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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Saddam Hussein Captured Alive

Aired December 14, 2003 - 19:00   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, HOST: Captured alive, Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, now in U.S. custody. We'll have the latest from Baghdad. How did U.S. troops make the historic capture? Will Saddam's arrest end the violence in Iraq? How will he be brought to justice? And will Saddam's capture affect the U.S. presidential race?
Tonight, the world reacts. We'll take you from the streets of Baghdad to Main Street USA.

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: Hey, good evening, and thanks for joining us on 360.

What a day it has been. The manhunt is over. The interrogation now begins. After nine months on the run, Saddam Hussein at this moment is in U.S. custody. The man who spent millions on palaces and possessions was found hiding literally in a hole in the ground.

Right now, the story continues to move, evolve. We're covering all the angles. Nic Robertson is in Saddam's home town, Tikrit, tonight, just miles from where the former leader was caught. John King is at the White House, where it has been a very busy day indeed. And Jamie McIntyre's at the Pentagon with the military maneuvers that led to the big capture.

We begin with CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, in Tikrit. Nic, take it away.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, a lot of surprises here today, some surprises for the Iraqis, that after nine months, Saddam Hussein should be caught, surprises for the coalition, as well, particularly for the 4th Infantry Division, who have their headquarters here in one of Saddam Hussein's major palace complexes in Tikrit, surprise because Saddam Hussein was found just 10 miles from this military headquarters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The first to know and the first to celebrate, these U.S. soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division returning to base hours after capturing Saddam Hussein, almost a day later, winning praise from their commander.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want everyone to know how proud I am of the great soldiers of the task force and the division. ROBERTSON: The two-star general showing pictures of how his troops raided the remote farmhouse where Saddam Hussein was found hiding in a hole and detailing how intelligence gleaned from Hussein loyalists led to his capture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over the last 10 days or so, we brought in about five to ten members of these families, who then were able to give us even more information. And finally, we got the ultimate information from one of these individuals.

ROBERTSON: On the streets around the U.S. military base in the former dictator's home town of Tikrit, none of the joy being expressed elsewhere. "Saddam Hussein is just an ordinary man," he says. "Governments fall and rise. This new authority is no use at all. We were a million times better off under Saddam Hussein."

"It will have no effect on the resistance," this man adds. "They are not fighting for Saddam, they are fighting for Iraq, and Iraq is occupied."

Around Tikrit, U.S. troop patrols continued through the day, none here letting their guard down yet, General Odiorno (ph), cautious about the reactions in his area of operation, the Sunni triangle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the background, everything will be very relief -- a sense of relief, I think, in most -- most cases. So we'll wait and see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, Nic, they say Saddam was hiding in a "spider hole," that it was well hidden. Do we have any more details on how U.S. forces actually found the hideout?

ROBERTSON: Anderson, they went to two farms. They'd had information that Saddam Hussein was hiding there. They searched the farms, didn't find him, searched a small building between those farms, close to where sheep were being looked after. They didn't find him in that building. They found clothes still in their wrappers, brand-new clothes. They found disheveled remains in the room, as well, clothes strewn around the place, sort of a half -- a half-baked kitchen, if you will, next to that. The soldiers still didn't find Saddam Hussein, and they looked outside.

They found a suspicious rug on the ground. They lifted the rug, found a styrofoam lid, lifted the styrofoam lid, and there right beneath them was the hold, six foot by eight foot. And there inside it was Saddam Hussein. And the soldiers say literally it was enough to lift the lid off and he came out. He had a pistol, but he didn't even fire it, Anderson.

COOPER: Unbelievable, hiding under a rug. Nic Robertson live in Tikrit. Thanks, Nic.

Farther south, in Baghdad, when the disheveled dictator appeared on Iraqi TV, the reaction was instant: surprise and -- well, you see it there -- celebration. CNN's Satinder Bindra was on the streets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As word spread that Saddam Hussein may be in coalition custody, Iraqis started celebrating. Then the million-dollar moment, as images of a bearded and haggard-looking Saddam were flashed on TV. Iraqis had the proof they needed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I am 100 percent convinced this was Saddam.

BINDRA: Moments later, more and more Iraqis began pouring into the street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is wonderful day. Very, very good day.

BINDRA: People blew their car horns, danced, clapped, yelled. Others distributed candy. The biggest surprise? Saddam surrendered without a fight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Everyone knows that Saddam Hussein is a coward. If he had one ounce of courage, he would have killed himself and not allowed himself to be captured like a rat, hiding in a hole in the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Saddam should be tried for all the crimes that he committed against the Iraqi people from the day he came to power until the moment he was captured.

BINDRA: With Saddam no longer a threat, many here want U.S. forces to start planning a pull-out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The Americans must leave sooner or later, but it's too soon for that because we need the help and experience of the Americans now.

BINDRA: Iraqis now sense a chance for a new future, one in which they say Saddam Hussein will have no role.

Satinder Bindra, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: It has been a day of amazing images. Now, as I said, the story is still evolving. The details are still coming out, even at this late hour. We've recently learned that after his capture, Saddam Hussein was taken to a holding cell at the Baghdad airport. We now have details on what went on there from "Time" magazine reporter Brian Bennett (ph), who saw a transcript from a U.S. intelligence officer.

In an exclusive report, he reveals when offered a glass of water by his interrogators, Saddam replied, quote, "If I drink water, I will have to go to the bathroom. And how can I use the bathroom when my people are in bondage?" Bennett reports Hussein was also asked whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The deposed leader reportedly said, "No, of course not. The U.S. dreamed them up itself to have a reason to go to war with us."

Now, this morning at a news conference, Lieutenant General Richard Sanchez said Saddam was talkative and is being cooperative. We'll hope to get more details coming up.

President Bush got his first call about Hussein's possible capture while at Camp David Saturday afternoon. Confirmation came when he was back at the White House. Senior White House correspondent John King is there with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president called it the end of a dark and painful era and a turning point for the Iraqi people.

GEORGE WALKER BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A hopeful day has arrived. All Iraqis can now come together and reject violence and build a new Iraq.

KING: But Mr. Bush was careful not to call it a turning point for the military mission in Iraq.

BUSH: We still face terrorists who would rather go on killing the innocent than accept the rise of liberty in the heart of the Middle East. Such men are a direct threat to the American people, and they will be defeated.

KING: The White House caution is born of difficult lessons in the seven months declared major combat operations over. Nearly 200 Americans have died in Iraq since then. The deaths of Saddam's sons did not halt the insurgency, and months of searching have turned up no weapons of mass destruction.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: But for just a moment, the rest of us that are not president of the United States can take a moment of pride and satisfaction and even a little celebration.

KING: It was just after 5:00 AM Sunday when the president was told it was definitely Saddam in custody. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld had called Camp David at 3:15 in the afternoon Saturday to tell Mr. Bush the military believed it had captured the former Iraqi leader but was checking to make certain. This Sunday morning call to British prime minister Tony Blair was one of more than a half dozen to world leaders to convey the news.

BUSH: Now the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: John King joins us now at the White House. John, does the president have any more plans to address the nation? I know so many people want so many details on this thing. KING: Perhaps again tomorrow, Anderson. The White House wanted to let the news be announced in theater by the military commanders responsible for the operation. Then the president wanted to give his initial assessment today. There's some concern at the White House -- remember, they raised expectations after the sons were killed that perhaps the insurgency would stop, the president making a very decided and concerted effort today to lower expectations. They want to take a few days, get the early reports from the interrogations, see what happens on the ground in Iraq. But don't be surprised if we hear more from the president tomorrow.

COOPER: All right, John King, live at the White House. Thanks, John.

It was during an interrogation of a former Saddam loyalist that U.S. forces learned of Saddam's whereabouts. Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre explains how it all went down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Operation Red Dawn was born at 10:50 AM Saturday Iraq time.

LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, U.S. ARMY: We received intelligence on the possible whereabouts of Saddam Hussein. Two likely locations were identified near the town of a Dawr.

MCINTYRE: The two locations just south of Saddam's home town of Tikrit are codenamed Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2. By 5:00 PM, the final piece of the puzzle falls in place, actionable intelligence from an Iraqi informant. An hour later, 6:00 PM, Raider (ph) Brigade, 600 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, moves quickly under the cover of darkness, backing up the special operations Task Force 121 spearheading the hunt.

The soldiers are after a "high-value target," but many don't know it's Saddam Hussein. By 8:00 PM, the targeted areas are secured, but Saddam hasn't been found. The area is sealed and a meticulous search gets under way.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Hussein was found hiding in an underground crawlspace at 8:26 PM. Soldiers captured him without incident. And he was in the bottom of a hole. There was no way he could fight back, so he was just caught like a rat.

MCINTYRE: At 9:15 PM, a helicopter whisks the captured dictator to a secure area, which Pentagon sources say is the Baghdad International Airport. There former regime members already in custody ID him, and he's given a medical exam.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

It would be another hour-and-a-half before the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General John Abizaid, would have enough confidence to inform the Pentagon that Saddam Hussein's fugitive days were over -- Anderson. COOPER: All right, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Thanks, Jamie.

Saddam Hussein is now under lock and key, of course, but his arrest doesn't necessarily mean an end to the violence in Iraq. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr explains what comes next for American forces on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Violence continues, even as Saddam Hussein now spends his first hours in custody. A suicide attack on an Iraqi police station in Khaldiyah kills 10 Iraqis, 20 more are wounded. A car bombing in Baghdad, injured carried away. And by nighttime, celebratory gunfire in Baghdad hits fuel truck canisters, causing the truck to catch fire and explode.

Cautious U.S. military officials do not expect Saddam's capture to diminish the threat to U.S. soldiers on the ground. And as Iraq moves to self-governance in just six months, even more concern that opposition groups may take even more desperate measures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've repeatedly stated that this is a critical moment in the history of the country and the history of our attempt to bring security and stability to Iraq. But we do not expect, at this point in time, that we will have a complete elimination of those attacks.

STARR: Just last month, General John Abizaid, head of the Central Command, detailed how opposition forces are dispersed, an indication they were already independent of Saddam Hussein.

ABIZAID: There's a level of coordination within provinces and probably between provinces, but it's -- it's only anecdotal evidence that we have that there's a national level of control. There may be some coordination, but control is hard to -- hard to point to at this time.

STARR (on camera): The Bush administration is critically aware it must deliver basic security to the Iraqi people before the cycle of violence can be stopped. But with fewer than half of Iraqi security forces trained and equipped, no one is predicting when real peace will come to Iraq.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, reaction to the news out of Iraq came fast today. Let's take a look cross-country right now. Washington, D.C., former president Clinton issues a statement praising the capture of Saddam Hussein. He also saluted U.S. troops who found Hussein in his underground hideout. Clinton says he hopes the capture will speed Iraq's journey to self-government.

New York, New York, the news of Hussein's capture hits the huge screen in Times Square. There it is. People stop and watch in awe.

And at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, U.S. troops on leave celebrate after landing on U.S. soil. They got the news on the capture on the plane ride home. Welcome home.

Just some of the reaction we saw across country tonight.

What led U.S. forces to Saddam Hussein? We're going to track the intelligence coming up. Plus: Arab-Americans hit the streets in celebration. We'll tell you where. And we've got exclusive polling numbers just released on the capture of Saddam Hussein. That feedback straight ahead.

But first, hot off the presses -- they changed their covers just today. Here's how this big story looks on the cover of the latest "Time" magazine, and here is the cover of "Newsweek."

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, actionable intelligence -- that's what officials say led to Saddam Hussein's capture. The hunt has certainly been a difficult one, indeed. National security correspondent David Ensor has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If Saddam is willing, officials say, he could be the best possible source for the CIA's David Kay, the man in charge of looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In a statement, House Intelligence Committee chairman Porter Goss said, "With this capture, many lingering questions will be answered, but we cannot forget that Saddam has engaged in deceit and deception for decades."

How did they find Saddam? It was low-tech human intelligence, U.S. officials say, actionable intelligence painstakingly gathered.

BUSH: The operation was based on the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country.

ENSOR: The information did not come from a tip. U.S. officials pulled in former Saddam bodyguards and members of Tikriti families close to his regime for intense interrogation. Information extracted from one person led to another.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over the last 10 days or so, we brought in about five to ten members of these families, who then were le to give us even more information. And finally, we got the ultimate information from one of these individuals.

ENSOR: Once captured, Saddam was shown to some other prisoners, like Tariq Aziz, his former senior aide, who eventually confirmed his identity beyond a shadow of a doubt. (on camera): Prior to Saddam's capture, a meeting had been scheduled for Monday at the CIA to discuss David Kay's so far discouraging effort to search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Official say assuming the meeting does go ahead, it will now have quite a different tone.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, of course, the other man still wanted by U.S. forces, Usama bin Laden. Here's a quick news note for you. The last time an independent source saw Usama bin Laden alive -- well, it was back on October 21, 2001, when an Al Jazeera reporter interviewed him in Afghanistan. Now, since then, he's allegedly released seven videotapes and seven audiotapes. His whereabouts unknown, but intelligence authorities believe he is near the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Well, moving on now. For many people around the world, Saddam's capture is a cause for celebration, certainly. Others a little more cautious. The reaction in one place, in particular, however, caught our attention today, Dearborn, Michigan. The Detroit suburb is home to many Arab-Americans. CNN's Jason Carroll is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Dearborn, Michigan, members of the Arab-American community honked their horns, danced in the streets and waved signs in celebration. One simply read, "We got him."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm so glad, and I jumped and dancing and singing. I can't believe it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy day. A very, very happy day.

CARROLL: Outside the Middle East, Dearborn has one of the largest Arab populations in the world. No surprise word of Saddam Hussein's capture spread quickly here. But what was surprising to many was the U.S. military's ability to finally capture the fallen leader.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be honest, we thought they'll never catch him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We never thought he'd get (UNINTELLIGIBLE) like that, a little hole in the earth, whatever. It looked like a monkey.

CARROLL: While the dancing and drum-beating continued outside, inside Fadhel Jebori's market, calls came in from his family in Iraq.

FADHEL JEBORI, BUSINESS OWNER: I started calling up all my family, my friends around here. I started -- they were -- everybody was -- is, like -- I seen him this morning. They said it was like a dream to them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: As for what should happen to Saddam, many here at this Islamic education center and throughout the community say they want to see him tried for his crimes against his people -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Jason Carroll in Dearborn. Thanks very much, Jason.

How was the news received elsewhere around the globe today? Let's check the uplink for that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The shadow of Saddam is finally lifted from the Iraqi people. We give thanks for that. But let this be more than a cause simply for rejoicing. Let it be a moment to reach out and to reconcile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Great Britain, optimistic words from Tony Blair. The prime minister addressed his nation today, urged war opponents to unite behind Iraq. Blair has come under intense opposition for supporting the war.

London, signs of jubilation following word of Saddam Hussein's arrest. Iraqi Kurds -- seen there -- celebrate in the streets after learning the former dictator will now face justice.

And it could be a big trading day Monday around the world. Stocks worldwide are expected to rally now that Saddam Hussein is locked up.

And that's a quick check of tonight's uplink.

For Democrats, many of whom are running on criticism of the war, what does Saddam's capture mean? We're going to take a closer look at that coming up. Also tonight, brand-new poll numbers offer an interesting glimpse of how Saddam Hussein's arrest could affect President Bush's reelection. And a little bit later: What's next for the man? We'll take a look at what could be in store for Saddam Hussein.

First today's "Buzz." Is Saddam better off dead? Or actually, should Saddam Hussein have been taken alive? That's the "Buzz" question. Should Saddam Hussein have been taken alive? What do you think? Vote now, cnn.com/360. The results at the end of the program.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Just some of the reaction in the streets to Saddam Hussein's capture.

Around the world, largely celebratory, the reaction was, but the development is being met with some uncertainty in parts of the Arab world. CNN's senior international correspondent, Sheila MacVicar, has more on that and what Saddam Hussein's arrest could mean for Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA MACVICAR, CONGRESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Around the world at hastily organized news conferences, leaders of the coalition celebrated. From Spain: "The arrest of Saddam Hussein is very good news for the world and for everyone who believes in democracy," said the prime minister. Even from those nations that opposed the war and oppose Saddam, too, more congratulations. In Berlin: "Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who will now face his just punishment," said the German foreign minister. "There is now a chance for violence to decrease."

From Paris, where France's government remains opposed to U.S. policy in Iraq, a statement issued by the French president said he was "delighted" by news of the arrest. And the French foreign minister made a plea for new unity between those nations which have been divided over Iraq.

From the Arab world, where Arabic television stations showed images of jubilation in Baghdad, there was more caution than congratulations.

JASIM AL AZZAWI, ABU DHABI TELEVISION: I'm sure that the people of Iraq will express their reaction to that, especially in the light of what they have seen and what they endured and do endure.

MACVICAR: From the foreign minister of Egypt: "This is a step for Iraqis to start building their sovereign state," he said. And from Saddam's old foes, the Kuwaitis, a note of celebration. "Today is the first day of Iraqi freedom," says this adviser to the Kuwaiti prime minister. But a reminder that it is not enough to capture Saddam Hussein. An Arabic-language Web site asked in an on-line poll, would this arrest end resistance to the occupation. More than 80 percent said no.

What people and their leaders think tomorrow or months from now may depend on what Iraqis think and what they do.

Sheila MacVicar, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: We're joined now by Jasim al Azzawi, the executive producer of Abu Dhabi television in the United Arab Emirates.

Jasim, thanks very much for being with us. I want to ask you a personal question to start off. When you first saw that image of a bedraggled and bearded Saddam Hussein in captivity, what went through your mind?

JASIM AL AZZAWI, ABU DHABI TELEVISION: These are very powerful images. I mean, nobody expected it -- nobody expected it this soon. He was disheveled. He looked very haggard. He looked old. And I think everybody was happy. We -- when we saw the picture, we thought about the Iraqis. We thought about the people who suffered under him for almost 35 years. So everybody was happy, whether in Iraq or even here in the region.

COOPER: Does it send a shockwave through not only the Arab street but through government houses throughout the Arab world?

AL AZZAWI: I don't know about shock wave, but I know different reactions. For instance, the Kuwaitis, they were extremely ecstatic. The Saudis, they were very happy to see the back of Saddam, but they're not happy having 135 (ph) American soldiers next to them. The Syrians are worried. The Iranians are worried. But the masses of Arab reactions I think we just have to wait a few more days to find out what's going on. Needless to say, the Iraqis are on top of the moon today.

COOPER: Understandably. You said, Let's wait a couple of days. Is it possible that Saddam Hussein could become a figure of -- of sympathy?

AL AZZAWI: I don't think so. His regime, his brutality was beyond the pale, what he did, whether to the Arabs or to the Iraqis or to the countries in the region. You remember, this guy, he pretty much bankrupted the Kuwaitis and the Saudis, and for years and years, their economy will suffer because of what he did with the Iran-Iraq war, let alone the second Gulf war. So I don't think there will be much sympathy with him. However, some reactions we got, especially from people here in this region -- they didn't want to see this image, no matter. No matter how brutal he was, they thought it was a little bit beyond dignity.

COOPER: Interesting. All right, Jasim al Azzawi, we appreciate you joining us, from Abu Dhabi TV. Thanks very much, Jasim.

So what is next for Saddam Hussein? We're going to explore the possibilities for the captured leader coming up. Plus, exclusive poll numbers. What Americans are saying about the big catch.

And that brings us to the "Buzz" question. Should Saddam Hussein have been taken alive? What do you think? Vote now, cnn.com/360. Results at the end of the program.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Welcome back to a special edition of 360. What a day it has been. Let's reset the latest developments.

Saddam Hussein is in custody. The Army found him last night, bearded, bedraggled, hiding in a concrete-lined hole at a farm near Tikrit. U.S. Administration Paul Bremer made the dramatic announcement in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL BREMER, U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN BAGHDAD: Ladies and gentlemen, we got him. COOPER (voice-over): He didn't need to say anything more. President Bush got a phone call about the capture yesterday and official confirmation early this morning.

In an address to the nation at about noon, he cautioned everyone that Saddam's capture does not mean the end of violence in Iraq.

We had an indication something was up. A CNN cameraman took these exclusive pictures of coalition forces patting each other on the back and taking group photographs. What none of us knew then was that they were celebrating the capture of the former Iraqi dictator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

And that's a look at the RESET tonight.

The U.S. military has been after Saddam Hussein, of course, for nine months, from the moment the war first started, back in March.

Now that they've got him, what do they do with him? We have some possible answers from Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Looking like a caveman, Saddam Hussein was arrested, poked, prodded and interrogated. But what will be his ultimate fate?

GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT: Now the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions.

AMANPOUR: But how? The United States hasn't yet said whether it will hand Saddam over to the Iraqis for trial. The Iraqi Governing Council wants to put him before the war crimes tribunal they setup last week, execution the ultimate penalty.

Experts in international law believe that Saddam Hussein can be charged with crimes against humanity and even genocide for unleashing chemical weapons against Kurds and Iranians more than 20 years ago.

Members of the Governing Council say they had met Saddam after his capture, verified his identity and even spoken to him.

ADNAN PACHACHI, IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL (through translator): If there's any signal or message from that criminal, ugly criminal, it was that he was not remorseful whatsoever for any crime he had committed against the Iraqi people. Not mass graves. Not the wars that he waged against Iran. Not even the invasion of Kuwait.

AMANPOUR: The Iraqi Governing Council says any trial of Saddam Hussein would be civilian, not military, that it would be open to the media and public, and that the defendant would have a lawyer.

SARIA ALAMMUDIN (ph), "AL HAVAT": I'm sure people in the region, and the world at large, are thinking that brutal leader cannot go on surviving. You can run, you cannot hide. You will be captured. So there is a lesson, a moral lesson, to be learned there.

AMANPOUR: A fair trial would be important for world opinion, especially in the Arab world.

(on camera): Human rights organizations point out that under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship the Iraqi justice system had no experience with proper trials, much less with the complex procedures that govern the prosecution of war crimes.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, as Christiane mentioned, Saddam Hussein will likely face the fate of former dictators, a war crimes tribunal.

In JUSTICE SERVED now we go back in time and look at the punishment process for some ousted leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): The modern-day notion of bringing leaders to justice began in Nuremberg in 1945, the first international war crimes trials. 22 Nazi officials were indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Many said they were simply following orders. The court said that wasn't defense enough.

11 Nazis in custody were sentenced to death. One was indicted in absentia. Three were acquitted and the rest went to prison.

The United Nations has operated several war crimes tribunals, most recently for those accused of mass slaughter in Rwanda as well as war crimes in the Balkans. Former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic is now on trial on 66 charges, including genocide, at the International Criminal Court at the Hague.

Not all countries, however, believe a tribunal is the best way to deal with atrocities committed by former regimes.

In 1996, the government of Nelson Mandela setup the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, granting amnesty to those who confessed to politically-motivated crimes committed over decades of apartheid rule.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I ask them to forgive me.

COOPER: The testimony was at times traumatic, but many South Africans said it made healing possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Michael Scharf joins us now. He's an international law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Michael, thanks for being with us on this momentous day.

Let's talk about options for trials. In Iraq there's an option for trial by Iraqis. Give me the pros and cons.

MICHAEL SCHARF, WESTERN RESERVE UNIV.: Well, right now it looks like that's what the Bush administration and of course Iraq's coalition government is favoring.

There are a lot of problems with that, however. The first one is that that assumes that all of these crimes were against the Iraqi people, and in fact this is a man who is accused of crimes against Iran, great breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the Iraq-Iran war, against Kuwait in the invasion of Kuwait and all the war crimes committed in that war, against Israel by launching SCUD missiles against civilians.

COOPER: So one way around that, though, I suppose, would be internationalize the judges. Keep it in Iraq, but maybe have the panel be more than just Iraqis?

SCHARF: Right, and that is a very real possibility. And in fact, there are people that are from neutral Mideast countries, people like a colleague of mine, Judge Abisab (ph), from Egypt, who served on the Yugoslavia tribunal, who would be ideal to add to this bench. It would give it an international flavor and show the world that this isn't just an Iraqi court but really an internationalized court, because these crimes really were of an international quality.

COOPER: And you think that's more likely than an international trial at, say, the United Nations at the Hague?

SCHARF: Well, the other alternative is to pass a new Security Council resolution and expand the jurisdiction of the existing ad hoc tribunal at the Hague.

There is this other permanent International Criminal Court which is a new creation, and the United States is very much opposed to that court. And in addition, that court does not have retroactive jurisdiction prior to June 2001. So most of the crimes that Saddam Hussein committed in those previous wars could not be prosecuted by the new permanent International Criminal Court.

COOPER: So it sounds like what you're saying right now is that most likely this trial will take place in Iraq, but it's yet to be determined who the judges are going to be.

Michael Scharf, we appreciate you joining us. Thanks, Michael.

SCHARF: It's good to be on.

COOPER: Well, what are Americans saying about the capture? We put the pollsters to work. We have exclusive Gallup feedback on the capture coming up in just a few moments.

Also tonight, the end of dictatorship. We take that to the NTH DEGREE.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, a lot of people are working today, including our pollsters. CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider is here with the results from the "CNN/USA Today/Gallup" poll.

Good evening -- Bill.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good evening, Anderson.

COOPER: So, what do the numbers look like?

SCHNEIDER: What do the numbers look like? Americans are in a very can-do mood, particularly with respect to intelligence. This was an intelligence triumph. We got our man. So what else does it mean? Can we find those weapons of mass destruction?

Well, the answer is yes. 54 percent of Americans say we can, up from 41 percent a week ago. They must be down another hole.

Can we stop attacks on U.S. soldiers? The answer now, 60 percent say yes. Up from 48. Without Saddam, after all, what are they fighting for?

And now the big test: can we capture Osama bin Laden? That could be harder. He's always lived in caves, you know, not in palaces. Well, 2/3 of Americans today say yes, we can find Osama bin Laden. There's a great deal of confidence here in the American intelligence operation. It was intelligence that enabled us to get Saddam Hussein.

COOPER: Looking at the numbers, expectations definitely high. How realistic are they?

SCHNEIDER: Yes, well, I think there's actually evidence that people are very realistic about this.

Democrats are saying, they said many times today, this means we can pull our troops out of Iraq very quickly and internationalize the effort. But when we asked Americans, do you think that the United States can bring home troops earlier than originally planned, the answer -- and this may surprise you -- is no. Most Americans are not ready to pullout right now. They're not saying, we got Saddam Hussein, let's get out of there.

39 percent say we can, but 58 percent -- that's a big majority -- say no, we have to keep our troops in Iraq until they finish the job. They want to see this thing through. They're not eager to declare victory and get out.

COOPER: All right, interesting numbers.

Bill Schneider, thanks very much.

So, that's what you say. Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley tells us what Democrats are saying about the capture.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First off, they'll need to rewrite some stump speeches.

SEN. JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president can't find Saddam Hussein. He can't find Osama bin Laden. He can't even find the leaker in the White House.

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He can't even find Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. They've vanished.

CROWLEY: Two days for the books. On the 13th they find Saddam. On the 14th the president gets a free pass from the men who want his job.

KERRY: Obviously today is a big day, a monumental event, capturing Saddam Hussein. We are thrilled, all of us.

CROWLEY: Privately, sources in several campaigns concede the president's reelection stock is up. Said one, "He's got a Medicare bill, a rebounding economy, and Saddam in cuffs. A December trifecta." Any criticism now, said one Democrat, would be shouting into a hurricane. So all the 04's went with the wind.

HOWARD DEAN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think President Bush deserves a day of celebration. We have our policy differences, but we won't be discussing those today.

CROWLEY: They were less deferential to each other.

JOE LIEBERMAN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: IF Howard Dean had his way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power today, not in prison.

CROWLEY: Several campaigns hoping to slow the hard-charging front-runner insist any good news from Iraq is bad news for the anti- war campaign of Howard Dean.

(on camera): Political implications are most accurate seen in hindsight. What's clear is that one day can change the political dynamic, and there are 323 days till the election.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: So what can the Democrats do now? We called a couple of political analysts into duty this evening.

Carlos Watson joins us from San Francisco; Lisa Caputo is here in New York. Good to see both of you.

Carlos, let me start off with you. I mean, the Democrats were running, basically, on the economy and the war. Both seem to be going pretty well, at least tonight. What does this mean for them? CARLOS WATSON, POLITICAL ANALYST: This is tough for the Democrats, as they think about the general election, but in terms of the primary, Anderson, it opens up a lot of opportunity.

Three people in particular now have a brief window over the next five weeks, before Iowa, and over the next six weeks, before New Hampshire, to make progress.

Who are they? No. 1, if you're Dick Gephardt and you're closing in in Iowa on Howard Dean, you're going to attack him more fiercely now and say in fact I was right that we should have gone to war, and here's further evidence of it.

If you're John Kerry, you're going to do the same thing. And if you're Wesley Clark, you're going to say, I never agreed with George Bush and I never agreed with Howard Dean. Instead, I had my own third way, and you're going to hope that that gives you a little bit of credibility. And, frankly, a 5 to 6 point bump in the polls in New Hampshire.

COOPER: Well, at least, I mean, a lot of them are now targeting Howard Dean, saying you were against the war from the beginning. Is there any way that this could actually work out in Dean's advantage?

LISA CAPUTO, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think Dean has to be very smart about the way he plays this, and clearly you saw him do it today. He got out there, he gave a tip of the hat to the White House while the other Democrats -- Kerry, Clark, Lieberman -- all went on the offensive against Dean.

Dean's got to walk a bit of a high wire act right now, but we have a long way to go before this election.

Now, what is interesting to look at is the short-term versus the long-term. What will the impact be short-term on the race versus long-term. I think when you look at the long-term, if we end up with a nominee who is anti-war, and this war starts to bode in a positive way for our country and for this White House, that's going to be a problem for the Democrats.

On the other hand, earlier we saw Bill Schneider conduct a poll where most of the Democrats -- I believe it was 65 percent of all Democrats -- are still remaining against the war. So Howard Dean is not going to lose those voters.

COOPER: Carlos, let's talk about the White House. Great news for President Bush today. Is there any way this can sort of end up working against him?

WATSON: Unlikely, but here's what's significant, as Candy said in her piece earlier. You not only have the good news coming out of Iraq, but you also have tremendous economic news, and I think what the Bush White House is going to do is not only play this to their advantage in the president election, but something, Anderson, you'll start hearing a lot about in the next three to four weeks -- President Bush has had real difficulty in a couple of cases recruiting good congressional candidates. He now is going to use this increased popularity to go to Illinois and recruit a really good Senate candidate for the Republicans. Go to California and do the same thing as well as in the South, in Florida and North Carolina and Georgia.

So I think this is great news for the president, again not only on the presidential level, but when it comes to Congressional races as well.

COOPER: Lisa, briefly. Not game over for Democratic presidential candidates?

CAPUTO: Not game over at all. In fact, game just beginning for this election, I would say.

You know, right now we have a situation where we have one victory in a very large war. There are a lot of unanswered questions that this White House has to answer.

No. 1, where are the nuclear weapons? No. 2, what is the link to terrorism? No. 3, how will Saddam Hussein be tried? No. 4, will this president now internationalize the reconstruction in Iraq?

These are all issues that can bode well for the Democrats if they play their cards right and let's not forget what happens when the market opens tomorrow and what impact this has when the stock market opens.

COOPER: All right. Well, we'll watch. Lisa Caputo, thanks very much, and Carlos Watson, in San Francisco. Thanks, Carlos.

Still to come this evening, from a military base in Texas, what the folks back home are saying to their comrades in Iraq who made sure the big one did not get away.

And later, open up and say ah. We'll take fallen dictators to the NTH DEGREE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, what a day for the U.S. military. Celebrations taking place at bases around the world today. Saddam Hussein's capture was especially welcome news at Ft. Hood, Texas, which is home base for the 4th Infantry Division, troops that helped nab Hussein.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They caught him. Early this morning, they caught him. Saddam! Yes! Turn on the news.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The 4th Infantry Division didn't get a lot of attention when they deployed for Iraq 10 months ago, but now they're the toast of the town at their home post in Ft. Hood, Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 4th I.D. You got to love it. You got to love it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It happens to be my birthday, and it's the best birthday present I could ask for.

LAVANDERA: It didn't take long for the news of Saddam Hussein's capture to spread through this central Texas Army post, although one general here thought the news was part of a training exercise and not something that was really happening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I asked my aide, is this game play or is this real, thinking his answer was going to be game play, and it was real.

LAVANDERA: After Saddam Hussein was captured, the 4th Infantry soldiers celebrated by smoking cigars. You can bet that back here at Ft. Hood there'll be a few soldiers lighting up their own cigars as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man, that's a blessing. It doesn't get any better than that.

LAVANDERA (on camera): More than 16,000 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, based here at Ft. Hood, deployed to Iraq, back in Iraq. Originally they were supposed to have gone into Iraq through Turkey, but you might remember the Turkish government didn't give this group permission to come in through, so they had to reroute themselves, come in through Kuwait and into Iraq, and this is a group of soldiers that many of them have said along the way they've been very anxious to get into the thick of things. And clearly this was their day to prove what they are made of -- Aaron (sic).

COOPER: And what a day it was. All right, Ed Lavandera, thanks very much.

U.S. troops celebrate while Saddam becomes yet another fallen dictator. We're going to take him to the NTH DEGREE coming up, but first, tonight's BUZZ. Should Saddam Hussein have been taken alive? Vote now at CNN.COM/360. We'll have results when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time now for the BUZZ. We asked you, should Saddam Hussein have been taken alive. 83 percent of you said yes, 17 percent no. Not a scientific poll, just your buzz.

Tonight, the end of dictatorship, to the NTH DEGREE. All day you've no doubt heard from pundits and pollsters, politicians and professors, but really today's story is all right here in this picture.

A ruler once followed and feared is now a man, broken, belittled, checked for lice, probed by a U.S. soldier.

We've seen tyrants tumble before. In 1945 the people of Italy brought their own brand of justice to Benito Mussolini. That's him dangling from the end of a rope. Adolph Hitler ended his reign of terror barricaded in a bunker. The image of his charred corpse never quite quelled rumors that he survived the war.

Television has made the cost of dictatorship easy for every one to see. That's how Romanian strongman Nicolae Ceaucescu ended up in 1989. Yugoslavian dictator Slobodan Milosevic was captured in a predawn raid. Once the bruiser of the Balkans, he now faces a higher authority.

It would be comforting to say that the way these dictators met their ends proves that evil cannot triumph over good, but of course nothing is that simple.

Pol Pot, a man who unleashed a genocidal madness on Cambodia never was brought to justice. He died of natural causes in 1998, 20 years after being toppled. And Ugandan dictator Idi Amin finished his life living in tranquility, exiled with his four wives in Saudi Arabia.

There are of course plenty more unjust rules still out there. Some U.S. enemies, others American allies. But for today, at least, let's hope the message to all of them is clear. It might take time, the cost may be high, but in the end justice will be served.

That wraps up our program tonight. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

END

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Aired December 14, 2003 - 19:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST: Captured alive, Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, now in U.S. custody. We'll have the latest from Baghdad. How did U.S. troops make the historic capture? Will Saddam's arrest end the violence in Iraq? How will he be brought to justice? And will Saddam's capture affect the U.S. presidential race?
Tonight, the world reacts. We'll take you from the streets of Baghdad to Main Street USA.

ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.

COOPER: Hey, good evening, and thanks for joining us on 360.

What a day it has been. The manhunt is over. The interrogation now begins. After nine months on the run, Saddam Hussein at this moment is in U.S. custody. The man who spent millions on palaces and possessions was found hiding literally in a hole in the ground.

Right now, the story continues to move, evolve. We're covering all the angles. Nic Robertson is in Saddam's home town, Tikrit, tonight, just miles from where the former leader was caught. John King is at the White House, where it has been a very busy day indeed. And Jamie McIntyre's at the Pentagon with the military maneuvers that led to the big capture.

We begin with CNN's senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson, in Tikrit. Nic, take it away.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, a lot of surprises here today, some surprises for the Iraqis, that after nine months, Saddam Hussein should be caught, surprises for the coalition, as well, particularly for the 4th Infantry Division, who have their headquarters here in one of Saddam Hussein's major palace complexes in Tikrit, surprise because Saddam Hussein was found just 10 miles from this military headquarters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): The first to know and the first to celebrate, these U.S. soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division returning to base hours after capturing Saddam Hussein, almost a day later, winning praise from their commander.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want everyone to know how proud I am of the great soldiers of the task force and the division. ROBERTSON: The two-star general showing pictures of how his troops raided the remote farmhouse where Saddam Hussein was found hiding in a hole and detailing how intelligence gleaned from Hussein loyalists led to his capture.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over the last 10 days or so, we brought in about five to ten members of these families, who then were able to give us even more information. And finally, we got the ultimate information from one of these individuals.

ROBERTSON: On the streets around the U.S. military base in the former dictator's home town of Tikrit, none of the joy being expressed elsewhere. "Saddam Hussein is just an ordinary man," he says. "Governments fall and rise. This new authority is no use at all. We were a million times better off under Saddam Hussein."

"It will have no effect on the resistance," this man adds. "They are not fighting for Saddam, they are fighting for Iraq, and Iraq is occupied."

Around Tikrit, U.S. troop patrols continued through the day, none here letting their guard down yet, General Odiorno (ph), cautious about the reactions in his area of operation, the Sunni triangle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the background, everything will be very relief -- a sense of relief, I think, in most -- most cases. So we'll wait and see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, Nic, they say Saddam was hiding in a "spider hole," that it was well hidden. Do we have any more details on how U.S. forces actually found the hideout?

ROBERTSON: Anderson, they went to two farms. They'd had information that Saddam Hussein was hiding there. They searched the farms, didn't find him, searched a small building between those farms, close to where sheep were being looked after. They didn't find him in that building. They found clothes still in their wrappers, brand-new clothes. They found disheveled remains in the room, as well, clothes strewn around the place, sort of a half -- a half-baked kitchen, if you will, next to that. The soldiers still didn't find Saddam Hussein, and they looked outside.

They found a suspicious rug on the ground. They lifted the rug, found a styrofoam lid, lifted the styrofoam lid, and there right beneath them was the hold, six foot by eight foot. And there inside it was Saddam Hussein. And the soldiers say literally it was enough to lift the lid off and he came out. He had a pistol, but he didn't even fire it, Anderson.

COOPER: Unbelievable, hiding under a rug. Nic Robertson live in Tikrit. Thanks, Nic.

Farther south, in Baghdad, when the disheveled dictator appeared on Iraqi TV, the reaction was instant: surprise and -- well, you see it there -- celebration. CNN's Satinder Bindra was on the streets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As word spread that Saddam Hussein may be in coalition custody, Iraqis started celebrating. Then the million-dollar moment, as images of a bearded and haggard-looking Saddam were flashed on TV. Iraqis had the proof they needed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I am 100 percent convinced this was Saddam.

BINDRA: Moments later, more and more Iraqis began pouring into the street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is wonderful day. Very, very good day.

BINDRA: People blew their car horns, danced, clapped, yelled. Others distributed candy. The biggest surprise? Saddam surrendered without a fight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Everyone knows that Saddam Hussein is a coward. If he had one ounce of courage, he would have killed himself and not allowed himself to be captured like a rat, hiding in a hole in the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Saddam should be tried for all the crimes that he committed against the Iraqi people from the day he came to power until the moment he was captured.

BINDRA: With Saddam no longer a threat, many here want U.S. forces to start planning a pull-out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): The Americans must leave sooner or later, but it's too soon for that because we need the help and experience of the Americans now.

BINDRA: Iraqis now sense a chance for a new future, one in which they say Saddam Hussein will have no role.

Satinder Bindra, CNN, Baghdad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: It has been a day of amazing images. Now, as I said, the story is still evolving. The details are still coming out, even at this late hour. We've recently learned that after his capture, Saddam Hussein was taken to a holding cell at the Baghdad airport. We now have details on what went on there from "Time" magazine reporter Brian Bennett (ph), who saw a transcript from a U.S. intelligence officer.

In an exclusive report, he reveals when offered a glass of water by his interrogators, Saddam replied, quote, "If I drink water, I will have to go to the bathroom. And how can I use the bathroom when my people are in bondage?" Bennett reports Hussein was also asked whether Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The deposed leader reportedly said, "No, of course not. The U.S. dreamed them up itself to have a reason to go to war with us."

Now, this morning at a news conference, Lieutenant General Richard Sanchez said Saddam was talkative and is being cooperative. We'll hope to get more details coming up.

President Bush got his first call about Hussein's possible capture while at Camp David Saturday afternoon. Confirmation came when he was back at the White House. Senior White House correspondent John King is there with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The president called it the end of a dark and painful era and a turning point for the Iraqi people.

GEORGE WALKER BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A hopeful day has arrived. All Iraqis can now come together and reject violence and build a new Iraq.

KING: But Mr. Bush was careful not to call it a turning point for the military mission in Iraq.

BUSH: We still face terrorists who would rather go on killing the innocent than accept the rise of liberty in the heart of the Middle East. Such men are a direct threat to the American people, and they will be defeated.

KING: The White House caution is born of difficult lessons in the seven months declared major combat operations over. Nearly 200 Americans have died in Iraq since then. The deaths of Saddam's sons did not halt the insurgency, and months of searching have turned up no weapons of mass destruction.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: But for just a moment, the rest of us that are not president of the United States can take a moment of pride and satisfaction and even a little celebration.

KING: It was just after 5:00 AM Sunday when the president was told it was definitely Saddam in custody. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld had called Camp David at 3:15 in the afternoon Saturday to tell Mr. Bush the military believed it had captured the former Iraqi leader but was checking to make certain. This Sunday morning call to British prime minister Tony Blair was one of more than a half dozen to world leaders to convey the news.

BUSH: Now the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: John King joins us now at the White House. John, does the president have any more plans to address the nation? I know so many people want so many details on this thing. KING: Perhaps again tomorrow, Anderson. The White House wanted to let the news be announced in theater by the military commanders responsible for the operation. Then the president wanted to give his initial assessment today. There's some concern at the White House -- remember, they raised expectations after the sons were killed that perhaps the insurgency would stop, the president making a very decided and concerted effort today to lower expectations. They want to take a few days, get the early reports from the interrogations, see what happens on the ground in Iraq. But don't be surprised if we hear more from the president tomorrow.

COOPER: All right, John King, live at the White House. Thanks, John.

It was during an interrogation of a former Saddam loyalist that U.S. forces learned of Saddam's whereabouts. Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre explains how it all went down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Operation Red Dawn was born at 10:50 AM Saturday Iraq time.

LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ, U.S. ARMY: We received intelligence on the possible whereabouts of Saddam Hussein. Two likely locations were identified near the town of a Dawr.

MCINTYRE: The two locations just south of Saddam's home town of Tikrit are codenamed Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2. By 5:00 PM, the final piece of the puzzle falls in place, actionable intelligence from an Iraqi informant. An hour later, 6:00 PM, Raider (ph) Brigade, 600 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, moves quickly under the cover of darkness, backing up the special operations Task Force 121 spearheading the hunt.

The soldiers are after a "high-value target," but many don't know it's Saddam Hussein. By 8:00 PM, the targeted areas are secured, but Saddam hasn't been found. The area is sealed and a meticulous search gets under way.

GEN. JOHN ABIZAID, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Hussein was found hiding in an underground crawlspace at 8:26 PM. Soldiers captured him without incident. And he was in the bottom of a hole. There was no way he could fight back, so he was just caught like a rat.

MCINTYRE: At 9:15 PM, a helicopter whisks the captured dictator to a secure area, which Pentagon sources say is the Baghdad International Airport. There former regime members already in custody ID him, and he's given a medical exam.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

It would be another hour-and-a-half before the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General John Abizaid, would have enough confidence to inform the Pentagon that Saddam Hussein's fugitive days were over -- Anderson. COOPER: All right, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon. Thanks, Jamie.

Saddam Hussein is now under lock and key, of course, but his arrest doesn't necessarily mean an end to the violence in Iraq. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr explains what comes next for American forces on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Violence continues, even as Saddam Hussein now spends his first hours in custody. A suicide attack on an Iraqi police station in Khaldiyah kills 10 Iraqis, 20 more are wounded. A car bombing in Baghdad, injured carried away. And by nighttime, celebratory gunfire in Baghdad hits fuel truck canisters, causing the truck to catch fire and explode.

Cautious U.S. military officials do not expect Saddam's capture to diminish the threat to U.S. soldiers on the ground. And as Iraq moves to self-governance in just six months, even more concern that opposition groups may take even more desperate measures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've repeatedly stated that this is a critical moment in the history of the country and the history of our attempt to bring security and stability to Iraq. But we do not expect, at this point in time, that we will have a complete elimination of those attacks.

STARR: Just last month, General John Abizaid, head of the Central Command, detailed how opposition forces are dispersed, an indication they were already independent of Saddam Hussein.

ABIZAID: There's a level of coordination within provinces and probably between provinces, but it's -- it's only anecdotal evidence that we have that there's a national level of control. There may be some coordination, but control is hard to -- hard to point to at this time.

STARR (on camera): The Bush administration is critically aware it must deliver basic security to the Iraqi people before the cycle of violence can be stopped. But with fewer than half of Iraqi security forces trained and equipped, no one is predicting when real peace will come to Iraq.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, reaction to the news out of Iraq came fast today. Let's take a look cross-country right now. Washington, D.C., former president Clinton issues a statement praising the capture of Saddam Hussein. He also saluted U.S. troops who found Hussein in his underground hideout. Clinton says he hopes the capture will speed Iraq's journey to self-government.

New York, New York, the news of Hussein's capture hits the huge screen in Times Square. There it is. People stop and watch in awe.

And at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, U.S. troops on leave celebrate after landing on U.S. soil. They got the news on the capture on the plane ride home. Welcome home.

Just some of the reaction we saw across country tonight.

What led U.S. forces to Saddam Hussein? We're going to track the intelligence coming up. Plus: Arab-Americans hit the streets in celebration. We'll tell you where. And we've got exclusive polling numbers just released on the capture of Saddam Hussein. That feedback straight ahead.

But first, hot off the presses -- they changed their covers just today. Here's how this big story looks on the cover of the latest "Time" magazine, and here is the cover of "Newsweek."

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, actionable intelligence -- that's what officials say led to Saddam Hussein's capture. The hunt has certainly been a difficult one, indeed. National security correspondent David Ensor has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If Saddam is willing, officials say, he could be the best possible source for the CIA's David Kay, the man in charge of looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In a statement, House Intelligence Committee chairman Porter Goss said, "With this capture, many lingering questions will be answered, but we cannot forget that Saddam has engaged in deceit and deception for decades."

How did they find Saddam? It was low-tech human intelligence, U.S. officials say, actionable intelligence painstakingly gathered.

BUSH: The operation was based on the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country.

ENSOR: The information did not come from a tip. U.S. officials pulled in former Saddam bodyguards and members of Tikriti families close to his regime for intense interrogation. Information extracted from one person led to another.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Over the last 10 days or so, we brought in about five to ten members of these families, who then were le to give us even more information. And finally, we got the ultimate information from one of these individuals.

ENSOR: Once captured, Saddam was shown to some other prisoners, like Tariq Aziz, his former senior aide, who eventually confirmed his identity beyond a shadow of a doubt. (on camera): Prior to Saddam's capture, a meeting had been scheduled for Monday at the CIA to discuss David Kay's so far discouraging effort to search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Official say assuming the meeting does go ahead, it will now have quite a different tone.

David Ensor, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, of course, the other man still wanted by U.S. forces, Usama bin Laden. Here's a quick news note for you. The last time an independent source saw Usama bin Laden alive -- well, it was back on October 21, 2001, when an Al Jazeera reporter interviewed him in Afghanistan. Now, since then, he's allegedly released seven videotapes and seven audiotapes. His whereabouts unknown, but intelligence authorities believe he is near the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Well, moving on now. For many people around the world, Saddam's capture is a cause for celebration, certainly. Others a little more cautious. The reaction in one place, in particular, however, caught our attention today, Dearborn, Michigan. The Detroit suburb is home to many Arab-Americans. CNN's Jason Carroll is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Dearborn, Michigan, members of the Arab-American community honked their horns, danced in the streets and waved signs in celebration. One simply read, "We got him."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm so glad, and I jumped and dancing and singing. I can't believe it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy day. A very, very happy day.

CARROLL: Outside the Middle East, Dearborn has one of the largest Arab populations in the world. No surprise word of Saddam Hussein's capture spread quickly here. But what was surprising to many was the U.S. military's ability to finally capture the fallen leader.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To be honest, we thought they'll never catch him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We never thought he'd get (UNINTELLIGIBLE) like that, a little hole in the earth, whatever. It looked like a monkey.

CARROLL: While the dancing and drum-beating continued outside, inside Fadhel Jebori's market, calls came in from his family in Iraq.

FADHEL JEBORI, BUSINESS OWNER: I started calling up all my family, my friends around here. I started -- they were -- everybody was -- is, like -- I seen him this morning. They said it was like a dream to them.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: As for what should happen to Saddam, many here at this Islamic education center and throughout the community say they want to see him tried for his crimes against his people -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Jason Carroll in Dearborn. Thanks very much, Jason.

How was the news received elsewhere around the globe today? Let's check the uplink for that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The shadow of Saddam is finally lifted from the Iraqi people. We give thanks for that. But let this be more than a cause simply for rejoicing. Let it be a moment to reach out and to reconcile.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Great Britain, optimistic words from Tony Blair. The prime minister addressed his nation today, urged war opponents to unite behind Iraq. Blair has come under intense opposition for supporting the war.

London, signs of jubilation following word of Saddam Hussein's arrest. Iraqi Kurds -- seen there -- celebrate in the streets after learning the former dictator will now face justice.

And it could be a big trading day Monday around the world. Stocks worldwide are expected to rally now that Saddam Hussein is locked up.

And that's a quick check of tonight's uplink.

For Democrats, many of whom are running on criticism of the war, what does Saddam's capture mean? We're going to take a closer look at that coming up. Also tonight, brand-new poll numbers offer an interesting glimpse of how Saddam Hussein's arrest could affect President Bush's reelection. And a little bit later: What's next for the man? We'll take a look at what could be in store for Saddam Hussein.

First today's "Buzz." Is Saddam better off dead? Or actually, should Saddam Hussein have been taken alive? That's the "Buzz" question. Should Saddam Hussein have been taken alive? What do you think? Vote now, cnn.com/360. The results at the end of the program.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Just some of the reaction in the streets to Saddam Hussein's capture.

Around the world, largely celebratory, the reaction was, but the development is being met with some uncertainty in parts of the Arab world. CNN's senior international correspondent, Sheila MacVicar, has more on that and what Saddam Hussein's arrest could mean for Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA MACVICAR, CONGRESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Around the world at hastily organized news conferences, leaders of the coalition celebrated. From Spain: "The arrest of Saddam Hussein is very good news for the world and for everyone who believes in democracy," said the prime minister. Even from those nations that opposed the war and oppose Saddam, too, more congratulations. In Berlin: "Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who will now face his just punishment," said the German foreign minister. "There is now a chance for violence to decrease."

From Paris, where France's government remains opposed to U.S. policy in Iraq, a statement issued by the French president said he was "delighted" by news of the arrest. And the French foreign minister made a plea for new unity between those nations which have been divided over Iraq.

From the Arab world, where Arabic television stations showed images of jubilation in Baghdad, there was more caution than congratulations.

JASIM AL AZZAWI, ABU DHABI TELEVISION: I'm sure that the people of Iraq will express their reaction to that, especially in the light of what they have seen and what they endured and do endure.

MACVICAR: From the foreign minister of Egypt: "This is a step for Iraqis to start building their sovereign state," he said. And from Saddam's old foes, the Kuwaitis, a note of celebration. "Today is the first day of Iraqi freedom," says this adviser to the Kuwaiti prime minister. But a reminder that it is not enough to capture Saddam Hussein. An Arabic-language Web site asked in an on-line poll, would this arrest end resistance to the occupation. More than 80 percent said no.

What people and their leaders think tomorrow or months from now may depend on what Iraqis think and what they do.

Sheila MacVicar, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: We're joined now by Jasim al Azzawi, the executive producer of Abu Dhabi television in the United Arab Emirates.

Jasim, thanks very much for being with us. I want to ask you a personal question to start off. When you first saw that image of a bedraggled and bearded Saddam Hussein in captivity, what went through your mind?

JASIM AL AZZAWI, ABU DHABI TELEVISION: These are very powerful images. I mean, nobody expected it -- nobody expected it this soon. He was disheveled. He looked very haggard. He looked old. And I think everybody was happy. We -- when we saw the picture, we thought about the Iraqis. We thought about the people who suffered under him for almost 35 years. So everybody was happy, whether in Iraq or even here in the region.

COOPER: Does it send a shockwave through not only the Arab street but through government houses throughout the Arab world?

AL AZZAWI: I don't know about shock wave, but I know different reactions. For instance, the Kuwaitis, they were extremely ecstatic. The Saudis, they were very happy to see the back of Saddam, but they're not happy having 135 (ph) American soldiers next to them. The Syrians are worried. The Iranians are worried. But the masses of Arab reactions I think we just have to wait a few more days to find out what's going on. Needless to say, the Iraqis are on top of the moon today.

COOPER: Understandably. You said, Let's wait a couple of days. Is it possible that Saddam Hussein could become a figure of -- of sympathy?

AL AZZAWI: I don't think so. His regime, his brutality was beyond the pale, what he did, whether to the Arabs or to the Iraqis or to the countries in the region. You remember, this guy, he pretty much bankrupted the Kuwaitis and the Saudis, and for years and years, their economy will suffer because of what he did with the Iran-Iraq war, let alone the second Gulf war. So I don't think there will be much sympathy with him. However, some reactions we got, especially from people here in this region -- they didn't want to see this image, no matter. No matter how brutal he was, they thought it was a little bit beyond dignity.

COOPER: Interesting. All right, Jasim al Azzawi, we appreciate you joining us, from Abu Dhabi TV. Thanks very much, Jasim.

So what is next for Saddam Hussein? We're going to explore the possibilities for the captured leader coming up. Plus, exclusive poll numbers. What Americans are saying about the big catch.

And that brings us to the "Buzz" question. Should Saddam Hussein have been taken alive? What do you think? Vote now, cnn.com/360. Results at the end of the program.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Welcome back to a special edition of 360. What a day it has been. Let's reset the latest developments.

Saddam Hussein is in custody. The Army found him last night, bearded, bedraggled, hiding in a concrete-lined hole at a farm near Tikrit. U.S. Administration Paul Bremer made the dramatic announcement in Baghdad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL BREMER, U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN BAGHDAD: Ladies and gentlemen, we got him. COOPER (voice-over): He didn't need to say anything more. President Bush got a phone call about the capture yesterday and official confirmation early this morning.

In an address to the nation at about noon, he cautioned everyone that Saddam's capture does not mean the end of violence in Iraq.

We had an indication something was up. A CNN cameraman took these exclusive pictures of coalition forces patting each other on the back and taking group photographs. What none of us knew then was that they were celebrating the capture of the former Iraqi dictator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

And that's a look at the RESET tonight.

The U.S. military has been after Saddam Hussein, of course, for nine months, from the moment the war first started, back in March.

Now that they've got him, what do they do with him? We have some possible answers from Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Looking like a caveman, Saddam Hussein was arrested, poked, prodded and interrogated. But what will be his ultimate fate?

GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT: Now the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions.

AMANPOUR: But how? The United States hasn't yet said whether it will hand Saddam over to the Iraqis for trial. The Iraqi Governing Council wants to put him before the war crimes tribunal they setup last week, execution the ultimate penalty.

Experts in international law believe that Saddam Hussein can be charged with crimes against humanity and even genocide for unleashing chemical weapons against Kurds and Iranians more than 20 years ago.

Members of the Governing Council say they had met Saddam after his capture, verified his identity and even spoken to him.

ADNAN PACHACHI, IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL (through translator): If there's any signal or message from that criminal, ugly criminal, it was that he was not remorseful whatsoever for any crime he had committed against the Iraqi people. Not mass graves. Not the wars that he waged against Iran. Not even the invasion of Kuwait.

AMANPOUR: The Iraqi Governing Council says any trial of Saddam Hussein would be civilian, not military, that it would be open to the media and public, and that the defendant would have a lawyer.

SARIA ALAMMUDIN (ph), "AL HAVAT": I'm sure people in the region, and the world at large, are thinking that brutal leader cannot go on surviving. You can run, you cannot hide. You will be captured. So there is a lesson, a moral lesson, to be learned there.

AMANPOUR: A fair trial would be important for world opinion, especially in the Arab world.

(on camera): Human rights organizations point out that under Saddam Hussein's dictatorship the Iraqi justice system had no experience with proper trials, much less with the complex procedures that govern the prosecution of war crimes.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Well, as Christiane mentioned, Saddam Hussein will likely face the fate of former dictators, a war crimes tribunal.

In JUSTICE SERVED now we go back in time and look at the punishment process for some ousted leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER (voice-over): The modern-day notion of bringing leaders to justice began in Nuremberg in 1945, the first international war crimes trials. 22 Nazi officials were indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Many said they were simply following orders. The court said that wasn't defense enough.

11 Nazis in custody were sentenced to death. One was indicted in absentia. Three were acquitted and the rest went to prison.

The United Nations has operated several war crimes tribunals, most recently for those accused of mass slaughter in Rwanda as well as war crimes in the Balkans. Former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic is now on trial on 66 charges, including genocide, at the International Criminal Court at the Hague.

Not all countries, however, believe a tribunal is the best way to deal with atrocities committed by former regimes.

In 1996, the government of Nelson Mandela setup the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, granting amnesty to those who confessed to politically-motivated crimes committed over decades of apartheid rule.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I ask them to forgive me.

COOPER: The testimony was at times traumatic, but many South Africans said it made healing possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

Michael Scharf joins us now. He's an international law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Michael, thanks for being with us on this momentous day.

Let's talk about options for trials. In Iraq there's an option for trial by Iraqis. Give me the pros and cons.

MICHAEL SCHARF, WESTERN RESERVE UNIV.: Well, right now it looks like that's what the Bush administration and of course Iraq's coalition government is favoring.

There are a lot of problems with that, however. The first one is that that assumes that all of these crimes were against the Iraqi people, and in fact this is a man who is accused of crimes against Iran, great breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the Iraq-Iran war, against Kuwait in the invasion of Kuwait and all the war crimes committed in that war, against Israel by launching SCUD missiles against civilians.

COOPER: So one way around that, though, I suppose, would be internationalize the judges. Keep it in Iraq, but maybe have the panel be more than just Iraqis?

SCHARF: Right, and that is a very real possibility. And in fact, there are people that are from neutral Mideast countries, people like a colleague of mine, Judge Abisab (ph), from Egypt, who served on the Yugoslavia tribunal, who would be ideal to add to this bench. It would give it an international flavor and show the world that this isn't just an Iraqi court but really an internationalized court, because these crimes really were of an international quality.

COOPER: And you think that's more likely than an international trial at, say, the United Nations at the Hague?

SCHARF: Well, the other alternative is to pass a new Security Council resolution and expand the jurisdiction of the existing ad hoc tribunal at the Hague.

There is this other permanent International Criminal Court which is a new creation, and the United States is very much opposed to that court. And in addition, that court does not have retroactive jurisdiction prior to June 2001. So most of the crimes that Saddam Hussein committed in those previous wars could not be prosecuted by the new permanent International Criminal Court.

COOPER: So it sounds like what you're saying right now is that most likely this trial will take place in Iraq, but it's yet to be determined who the judges are going to be.

Michael Scharf, we appreciate you joining us. Thanks, Michael.

SCHARF: It's good to be on.

COOPER: Well, what are Americans saying about the capture? We put the pollsters to work. We have exclusive Gallup feedback on the capture coming up in just a few moments.

Also tonight, the end of dictatorship. We take that to the NTH DEGREE.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, a lot of people are working today, including our pollsters. CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider is here with the results from the "CNN/USA Today/Gallup" poll.

Good evening -- Bill.

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good evening, Anderson.

COOPER: So, what do the numbers look like?

SCHNEIDER: What do the numbers look like? Americans are in a very can-do mood, particularly with respect to intelligence. This was an intelligence triumph. We got our man. So what else does it mean? Can we find those weapons of mass destruction?

Well, the answer is yes. 54 percent of Americans say we can, up from 41 percent a week ago. They must be down another hole.

Can we stop attacks on U.S. soldiers? The answer now, 60 percent say yes. Up from 48. Without Saddam, after all, what are they fighting for?

And now the big test: can we capture Osama bin Laden? That could be harder. He's always lived in caves, you know, not in palaces. Well, 2/3 of Americans today say yes, we can find Osama bin Laden. There's a great deal of confidence here in the American intelligence operation. It was intelligence that enabled us to get Saddam Hussein.

COOPER: Looking at the numbers, expectations definitely high. How realistic are they?

SCHNEIDER: Yes, well, I think there's actually evidence that people are very realistic about this.

Democrats are saying, they said many times today, this means we can pull our troops out of Iraq very quickly and internationalize the effort. But when we asked Americans, do you think that the United States can bring home troops earlier than originally planned, the answer -- and this may surprise you -- is no. Most Americans are not ready to pullout right now. They're not saying, we got Saddam Hussein, let's get out of there.

39 percent say we can, but 58 percent -- that's a big majority -- say no, we have to keep our troops in Iraq until they finish the job. They want to see this thing through. They're not eager to declare victory and get out.

COOPER: All right, interesting numbers.

Bill Schneider, thanks very much.

So, that's what you say. Senior political correspondent Candy Crowley tells us what Democrats are saying about the capture.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): First off, they'll need to rewrite some stump speeches.

SEN. JOHN KERRY, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This president can't find Saddam Hussein. He can't find Osama bin Laden. He can't even find the leaker in the White House.

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He can't even find Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein. They've vanished.

CROWLEY: Two days for the books. On the 13th they find Saddam. On the 14th the president gets a free pass from the men who want his job.

KERRY: Obviously today is a big day, a monumental event, capturing Saddam Hussein. We are thrilled, all of us.

CROWLEY: Privately, sources in several campaigns concede the president's reelection stock is up. Said one, "He's got a Medicare bill, a rebounding economy, and Saddam in cuffs. A December trifecta." Any criticism now, said one Democrat, would be shouting into a hurricane. So all the 04's went with the wind.

HOWARD DEAN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think President Bush deserves a day of celebration. We have our policy differences, but we won't be discussing those today.

CROWLEY: They were less deferential to each other.

JOE LIEBERMAN, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: IF Howard Dean had his way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power today, not in prison.

CROWLEY: Several campaigns hoping to slow the hard-charging front-runner insist any good news from Iraq is bad news for the anti- war campaign of Howard Dean.

(on camera): Political implications are most accurate seen in hindsight. What's clear is that one day can change the political dynamic, and there are 323 days till the election.

Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: So what can the Democrats do now? We called a couple of political analysts into duty this evening.

Carlos Watson joins us from San Francisco; Lisa Caputo is here in New York. Good to see both of you.

Carlos, let me start off with you. I mean, the Democrats were running, basically, on the economy and the war. Both seem to be going pretty well, at least tonight. What does this mean for them? CARLOS WATSON, POLITICAL ANALYST: This is tough for the Democrats, as they think about the general election, but in terms of the primary, Anderson, it opens up a lot of opportunity.

Three people in particular now have a brief window over the next five weeks, before Iowa, and over the next six weeks, before New Hampshire, to make progress.

Who are they? No. 1, if you're Dick Gephardt and you're closing in in Iowa on Howard Dean, you're going to attack him more fiercely now and say in fact I was right that we should have gone to war, and here's further evidence of it.

If you're John Kerry, you're going to do the same thing. And if you're Wesley Clark, you're going to say, I never agreed with George Bush and I never agreed with Howard Dean. Instead, I had my own third way, and you're going to hope that that gives you a little bit of credibility. And, frankly, a 5 to 6 point bump in the polls in New Hampshire.

COOPER: Well, at least, I mean, a lot of them are now targeting Howard Dean, saying you were against the war from the beginning. Is there any way that this could actually work out in Dean's advantage?

LISA CAPUTO, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think Dean has to be very smart about the way he plays this, and clearly you saw him do it today. He got out there, he gave a tip of the hat to the White House while the other Democrats -- Kerry, Clark, Lieberman -- all went on the offensive against Dean.

Dean's got to walk a bit of a high wire act right now, but we have a long way to go before this election.

Now, what is interesting to look at is the short-term versus the long-term. What will the impact be short-term on the race versus long-term. I think when you look at the long-term, if we end up with a nominee who is anti-war, and this war starts to bode in a positive way for our country and for this White House, that's going to be a problem for the Democrats.

On the other hand, earlier we saw Bill Schneider conduct a poll where most of the Democrats -- I believe it was 65 percent of all Democrats -- are still remaining against the war. So Howard Dean is not going to lose those voters.

COOPER: Carlos, let's talk about the White House. Great news for President Bush today. Is there any way this can sort of end up working against him?

WATSON: Unlikely, but here's what's significant, as Candy said in her piece earlier. You not only have the good news coming out of Iraq, but you also have tremendous economic news, and I think what the Bush White House is going to do is not only play this to their advantage in the president election, but something, Anderson, you'll start hearing a lot about in the next three to four weeks -- President Bush has had real difficulty in a couple of cases recruiting good congressional candidates. He now is going to use this increased popularity to go to Illinois and recruit a really good Senate candidate for the Republicans. Go to California and do the same thing as well as in the South, in Florida and North Carolina and Georgia.

So I think this is great news for the president, again not only on the presidential level, but when it comes to Congressional races as well.

COOPER: Lisa, briefly. Not game over for Democratic presidential candidates?

CAPUTO: Not game over at all. In fact, game just beginning for this election, I would say.

You know, right now we have a situation where we have one victory in a very large war. There are a lot of unanswered questions that this White House has to answer.

No. 1, where are the nuclear weapons? No. 2, what is the link to terrorism? No. 3, how will Saddam Hussein be tried? No. 4, will this president now internationalize the reconstruction in Iraq?

These are all issues that can bode well for the Democrats if they play their cards right and let's not forget what happens when the market opens tomorrow and what impact this has when the stock market opens.

COOPER: All right. Well, we'll watch. Lisa Caputo, thanks very much, and Carlos Watson, in San Francisco. Thanks, Carlos.

Still to come this evening, from a military base in Texas, what the folks back home are saying to their comrades in Iraq who made sure the big one did not get away.

And later, open up and say ah. We'll take fallen dictators to the NTH DEGREE.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Well, what a day for the U.S. military. Celebrations taking place at bases around the world today. Saddam Hussein's capture was especially welcome news at Ft. Hood, Texas, which is home base for the 4th Infantry Division, troops that helped nab Hussein.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They caught him. Early this morning, they caught him. Saddam! Yes! Turn on the news.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The 4th Infantry Division didn't get a lot of attention when they deployed for Iraq 10 months ago, but now they're the toast of the town at their home post in Ft. Hood, Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 4th I.D. You got to love it. You got to love it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It happens to be my birthday, and it's the best birthday present I could ask for.

LAVANDERA: It didn't take long for the news of Saddam Hussein's capture to spread through this central Texas Army post, although one general here thought the news was part of a training exercise and not something that was really happening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I asked my aide, is this game play or is this real, thinking his answer was going to be game play, and it was real.

LAVANDERA: After Saddam Hussein was captured, the 4th Infantry soldiers celebrated by smoking cigars. You can bet that back here at Ft. Hood there'll be a few soldiers lighting up their own cigars as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, man, that's a blessing. It doesn't get any better than that.

LAVANDERA (on camera): More than 16,000 soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division, based here at Ft. Hood, deployed to Iraq, back in Iraq. Originally they were supposed to have gone into Iraq through Turkey, but you might remember the Turkish government didn't give this group permission to come in through, so they had to reroute themselves, come in through Kuwait and into Iraq, and this is a group of soldiers that many of them have said along the way they've been very anxious to get into the thick of things. And clearly this was their day to prove what they are made of -- Aaron (sic).

COOPER: And what a day it was. All right, Ed Lavandera, thanks very much.

U.S. troops celebrate while Saddam becomes yet another fallen dictator. We're going to take him to the NTH DEGREE coming up, but first, tonight's BUZZ. Should Saddam Hussein have been taken alive? Vote now at CNN.COM/360. We'll have results when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: Time now for the BUZZ. We asked you, should Saddam Hussein have been taken alive. 83 percent of you said yes, 17 percent no. Not a scientific poll, just your buzz.

Tonight, the end of dictatorship, to the NTH DEGREE. All day you've no doubt heard from pundits and pollsters, politicians and professors, but really today's story is all right here in this picture.

A ruler once followed and feared is now a man, broken, belittled, checked for lice, probed by a U.S. soldier.

We've seen tyrants tumble before. In 1945 the people of Italy brought their own brand of justice to Benito Mussolini. That's him dangling from the end of a rope. Adolph Hitler ended his reign of terror barricaded in a bunker. The image of his charred corpse never quite quelled rumors that he survived the war.

Television has made the cost of dictatorship easy for every one to see. That's how Romanian strongman Nicolae Ceaucescu ended up in 1989. Yugoslavian dictator Slobodan Milosevic was captured in a predawn raid. Once the bruiser of the Balkans, he now faces a higher authority.

It would be comforting to say that the way these dictators met their ends proves that evil cannot triumph over good, but of course nothing is that simple.

Pol Pot, a man who unleashed a genocidal madness on Cambodia never was brought to justice. He died of natural causes in 1998, 20 years after being toppled. And Ugandan dictator Idi Amin finished his life living in tranquility, exiled with his four wives in Saudi Arabia.

There are of course plenty more unjust rules still out there. Some U.S. enemies, others American allies. But for today, at least, let's hope the message to all of them is clear. It might take time, the cost may be high, but in the end justice will be served.

That wraps up our program tonight. Coming up next, "PAULA ZAHN NOW."

END

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