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American Morning

Saddam's Spider Hole Hideout

Aired December 15, 2003 - 07:07   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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The search for Saddam Hussein took more than eight months. In the end, he was found hiding in a hole in the ground nine miles from his ancestral homeland of Tikrit.
Nic Robertson is just back from the hideout and has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This bridge leads down to the Tigris River. This is a pomegranate and orange orchard, and this is the small compound Saddam Hussein was living in. This is the kitchen here, a sink over here, medicine, Mars bars, a flashlight, a cot, rotting bananas. The place looks like a mess, not the sort of place you would expect to see a former president living in -- tins of Spam in the cupboard there.

And around this way, walking around the corner behind the mud wall, a box of oranges lying on the floor, already beginning to rot, a pot of water here.

The bedroom in here, two beds. And inside the bedroom, a refrigerator, a heater. On the wall, posters, a Christian poster, Noah's Ark. The bed, crumpled bed clothing. A fresh, clean pair of boxer shorts unused, still new. Another bed, a box full of clothes, a few books. On the bookcase here, pictures, brand new frames but nothing in the frames, no pictures to be spoken of. And down here, a pair of shoes, unused, some water, track suit bottoms. Just chaos, not the conditions you would really expect the former Iraqi leader to be living in.

This tiny hole is really small inside. It's concrete, mud on the walls, a wood lentil here, wood around the top of the frame. It's very difficult to get in and out of. It wouldn't have been easy. When the soldiers discovered Saddam Hussein, he came with his hands up. He said, "I'm Saddam Hussein. I'm the president of Iraq, and I want to negotiate," to which the troops, we are told, responded, "President Bush sends his regards."

After that, Saddam Hussein was whisked out of the hole, pulled up and taken away to a helicopter waiting in the field just across here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And one of the reasons we're told that this operation went so smoothly is it was a very dark night. The moon was not out. That helped the troops. And just before the raid was conducted, the electricity in the area went out, as well. So the whole area was essentially very dark, which really played to the strengths of the troops with their night-vision goggles -- Anderson.

COOPER: Nic, extraordinary images to see you scrambling around in that spider hole. Describe what it was like. I mean, how much room was there down there? And is it the sort of space that he could have lived in for any length of time?

ROBERTSON: I really don't think somebody could live -- or somebody of Saddam Hussein's size could live in that tiny space for very long at all. When you get down into that hole that I was in, just in front of you is a small area of about six feet long, about two feet across and three feet high. That would have been his entire living space. It would have been very cramped.

It's hard to imagine anybody would really want to spend a long time there, particularly when it was sealed from above. When you've got a fan going perhaps even while he was down there, if the electricity was off, even the fan wouldn't have been going cleaning the air in that hole that he was in. So, it would have been very, very, very uncomfortable -- Anderson.

COOPER: It's just remarkable images. Nic Robertson in Tikrit -- thanks very much, Nic.

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 - 07:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The search for Saddam Hussein took more than eight months. In the end, he was found hiding in a hole in the ground nine miles from his ancestral homeland of Tikrit.
Nic Robertson is just back from the hideout and has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This bridge leads down to the Tigris River. This is a pomegranate and orange orchard, and this is the small compound Saddam Hussein was living in. This is the kitchen here, a sink over here, medicine, Mars bars, a flashlight, a cot, rotting bananas. The place looks like a mess, not the sort of place you would expect to see a former president living in -- tins of Spam in the cupboard there.

And around this way, walking around the corner behind the mud wall, a box of oranges lying on the floor, already beginning to rot, a pot of water here.

The bedroom in here, two beds. And inside the bedroom, a refrigerator, a heater. On the wall, posters, a Christian poster, Noah's Ark. The bed, crumpled bed clothing. A fresh, clean pair of boxer shorts unused, still new. Another bed, a box full of clothes, a few books. On the bookcase here, pictures, brand new frames but nothing in the frames, no pictures to be spoken of. And down here, a pair of shoes, unused, some water, track suit bottoms. Just chaos, not the conditions you would really expect the former Iraqi leader to be living in.

This tiny hole is really small inside. It's concrete, mud on the walls, a wood lentil here, wood around the top of the frame. It's very difficult to get in and out of. It wouldn't have been easy. When the soldiers discovered Saddam Hussein, he came with his hands up. He said, "I'm Saddam Hussein. I'm the president of Iraq, and I want to negotiate," to which the troops, we are told, responded, "President Bush sends his regards."

After that, Saddam Hussein was whisked out of the hole, pulled up and taken away to a helicopter waiting in the field just across here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

And one of the reasons we're told that this operation went so smoothly is it was a very dark night. The moon was not out. That helped the troops. And just before the raid was conducted, the electricity in the area went out, as well. So the whole area was essentially very dark, which really played to the strengths of the troops with their night-vision goggles -- Anderson.

COOPER: Nic, extraordinary images to see you scrambling around in that spider hole. Describe what it was like. I mean, how much room was there down there? And is it the sort of space that he could have lived in for any length of time?

ROBERTSON: I really don't think somebody could live -- or somebody of Saddam Hussein's size could live in that tiny space for very long at all. When you get down into that hole that I was in, just in front of you is a small area of about six feet long, about two feet across and three feet high. That would have been his entire living space. It would have been very cramped.

It's hard to imagine anybody would really want to spend a long time there, particularly when it was sealed from above. When you've got a fan going perhaps even while he was down there, if the electricity was off, even the fan wouldn't have been going cleaning the air in that hole that he was in. So, it would have been very, very, very uncomfortable -- Anderson.

COOPER: It's just remarkable images. Nic Robertson in Tikrit -- thanks very much, Nic.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.