Operation Red Dawn's eight-month hunt

The Sydney Morning Herald. ^ | December 15, 2003 - 11:25AM | AFP/AP

[pittsburgh gop guy]

Operation Red Dawn's eight-month hunt

December 15, 2003 - 11:25AM

For eight months, US troops scoured Iraq in their hunt for Saddam Hussein, following hundreds of leads until they eventually found him in a tiny hole, just a few kilometres from the palaces of his home town.

Six hundred troops were involved in Operation Red Dawn yesterday, but only a few saw the bearded and haggard-looking Saddam crawling out from the hole under a two-room mud hut, littered with clothes and smelling rank.

Some of the infantrymen in the operation said they'd had an inkling they were after the ousted Iraqi dictator but did not know for sure until the operation was over.

The troops from the US army's 4th Infantry Division sealed off an area about two kilometres by two kilometres in Ad Dawr, barely 15 km from the palace complex that serves as their headquarters in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown.

Saddam gave himself up without any resistance, even though he was carrying a pistol, according to 4th ID commander Major-General Ray Odierno.

"He was in the bottom of the hole so there's no way he could have fought back," the general said.

The hole, hidden under a rug and a styrofoam board in the hut's bedroom, was so small only one person could fit in it.

Saddam, who Odierno said changed houses about every four hours, apparently only crawled into the hole when troops were in the vicinity.

The soldiers involved in yesterday's operation searched two houses next to the hut, and two other "targets," said Odierno.

He said two men armed with assault rifles were with Saddam, and were captured after they tried to flee.

The operation followed a painstaking hunt, which involved questioning numerous people with family, tribal or other ties to Saddam, tip-offs from his foes, and interrogation of prisoners, senior officers said.

"There were a lot of people involved in this ... as we continued to chat to people we got more and more on a family that was considered close to Saddam Hussein," said Odierno.

He said that over the past 10 days US forces were able to question several members from this family.

"Finally we got the ultimate information from one of the individuals," he said.

Many of the hundreds of tips the US forces had received in the past eight months turned out to be false or too old to be of use.

The troops came close to capturing the man they designated as HVT1 - high-value target number 1 - in August, but the trail got cold again for months after that, according to Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Russell, whose 1-22 Battalion infantrymen played a key role in the hunt for Saddam.

In recent weeks, the troops tracking down the former president were increasingly optimistic, though careful not to publicly reveal any details of the tip-offs they had received for fear their elusive prey would once again escape the dragnet.

Two months ago, they sealed off the village of Owja, Saddam's birthplace on the outskirts of Tikrit, 180 km north of Baghdad.

They surrounded Owja with barbed wire, and checked every person who entered or left the village.

Saddam had apparently relied on only a few close relatives and associates to avoid capture, moving between about 20 to 30 locations.

Odierno said the capture involved a joint operation, but would not reveal the exact role of special forces and other secretive units that have concentrated on tracking down Saddam.

Kurdish officials said their peshmerga fighters also played a key role in nabbing Saddam, but American officials made no mention of the Kurdish role and Odierno said only US troops were involved in the capture.

The troops found $US750,000 ($A1.02 million) in the hut, but no communications equipment. Boats tied up nearby on the bank of the Tigris river may have been used by Saddam or those bringing him supplies, said Odierno.

Operation Red Dawn name inspired by film

Operation Red Dawn, the code name for the US raid, appears to have been inspired by a 1984 film in which US teenagers battle a Soviet invasion of the United States.

Red Dawn, starring Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen, Harry Dean Stanton and Powers Boothe, takes place in a typical small town in the midwest of the United States at the outbreak of World War III.

Following an invasion of the United States by communist Cuban, Nicaraguan and Soviet forces a group of high school students band together to form a guerrilla resistance unit known as the Wolverines, after the bear-like creature known for its ferocity.

The gun-toting teenage US guerrillas spend the film, made at the height of the Cold War, fighting back heroically against the more heavily armed invaders.

Directed by John Milius, who co-wrote Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, the movie is something of a cult film among right-wing US extremists and is held up as a Second Amendment cautionary tale by some opponents of gun control.

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution regards the right of the populace to bear arms. "A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed," it says.

AFP/AP

[pittsburgh gop guy]

"...the movie is something of a cult film among right-wing US extremists and is held up as a Second Amendment cautionary tale by some opponents of gun control."

WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RED DAWN was an awesome movie. I love it that the name of the op was Operation Red Dawn. You know that the person that named this was some Major that was a teenager in the 80s when RED DAWN came out.

[Louisiana]

Cold War child bump. Regan - Red Dawn - Republicans -

[Cincinatus' Wife]

We watched "Red Dawn" on Sunday after the news broke.

[VOA]

Red Dawn, starring Patrick Swayze

I just hope Patrick doesn't celebrate with too many adult beverages and goes
flying his plane!
(A few years back, he did land at the little airport at my north-central Oklahoma
hometown. That was big enough to make our local news, even if he just stopped
to refuel and have some carry out brought to him from the airport cafe!)

[Waco]

Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, a sample of those who stayed on the run LONGER than Sadman. A little perspective, ya all.

[E Rocc]

"...the movie is something of a cult film among right-wing US extremists and is held up as a Second Amendment cautionary tale by some opponents of gun control."

WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RED DAWN was an awesome movie. I love it that the name of the op was Operation Red Dawn. You know that the person that named this was some Major that was a teenager in the 80s when RED DAWN came out.

The houses they searched on the property were supposedly code named "Wolverine One" and "Wolverine Two". The movie also annoyed the clinton out of the Dims of the time, which also makes the code name appropriate. >:)

-Eric

[pittsburgh gop guy]

Can anyone find the "WOLVERINES" grafitti that they spray-painted on things in the movie?

Looked on google and could not find it.

Think it would be appropriate.