Carol.
COSTELLO: A couple of questions about the farm, because I know you just got back from there. Is this in a remote area? Are there neighbors around, someone who could have seen Saddam Hussein? And who owns the farm?
ROBERTSON: That's one of the surprising things, Carol. There are a lot of other farms in that area. Perhaps the nearest farm was half a mile away, a quarter of a mile away. But it's the sort of area where nobody goes up and down these dirt tracks without one of those close neighbors seeing what's going on. And within about one mile of the place Saddam Hussein was actually found, the tiny farm, there's a small village, and it would be inconceivable that the people there wouldn't be aware of people traveling up and down that road.
So, it would seem perhaps that some people in the area did have a good idea that somebody important, something special was going on there occasionally.
However, Saddam Hussein had only arrived there, it appears, in a normal Iraqi taxi, the orange and white taxi we've heard about that was picked up at the location. So, perhaps he essentially had gone in without being noticed.
But certainly there were a lot of people around there. It looks as if it is a fairly tight-knit community. When we were there, a lot of people were being inquisitive, coming from their houses perhaps a quarter of a mile away, coming to see what was going on -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know I keep asking you questions, because the information is so fascinating this morning. But apparently he came up out of that spider hole often and traveled around to other spider holes across that area. Or were they farther away in Iraq? Did he ever stay inside the house? Do we know?
ROBERTSON: Well, Carol, it looked as if he lived inside that tiny house, because there was a heater and a refrigerator in the bedroom, and it looked as if somebody had been preparing food. There was a box of Turkish Delight spilled out on the floor. So, it looked as if he'd been getting some sort of decent food, not the sort of food an average poor Iraqi family would be eating, that's for sure.
And the bedroom looked as if somebody probably had been sleeping in the bed, and the box of clothes seemed to indicate that somebody had been spending time there, changing clothes on an occasional basis.
But the coalition said that they believed that perhaps every three or four hours he was changing locations and had maybe as many as 20 or 30 such locations to hide in. And another thing they found was that because it was close by the river, they thought -- coalition officials thought Saddam Hussein might have been getting in and out of that location possibly by boats they found tied up on the river close by -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Fascinating. We'll get back to you in the next half hour. Nic Robertson reporting live for us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 15, 2003 - 06:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Those little details are coming to us fast and furious now. Some are fascinating.
For example, we now know Saddam surrendered by wanting to negotiate, and most would say that would be difficult in his situation.
Let's head live to Tikrit and our senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, who just came back from the farm where Saddam was captured.
Tell us about it -- Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was a very small farm, Carol, a very poor farm. It was in several small buildings, small rooms, perhaps about 10 feet long by about 8 feet across. One room was a bedroom. There were two beds in there, very disheveled, a lot of clothes lying on the floor, some books in the bookcases still in their plastic wrappers, unopened. There were clothes lying on the bed, a pair of boxer shorts still in the wrappers lying there on the bed.
There was a tiny kitchen next door. It had a sink. There was a lot of fruit there -- bananas, cucumbers, kiwi fruits and melon lying rotting on the ground, a huge crate of oranges. It was very clear that somebody had been living there.
And the area where Saddam Hussein had been hiding was a tiny area. We saw those photographs of this hole in the ground. But I went down inside. And when you go down into the hole, then you find that there is an area about six feet long, about two feet across and about three feet high -- a very small area for somebody to hide in. That was where Saddam Hussein was hiding.
We were told by the soldiers there that one of the soldiers had actually stood on the rug that was covering the top of this hiding place without realizing he was actually standing on top of where Saddam Hussein was hiding.
But we were told by the soldiers there who were involved in the operation that when they lifted back the lid, Saddam Hussein's hands appeared. And as he came out, he said, "I am Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq. I want to negotiate," to which we're told the troops responded, "President Bush sent his regards."
He was immediately, we are told, pulled out of that tiny, little hole, a quick debriefing, a quick checking, before being taken away and put in a nearby helicopter.
One of the soldiers, very interestingly, who was involved in the operation told me that one of the soldiers under his command thought that they had captured Saddam Hussein's cook, not the former Iraqi president, such was the surprise. There was a lot of jubilation in the troops afterwards I was told -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, he didn't immediately know by looking at him that he was Saddam Hussein. I know he had that big bushy beard and all. Did he have a weapon with him down in that hole that he could have used?
ROBERTSON: He had a pistol, and he could have used it. He chose not to. The soldiers who said that they opened up the hole, they were about to execute their normal sort of clearing procedures, which is either to fire a shot in or toss a grenade in. And as they were getting ready to execute that procedure, not knowing what was in the hole, that's when the hands appeared.
So, it was very clear to the soldiers from the outset that Saddam Hussein had no intention of using that weapon. Of course, many Iraqis had believed that Saddam Hussein, because of the image he projected during his regime here, would go down in a gun battle or at the very least shoot himself rather than be captured. And, of course, that wasn't what happened. He actually came out, offering to negotiate, calling himself still the president of Iraq -- Carol.
COSTELLO: A couple of questions about the farm, because I know you just got back from there. Is this in a remote area? Are there neighbors around, someone who could have seen Saddam Hussein? And who owns the farm?
ROBERTSON: That's one of the surprising things, Carol. There are a lot of other farms in that area. Perhaps the nearest farm was half a mile away, a quarter of a mile away. But it's the sort of area where nobody goes up and down these dirt tracks without one of those close neighbors seeing what's going on. And within about one mile of the place Saddam Hussein was actually found, the tiny farm, there's a small village, and it would be inconceivable that the people there wouldn't be aware of people traveling up and down that road.
So, it would seem perhaps that some people in the area did have a good idea that somebody important, something special was going on there occasionally.
However, Saddam Hussein had only arrived there, it appears, in a normal Iraqi taxi, the orange and white taxi we've heard about that was picked up at the location. So, perhaps he essentially had gone in without being noticed.
But certainly there were a lot of people around there. It looks as if it is a fairly tight-knit community. When we were there, a lot of people were being inquisitive, coming from their houses perhaps a quarter of a mile away, coming to see what was going on -- Carol.
COSTELLO: I know I keep asking you questions, because the information is so fascinating this morning. But apparently he came up out of that spider hole often and traveled around to other spider holes across that area. Or were they farther away in Iraq? Did he ever stay inside the house? Do we know?
ROBERTSON: Well, Carol, it looked as if he lived inside that tiny house, because there was a heater and a refrigerator in the bedroom, and it looked as if somebody had been preparing food. There was a box of Turkish Delight spilled out on the floor. So, it looked as if he'd been getting some sort of decent food, not the sort of food an average poor Iraqi family would be eating, that's for sure.
And the bedroom looked as if somebody probably had been sleeping in the bed, and the box of clothes seemed to indicate that somebody had been spending time there, changing clothes on an occasional basis.
But the coalition said that they believed that perhaps every three or four hours he was changing locations and had maybe as many as 20 or 30 such locations to hide in. And another thing they found was that because it was close by the river, they thought -- coalition officials thought Saddam Hussein might have been getting in and out of that location possibly by boats they found tied up on the river close by -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Fascinating. We'll get back to you in the next half hour. Nic Robertson reporting live for us this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
