The U.S. military had labeled Saddam Hussein “High Value Target Number One” and launched one of the largest manhunts in history. For nine brutal months after the fall of Baghdad, he vanished completely.
Between July and December 2003, Task Force 121 carried out twelve unsuccessful raids and 300 interrogations. The breakthrough came when a former driver revealed the name of Saddam’s closest inner-circle contact, known to forces as “the fat man.”
On December 12, a raid in Baghdad captured Ibrahim Al-Muslit. The interrogator struck a deal: reveal Saddam’s location, and 40 detained family members would go free. He talked.
Around 600 soldiers, including cavalry, artillery, aviation, engineers, and special operations forces, launched Operation Red Dawn that evening. As operators were finishing up and calling in helicopters for extraction, one soldier kicked a piece of flooring aside, exposing the spider hole, and nearly threw a grenade in before a bearded man appeared.
When soldiers removed the covering, he declared: “I am Saddam Hussein. I am the President of Iraq, and I am willing to negotiate.”
He had been hiding in an 8-by-10-foot, 6-to-8-foot-deep compartment fitted with an exhaust fan. He was discovered huddled with a pistol and $750,000 in U.S. currency. He surrendered without resistance. Not a single shot was fired.
Coalition authority head Paul Bremer announced the capture with the now-famous words: “Ladies and gentlemen, we got him.”
On November 5, 2006, Saddam Hussein was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging, a sentence carried out on December 30, 2006
The world’s most feared dictator was found in a hole in the ground.
