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Translator Shares Story of Saddam's Capture
Aired August 05, 2004 - 14:30 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.
PHILLIPS: And welcome back. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's what's all new this half hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMIR: I look at him. I knew that's Saddam from his face -- that was Saddam. And I told them, "This is Saddam." They didn't believe me at first.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Saddam Hussein captured. An interpreter for the U.S. military tells his amazing firsthand account of how it all went down. But first, here's what's happening now in the news.
New York mosque leaders in court. Arraignment is scheduled this hour for two men accused of trying to help a terrorist funnel money from a missile sale. The so-called terrorist, really an FBI informant -- a live report from CNN's Alina Cho in about 30 minutes.
U.S. government officials weigh the impact of the arrest of a key Al Qaeda suspect in London. They tell CNN he is a senior figure in a terrorist cell who moved information among Pakistan, Britain, and the U.S. Officials also say that London's Heathrow Airport was uncovered as a potential target. We're keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Iraq is an evolving nation. Even with the birth of its newfound democracy, there's been violence and death. But one Iraqi says the nation is better off after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime.
CNN special contributor and former Iraqi P.O.W. Ron Young sat down with this man we call Samir. He takes us on a journey of repression to rebellion to exile, and finally, in an amazing turn, face to face with Saddam Hussein.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMIR, HELPED CAPTURE SADDAM HUSSEIN: I told him, "If you are the real man, you should have killed yourself."
RON YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tough words for a man who grew up in a tough world.
SAMIR: I was there during executions. I lost two cousins during the Saddam regime -- neighbors, friends I know, they were executed by Saddam. And after they shot them dead, before even their parents, they get the body, they have to pay a fine for the bullets.
YOUNG: Samir grew up in Nasiriyah. As a teenager he hated Saddam Hussein, wanted to rebel but feared the consequences.
SAMIR: If you tried to overthrown Saddam, you could not make it (ph).
YOUNG: Finally, Samir's chance came.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tonight, the battle has been joined.
SAMIR: It's in 1991 during the Gulf War. I think pretty much a lot of Iraqis thought this is the best time for Iraq to have a new president, to get rid of Saddam.
We had guns, and we went to the building, Ba'ath Party building and places for Saddam, his security was the prison, torturing people inside the prisons. We broke the doors, and we got some prisoners out.
We thought we're going to get help, maybe from the United States. But it didn't happen. We just left behind.
YOUNG (on camera): What happened to you after that?
SAMIR: I went to my family, my parents. I told them, "I'm not staying here because I know what's going to happen to me. They're going to kill me, for sure." And I told them, "I'm leaving. I cannot live here anymore."
I went to the border between Iraq and Kuwait. There was U.S. military between the borders, and we asked for protections. And they did. They protect us, and they give us food, a tent to live, medicine, anything we need.
They managed somehow with the Saudi Arabian government. And they built a refugee camp for the refugees. We were thousands. A thousand refugees left the country.
I lived there for three and a half years. It's really tough. It's not easy. But you have no choice. You have no choice. Either you stay or you go back to be killed.
I have a cousin, he came here to the United States in 1992. He sent me letters when I was in Saudi Arabia in that camp. And he explained to me the life, and I was like, "That's where I want to be, United States." Just got lucky.
YOUNG: The U.N. granted Samir refugee status, and he settled in St. Louis.
SAMIR: When I came to the United States, I had no English, don't speak English. I have six bucks in my pocket, six dollars. Now I'm driving a nice car.
YOUNG: Samir thrived in St. Louis. He learned English, became a citizen. Part of his heart, though, remained in Iraq.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil.
YOUNG: When President Bush started talking about going to war against Saddam, Samir became excited.
SAMIR: I just wanted it to happen, because that's the only chance. The only chance is the United States to go to Iraq and kick Saddam out of there. I want to help. I speak the language. I can do something.
I applied for the job as a translator, and I got the job.
YOUNG (on camera): And you weren't nervous about this decision?
SAMIR: No. I was completely fine, 100 percent, to do it. They sent us to Iraq after about that fall (ph).
YOUNG: But Samir wasn't sent to Baghdad.
SAMIR: And they asked my boss, "What city in Iraq we are?"
He said, "This is Nasiriyah."
I was, like, almost having a heart attack. I told my boss that night, told him, "I'm from here. And I got kicked out of the country in 1991. I haven't seen my parents yet."
They said, "We're going to take you home to see your parents tomorrow."
We walked in the village, me and the American forces. Everybody crying. My dad hugged me. Crying so bad, my brothers, my mom. I cried, too.
It was a great moment. I came with America to free them and to see the family. That was a great moment for me. That was the best moment ever.
YOUNG: But soon, there would be another moment that would change Samir's life.
SAMIR: I had to really, like, yell at him and stuff. He said, "I'm Saddam Hussein."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR: Well, next he describes the moment that they finally uncover Hussein's hideout.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMIR: We dig in there and we found a hole. A little bitty hole; it cannot be. Especially when you think about looking for Saddam Hussein. (END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Samir's story, only on CNN, when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: More now on the story of Samir, a former Iraqi refugee and later hero to many people in Iraq. Samir was part of the intense manhunt to catch Saddam Hussein.
And in this part of his story, the translator for U.S. Special Forces recounts the night that he laid eyes on Saddam hiding in that spider hole.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMIR: I want to show the world. I want to show all the people I know. That's the hole we dragged Saddam out of. From that little bitty dirty hole.
YOUNG (voice-over): For Samir, capturing Saddam was personal. Forced to flee Iraq to the U.S., his heart hurt for his family still suffering back home.
When the U.S. went back to remove Saddam Hussein, he wanted to help. He was sent back to Tikrit as a translator with the U.S. Special Forces.
SAMIR: They don't want to see you in the uniforms. They don't care if you're Americans or if you're Iraqi. They don't care. They look at you like you are a traitor or a spy or something.
YOUNG: Samir was assigned to the tedious and frustrating search for Saddam. Sparks of hope would quickly fade.
Then, the break they were looking for.
Now for the first time someone on the mission tells what happened the night Special Forces caught Saddam Hussein.
SAMIR: On December 15, we knew we have info. Saddam Hussein is on that farm, hidden somewhere in that farm. But we had his bodyguard. He's the one we were looking for, because we knew he lived with Saddam. I was the translator for this guy.
And he start crying. He said, "Don't kill me. I'll show you where Saddam is."
And we got on that farm about 8 p.m. Saturday night. And forces went inside. And they searched the whole farm, and there's no sign of Saddam. The guy show us exactly where the bunker is.
YOUNG (on camera): The bodyguard showed you where the bunker was?
SAMIR: He said -- pointed with his finger. He said, "Dig in here."
It's really hard to see where the bunker is. It's like it's covered with dirt. And what they do was Saddam go in. And they take leaves from trees, and they throw it on top of that. They make it look like it's been there for a long time.
We dig in there and found a hole. A little bitty hole. It can't be. Especially when you think about looking for Saddam Hussein, the dictator, the one who has the power over his people. It just -- it doesn't cross your mind. But he was there. He was there.
He heard shots, and he started yelling inside. And they said, "Samir, come talk to him. Tell him to come out."
And he start saying, "Don't shoot. Don't kill me. Don't shoot." They asked me to tell him, to ask him, "Put your hands up. We want to see your hands." I told him, "Put your hands up."
And it was like one hand.
I said, "Let me see your other hand." And he did this. I said, "No, both hands up."
YOUNG: And you're looking down the hole at this point?
SAMIR: Yes. I was like, this guy's like pulling me back, because they didn't know what's in there. A bomb's going to come off or something. I tried to talk to him. This guy's, "Samir." They pulled me back. And like we had helicopters, about eight of them.
Anyway, he stick both hand up. And I reached him. And I caught him. I grabbed him. I grabbed him. I was like, "I'm not going to let him go." Everyone got a piece of Saddam. We pulled him out.
I look at him, I knew that's Saddam from his face. And I told them, "This is Saddam." They didn't believe me first.
They said, "Ask him his name."
And I said, "This is Saddam."
They said, "No, ask him."
And I asked him, "What's your name?"
He said -- at first, he said, "Ah..."
"What's your name?"
And he said, "I'm Saddam."
"Saddam what?" I had to really, like, yell at him and stuff.
He said, "I'm Saddam Hussein."
(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: Next the first thing that went through Samir's mind when he saw the Iraqi dictator right in front of him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMIR: I don't know what to do. Like, this is the guy who destroyed millions of lives. He's in my hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: What Samir said to Saddam Hussein. And then Ron Young joins us from more with behind the scenes of the interview with the Iraqi translator.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, in the conclusion of Samir's story, he tells CNN contributor Ron Young how the capture of Saddam was the most significant moment in the war and in his life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMIR: At that moment, I was like -- I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do, that this is the guy who destroyed millions of lives. He's in my hands.
I don't know. I just -- to kill him right away is not a good idea. I don't know what to do, really.
I told him, "You call yourself a hero and a leader of the Arab nation. You are nobody."
And he called me a traitor and a spy. And he make me really upset. And I had to punch him. I was so angry. I don't know, really punch him a couple of times in the face. I grabbed him from his beard and they told me to stop: "That's enough."
Saddam spoke two words in English when we pulled him out. When we pulled him out, he spoke the word because he thought nobody speak Arabic with these forces. He said, "America, why?" He said it three times, "America why? America, why?"
And I remember once of the forces told me to tell him. They said, "Samir, tell him the reason we're here. Because President Bush sent us to find you."
YOUNG: How did he react?
SAMIR: He had mad words (ph). He said, "My shoes are better than you and your family." Any question you ask him, he's crazy. I think he's crazy. He's like, "The war is not over." He said, "I'm a hostage or I'm a prisoner?"
YOUNG: He had no idea?
SAMIR: Yes. He said, "You didn't win the war." He said, "You didn't win the war. The war is not over."
We told him that. "The war is over. The war is over. It's over. You gone. You gone.
He said, "No, the war is not over."
YOUNG (voice-over): Special Forces took Saddam Hussein back to one of his palaces. He was no longer president. But a prisoner.
(on camera): Was he crying?
SAMIR: He wasn't really crying but he was like -- felt like -- he's not Saddam anymore. He's not the president anymore. He felt it's gone.
I remember a couple of questions they ask him when I was there. They ask about the master graves, and he denied it. He blamed the vice president, Iraqi vice president al-Douri.
He said, "America, why you come and like crossing the Atlantic? You come in here like" -- the way he talk -- "you come in here to Iraq. What do you know about Baghdad?"
PAUL BREMER, FMR. U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ: Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!
YOUNG (voice-over): Soon word traveled in Nasiriyah and later the pictures.
SAMIR: My mom when she saw that picture, the first picture came out like they blank my face. She said, "From his hand I can tell that was Samir." My parents, they are proud of me.
YOUNG: Samir returned to St. Louis. He told only a few people what happened. He tried to tell the story to President Bush in an e- mail, but it bounced back.
Then last month, friends arranged for him to meet President Bush.
SAMIR: I was like, it can't be. It can't be. I was like, I couldn't sleep at night. I just couldn't believe it. I shook the president's hand and I told him, Mr. President, thank you, thank you for what you have done to Iraq. You freed the country.
And it just -- that's a great moment. Again I tell him, "Sir, this is me and Saddam." And he said he saw it. He saw the picture.
YOUNG (on camera): What would you say to the people in this country who say that our going to war wasn't worth it? That the cost is too high?
SAMIR: I want to say, like, especially the whole family they have -- or kids that have daddy or mother, serving in Iraq, I want to tell them what they do in Iraq, it's the right thing. Because they save a life, they're changing Iraq. Going to Iraq I think is the right thing. (END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: As you can see that's a pretty amazing story what Samir had to say. And we wouldn't have had that interview if it were not for our special contributor, Ron Young.
You remember, former helicopter pilot in the war. Not a funny thing. That's for sure. You were shot down, POW for a couple weeks.
But seriously, we're laughing because you had such a great relationship with this guy. I mean, you guys were so comfortable together. I can just imagine like two guys telling their war stories together.
YOUNG: It absolutely was. I mean, he, of course, had been there. He had been through the battles. He was with the Special Forces guys. He had been shot at, just like I had been. And we both had remarkable events that happened that surrounded our lives.
And, you know, it was just great to be with someone who you consider kind of a kindred spirit and talk to him.
PHILLIPS: Why did he decide to talk now?
YOUNG: He -- He told me the reason he decided to talk now is because he went and met President Bush. And he actually felt more secure now than he had as far as, you know, everything that's going on around his life.
And, you know, when he came back he wasn't really sure that people wouldn't be after him and things like that. But he said when he shook President Bush's hand he felt secure in everything.
PHILLIPS: And I know we're not talking a lot about him and his family because of security reasons. And now he is talking. But that meeting with the president, it's funny how it happened he just sort of met some folks that worked in the Bush/Cheney camp.
And then when they got together he gave the president a pretty special gift, didn't he?
YOUNG: He did. For him it was the most special gift he had at the time. He sat there and wondered, you know, "What can I possibly give him to show my gratitude for what he's done for me and my family?"
And he remembered that his mother had given him some prayer beads. And it was the one gift that he brought back with him and the one gift that was truly from his parents and his mother's heart. And he decided to give that to President Bush and tell him thank you for what he has done.
PHILLIPS: Wow. Now what did he say to you about -- I mean, obviously he talked a little bit about it in the piece, about the war being justified. But he talked more off camera to you about that. YOUNG: He basically said that you see the whole world is now against the United States being in Iraq and everything that's going off.
And he goes on and asks the question, you know, the Arabic nations, they never came, and they never helped the Iraqi people. No one's ever come to help the Iraqi people and help the atrocities that have happened there. And so why -- why should the world be against the United States now?
And he also says that he hopes that the Iraqi people will truly understand that we are trying to help them and that he hopes Iraqi ends up a free country and that they will be able to govern themselves.
PHILLIPS: And just knowing that Saddam Hussein's regime had killed members of his family, people that he loved.
YOUNG: Absolutely.
PHILLIPS: What happened when he was punching Saddam? I mean, obviously you're not supposed to do that, but it was what Saddam said that enraged him. Did Special Forces have to pull him off and say, "OK, take a deep breath, Samir?"
YOUNG: Absolutely. You have to understand his story in full length and it's -- He watched two cousins being executed. And he watched family members, people around his village that had just been killed.
Of course, when the uprising came up, Saddam and his guys came through the town and they just started murdering everyone. And he ran out and spent three years in the summer heat in the desert, 130 degrees.
So by the time he came face to face with Saddam Hussein again after everything that's led up to this moment, he was pretty enraged and he had some strong emotions. You can see in the piece he still reacts very strongly and emotionally to it.
PHILLIPS: And that's why he came forward and said, "I want to be a translator and help." And look what he ended up doing. It's pretty amazing.
YOUNG: It is.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Ron.
YOUNG: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right.
Well an overnight raid at a mosque in New York has many people on edge now. The men arrested are suspected of trying to help terrorists. CNN is live from Albany.
Also ahead, rocking the boat, literally. Rock stars performing on behalf of America's presidential candidates.
And hey, we want to know what you want to know. Do you like your politics mixed with your music? Would you go to a concert like that? E-mail us: livefrom@cnn.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired August 5, 2004 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PHILLIPS: And welcome back. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's what's all new this half hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMIR: I look at him. I knew that's Saddam from his face -- that was Saddam. And I told them, "This is Saddam." They didn't believe me at first.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Saddam Hussein captured. An interpreter for the U.S. military tells his amazing firsthand account of how it all went down. But first, here's what's happening now in the news.
New York mosque leaders in court. Arraignment is scheduled this hour for two men accused of trying to help a terrorist funnel money from a missile sale. The so-called terrorist, really an FBI informant -- a live report from CNN's Alina Cho in about 30 minutes.
U.S. government officials weigh the impact of the arrest of a key Al Qaeda suspect in London. They tell CNN he is a senior figure in a terrorist cell who moved information among Pakistan, Britain, and the U.S. Officials also say that London's Heathrow Airport was uncovered as a potential target. We're keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.
Iraq is an evolving nation. Even with the birth of its newfound democracy, there's been violence and death. But one Iraqi says the nation is better off after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime.
CNN special contributor and former Iraqi P.O.W. Ron Young sat down with this man we call Samir. He takes us on a journey of repression to rebellion to exile, and finally, in an amazing turn, face to face with Saddam Hussein.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMIR, HELPED CAPTURE SADDAM HUSSEIN: I told him, "If you are the real man, you should have killed yourself."
RON YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tough words for a man who grew up in a tough world.
SAMIR: I was there during executions. I lost two cousins during the Saddam regime -- neighbors, friends I know, they were executed by Saddam. And after they shot them dead, before even their parents, they get the body, they have to pay a fine for the bullets.
YOUNG: Samir grew up in Nasiriyah. As a teenager he hated Saddam Hussein, wanted to rebel but feared the consequences.
SAMIR: If you tried to overthrown Saddam, you could not make it (ph).
YOUNG: Finally, Samir's chance came.
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tonight, the battle has been joined.
SAMIR: It's in 1991 during the Gulf War. I think pretty much a lot of Iraqis thought this is the best time for Iraq to have a new president, to get rid of Saddam.
We had guns, and we went to the building, Ba'ath Party building and places for Saddam, his security was the prison, torturing people inside the prisons. We broke the doors, and we got some prisoners out.
We thought we're going to get help, maybe from the United States. But it didn't happen. We just left behind.
YOUNG (on camera): What happened to you after that?
SAMIR: I went to my family, my parents. I told them, "I'm not staying here because I know what's going to happen to me. They're going to kill me, for sure." And I told them, "I'm leaving. I cannot live here anymore."
I went to the border between Iraq and Kuwait. There was U.S. military between the borders, and we asked for protections. And they did. They protect us, and they give us food, a tent to live, medicine, anything we need.
They managed somehow with the Saudi Arabian government. And they built a refugee camp for the refugees. We were thousands. A thousand refugees left the country.
I lived there for three and a half years. It's really tough. It's not easy. But you have no choice. You have no choice. Either you stay or you go back to be killed.
I have a cousin, he came here to the United States in 1992. He sent me letters when I was in Saudi Arabia in that camp. And he explained to me the life, and I was like, "That's where I want to be, United States." Just got lucky.
YOUNG: The U.N. granted Samir refugee status, and he settled in St. Louis.
SAMIR: When I came to the United States, I had no English, don't speak English. I have six bucks in my pocket, six dollars. Now I'm driving a nice car.
YOUNG: Samir thrived in St. Louis. He learned English, became a citizen. Part of his heart, though, remained in Iraq.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: States like these and their terrorist allies constitute an axis of evil.
YOUNG: When President Bush started talking about going to war against Saddam, Samir became excited.
SAMIR: I just wanted it to happen, because that's the only chance. The only chance is the United States to go to Iraq and kick Saddam out of there. I want to help. I speak the language. I can do something.
I applied for the job as a translator, and I got the job.
YOUNG (on camera): And you weren't nervous about this decision?
SAMIR: No. I was completely fine, 100 percent, to do it. They sent us to Iraq after about that fall (ph).
YOUNG: But Samir wasn't sent to Baghdad.
SAMIR: And they asked my boss, "What city in Iraq we are?"
He said, "This is Nasiriyah."
I was, like, almost having a heart attack. I told my boss that night, told him, "I'm from here. And I got kicked out of the country in 1991. I haven't seen my parents yet."
They said, "We're going to take you home to see your parents tomorrow."
We walked in the village, me and the American forces. Everybody crying. My dad hugged me. Crying so bad, my brothers, my mom. I cried, too.
It was a great moment. I came with America to free them and to see the family. That was a great moment for me. That was the best moment ever.
YOUNG: But soon, there would be another moment that would change Samir's life.
SAMIR: I had to really, like, yell at him and stuff. He said, "I'm Saddam Hussein."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR: Well, next he describes the moment that they finally uncover Hussein's hideout.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMIR: We dig in there and we found a hole. A little bitty hole; it cannot be. Especially when you think about looking for Saddam Hussein. (END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Samir's story, only on CNN, when we continue.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: More now on the story of Samir, a former Iraqi refugee and later hero to many people in Iraq. Samir was part of the intense manhunt to catch Saddam Hussein.
And in this part of his story, the translator for U.S. Special Forces recounts the night that he laid eyes on Saddam hiding in that spider hole.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMIR: I want to show the world. I want to show all the people I know. That's the hole we dragged Saddam out of. From that little bitty dirty hole.
YOUNG (voice-over): For Samir, capturing Saddam was personal. Forced to flee Iraq to the U.S., his heart hurt for his family still suffering back home.
When the U.S. went back to remove Saddam Hussein, he wanted to help. He was sent back to Tikrit as a translator with the U.S. Special Forces.
SAMIR: They don't want to see you in the uniforms. They don't care if you're Americans or if you're Iraqi. They don't care. They look at you like you are a traitor or a spy or something.
YOUNG: Samir was assigned to the tedious and frustrating search for Saddam. Sparks of hope would quickly fade.
Then, the break they were looking for.
Now for the first time someone on the mission tells what happened the night Special Forces caught Saddam Hussein.
SAMIR: On December 15, we knew we have info. Saddam Hussein is on that farm, hidden somewhere in that farm. But we had his bodyguard. He's the one we were looking for, because we knew he lived with Saddam. I was the translator for this guy.
And he start crying. He said, "Don't kill me. I'll show you where Saddam is."
And we got on that farm about 8 p.m. Saturday night. And forces went inside. And they searched the whole farm, and there's no sign of Saddam. The guy show us exactly where the bunker is.
YOUNG (on camera): The bodyguard showed you where the bunker was?
SAMIR: He said -- pointed with his finger. He said, "Dig in here."
It's really hard to see where the bunker is. It's like it's covered with dirt. And what they do was Saddam go in. And they take leaves from trees, and they throw it on top of that. They make it look like it's been there for a long time.
We dig in there and found a hole. A little bitty hole. It can't be. Especially when you think about looking for Saddam Hussein, the dictator, the one who has the power over his people. It just -- it doesn't cross your mind. But he was there. He was there.
He heard shots, and he started yelling inside. And they said, "Samir, come talk to him. Tell him to come out."
And he start saying, "Don't shoot. Don't kill me. Don't shoot." They asked me to tell him, to ask him, "Put your hands up. We want to see your hands." I told him, "Put your hands up."
And it was like one hand.
I said, "Let me see your other hand." And he did this. I said, "No, both hands up."
YOUNG: And you're looking down the hole at this point?
SAMIR: Yes. I was like, this guy's like pulling me back, because they didn't know what's in there. A bomb's going to come off or something. I tried to talk to him. This guy's, "Samir." They pulled me back. And like we had helicopters, about eight of them.
Anyway, he stick both hand up. And I reached him. And I caught him. I grabbed him. I grabbed him. I was like, "I'm not going to let him go." Everyone got a piece of Saddam. We pulled him out.
I look at him, I knew that's Saddam from his face. And I told them, "This is Saddam." They didn't believe me first.
They said, "Ask him his name."
And I said, "This is Saddam."
They said, "No, ask him."
And I asked him, "What's your name?"
He said -- at first, he said, "Ah..."
"What's your name?"
And he said, "I'm Saddam."
"Saddam what?" I had to really, like, yell at him and stuff.
He said, "I'm Saddam Hussein."
(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIPS: Next the first thing that went through Samir's mind when he saw the Iraqi dictator right in front of him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAMIR: I don't know what to do. Like, this is the guy who destroyed millions of lives. He's in my hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: What Samir said to Saddam Hussein. And then Ron Young joins us from more with behind the scenes of the interview with the Iraqi translator.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, in the conclusion of Samir's story, he tells CNN contributor Ron Young how the capture of Saddam was the most significant moment in the war and in his life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAMIR: At that moment, I was like -- I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do, that this is the guy who destroyed millions of lives. He's in my hands.
I don't know. I just -- to kill him right away is not a good idea. I don't know what to do, really.
I told him, "You call yourself a hero and a leader of the Arab nation. You are nobody."
And he called me a traitor and a spy. And he make me really upset. And I had to punch him. I was so angry. I don't know, really punch him a couple of times in the face. I grabbed him from his beard and they told me to stop: "That's enough."
Saddam spoke two words in English when we pulled him out. When we pulled him out, he spoke the word because he thought nobody speak Arabic with these forces. He said, "America, why?" He said it three times, "America why? America, why?"
And I remember once of the forces told me to tell him. They said, "Samir, tell him the reason we're here. Because President Bush sent us to find you."
YOUNG: How did he react?
SAMIR: He had mad words (ph). He said, "My shoes are better than you and your family." Any question you ask him, he's crazy. I think he's crazy. He's like, "The war is not over." He said, "I'm a hostage or I'm a prisoner?"
YOUNG: He had no idea?
SAMIR: Yes. He said, "You didn't win the war." He said, "You didn't win the war. The war is not over."
We told him that. "The war is over. The war is over. It's over. You gone. You gone.
He said, "No, the war is not over."
YOUNG (voice-over): Special Forces took Saddam Hussein back to one of his palaces. He was no longer president. But a prisoner.
(on camera): Was he crying?
SAMIR: He wasn't really crying but he was like -- felt like -- he's not Saddam anymore. He's not the president anymore. He felt it's gone.
I remember a couple of questions they ask him when I was there. They ask about the master graves, and he denied it. He blamed the vice president, Iraqi vice president al-Douri.
He said, "America, why you come and like crossing the Atlantic? You come in here like" -- the way he talk -- "you come in here to Iraq. What do you know about Baghdad?"
PAUL BREMER, FMR. U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ: Ladies and gentlemen, we got him!
YOUNG (voice-over): Soon word traveled in Nasiriyah and later the pictures.
SAMIR: My mom when she saw that picture, the first picture came out like they blank my face. She said, "From his hand I can tell that was Samir." My parents, they are proud of me.
YOUNG: Samir returned to St. Louis. He told only a few people what happened. He tried to tell the story to President Bush in an e- mail, but it bounced back.
Then last month, friends arranged for him to meet President Bush.
SAMIR: I was like, it can't be. It can't be. I was like, I couldn't sleep at night. I just couldn't believe it. I shook the president's hand and I told him, Mr. President, thank you, thank you for what you have done to Iraq. You freed the country.
And it just -- that's a great moment. Again I tell him, "Sir, this is me and Saddam." And he said he saw it. He saw the picture.
YOUNG (on camera): What would you say to the people in this country who say that our going to war wasn't worth it? That the cost is too high?
SAMIR: I want to say, like, especially the whole family they have -- or kids that have daddy or mother, serving in Iraq, I want to tell them what they do in Iraq, it's the right thing. Because they save a life, they're changing Iraq. Going to Iraq I think is the right thing. (END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: As you can see that's a pretty amazing story what Samir had to say. And we wouldn't have had that interview if it were not for our special contributor, Ron Young.
You remember, former helicopter pilot in the war. Not a funny thing. That's for sure. You were shot down, POW for a couple weeks.
But seriously, we're laughing because you had such a great relationship with this guy. I mean, you guys were so comfortable together. I can just imagine like two guys telling their war stories together.
YOUNG: It absolutely was. I mean, he, of course, had been there. He had been through the battles. He was with the Special Forces guys. He had been shot at, just like I had been. And we both had remarkable events that happened that surrounded our lives.
And, you know, it was just great to be with someone who you consider kind of a kindred spirit and talk to him.
PHILLIPS: Why did he decide to talk now?
YOUNG: He -- He told me the reason he decided to talk now is because he went and met President Bush. And he actually felt more secure now than he had as far as, you know, everything that's going on around his life.
And, you know, when he came back he wasn't really sure that people wouldn't be after him and things like that. But he said when he shook President Bush's hand he felt secure in everything.
PHILLIPS: And I know we're not talking a lot about him and his family because of security reasons. And now he is talking. But that meeting with the president, it's funny how it happened he just sort of met some folks that worked in the Bush/Cheney camp.
And then when they got together he gave the president a pretty special gift, didn't he?
YOUNG: He did. For him it was the most special gift he had at the time. He sat there and wondered, you know, "What can I possibly give him to show my gratitude for what he's done for me and my family?"
And he remembered that his mother had given him some prayer beads. And it was the one gift that he brought back with him and the one gift that was truly from his parents and his mother's heart. And he decided to give that to President Bush and tell him thank you for what he has done.
PHILLIPS: Wow. Now what did he say to you about -- I mean, obviously he talked a little bit about it in the piece, about the war being justified. But he talked more off camera to you about that. YOUNG: He basically said that you see the whole world is now against the United States being in Iraq and everything that's going off.
And he goes on and asks the question, you know, the Arabic nations, they never came, and they never helped the Iraqi people. No one's ever come to help the Iraqi people and help the atrocities that have happened there. And so why -- why should the world be against the United States now?
And he also says that he hopes that the Iraqi people will truly understand that we are trying to help them and that he hopes Iraqi ends up a free country and that they will be able to govern themselves.
PHILLIPS: And just knowing that Saddam Hussein's regime had killed members of his family, people that he loved.
YOUNG: Absolutely.
PHILLIPS: What happened when he was punching Saddam? I mean, obviously you're not supposed to do that, but it was what Saddam said that enraged him. Did Special Forces have to pull him off and say, "OK, take a deep breath, Samir?"
YOUNG: Absolutely. You have to understand his story in full length and it's -- He watched two cousins being executed. And he watched family members, people around his village that had just been killed.
Of course, when the uprising came up, Saddam and his guys came through the town and they just started murdering everyone. And he ran out and spent three years in the summer heat in the desert, 130 degrees.
So by the time he came face to face with Saddam Hussein again after everything that's led up to this moment, he was pretty enraged and he had some strong emotions. You can see in the piece he still reacts very strongly and emotionally to it.
PHILLIPS: And that's why he came forward and said, "I want to be a translator and help." And look what he ended up doing. It's pretty amazing.
YOUNG: It is.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Ron.
YOUNG: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right.
Well an overnight raid at a mosque in New York has many people on edge now. The men arrested are suspected of trying to help terrorists. CNN is live from Albany.
Also ahead, rocking the boat, literally. Rock stars performing on behalf of America's presidential candidates.
And hey, we want to know what you want to know. Do you like your politics mixed with your music? Would you go to a concert like that? E-mail us: livefrom@cnn.com.
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