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Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein captured

IRNA

Qasr-e Shirin, Dec 14, IRNA -- The former Iraqi president, Saddam 
Hussein, was captured in his hometown of Tikrit on Sunday, the head of
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Jalal Talabani, told IRNA reporter 
at the Khosravi border checkpoint, quoting American forces. 
"Americans stressed that Saddam had been arrested and that the 
news of the capture would be officially announced in the next few 
hours," he said upon arrival in Iranian territory before heading for 
France. 
US civil administer Paul Bremer said in Baghdad that Saddam had 
been captured alive by coalition forces after a manhunt of more than 
eight months. 
Bremer told a news conference that, Saddam, 66, was seized during 
a pre-dawn raid Sunday near his hometown of Tikrit, north of the 
capital. 
The head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq 
(SCIRI) office in Tehran, Majed Ghammas, confirmed the news about the 
capture, adding, "Our sources have reported that troops at US 4th 
Infantry Division found Saddam in a cellar in Tikrit. 
"American troops identified Saddam after removing his fake graying
beard and arrested him," Ghammas added. 
Talabani, who is also a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, 
said, Saddam`s detention will bring stability to Iraq. 
"With the arrest of Saddam, the source financing terrorists has 
been destroyed and terrorist attacks will come to an end. Now we can 
establish a durable stability and security in Iraq," he said. 
General mood across several Iraqi cities, including Baghdad, were 
festive, with people seen firing volleys in jubilation as well as 
dancing on the streets. 
The news, first wired by IRNA, was given widespread coverage by 
world media and received mostly with warm welcome. 
Several Brussels-based journalists phoned the IRNA bureau Sunday 
to congratulate the Islamic Republic News Agency on its world wide 
scoop on the arrest of Saddam Hussein. 
"It is a very big and historic scoop for IRNA. All the world media
acknowledged it," said one correspondent. 
Saddam and his henchmen have a notorious record for their crimes, 
including gassing Iranian forces during a 1980-1988 war as well as the
Kurdish population, and brutally repressing Shi`ite and Kurdish 
uprisings in the aftermath of the 1991 Persian Gulf War. 
Tens of thousands of people also disappeared during his 24-year 
rule. 
A former Iranian PoW Ahmad Rouzbehani, who spent more than 10 
years in the Iraqi prisons, said after hearing news on the arrest, 
"Nobody will probably be happy as much as the PoWs on hearing the news
of the arrest of Saddam and shadow of black days in Iraqi prisons will
be erased only with the arrest and punishment of this dictator," he 
told here Sunday. 
The interim president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Adnan 
Pachachi, said that Saddam should stand trial for the crimes he has 
committed against the Iraqi people. 
Pachachi said at a joint news conference in Baghdad with US 
Administrator Paul Bremer and American commander Ricardo Sanchez that 
a special court will conduct the trial. 
BH/AH/210 
End