I would have expected him to bug out of Iraq before the war even started, when it seemed imminent.
I wonder if he was under some kind of delusion that he might have actually repelled the invading forces and remained in power.
I’m with you, Revtim: I’m surprised that he was captured in Iraq. I always thought he was in Iraq when the war started, but that he managed to flee to Syria as the US forces got closer to Baghdad. As for what he was thinking, well, I doubt we’ll ever really know. I’d lay money down on either a delusional belief of never being caught or a real need for him to be in the country to direct some of the resistance attacks. ::shrug::
I thought he and that truckload of money took the last flight out.
just surprised he went to his hometown - seems like a no-brainer to look there first. you have to wonder how many people he really trusted though to risk returning to an area that many would have considered to look there.
I too guessed Syria. I suppose he made so many enemies that he knew the only place he could trust is the area around Tikrit. Wandering too far outside of Tikrit would have been pretty risky too, considering the price on his head.
I too guessed Syria. I suppose he made so many enemies that he knew the only place he could trust is the area around Tikrit. Wandering too far outside of Tikrit would have been pretty risky too, considering the price on his head.
Mmm, even though a good number of Americans think Saddam was in association with other terrorists, his remaining in Iraq speaks volumes to me, that he really had no safe haven outside Iraq, nor allies. Osama and many others, actually hated the guy too.
I’m not all that surprised. Where was he going to go? His choicees (by land) were Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iran, Turkey and Syria. Syria’s the only one that could be considered a possibility, and they’re trying to keep a lid on it with the U.S. right now. Being down on your luck in Syria and becoming a liability to Bashar al-Assad doesn’t sound inviting.
You’d think with the resources he had available, he could have slipped out in another identity, disguised. I would have thought it wouldn’t have mattered if he had allies or not, since he’s be travelling under another name and disguised, and paying assloads of cash for anonymity. Maybe even plastic surgery.
I expected they were going to capture him in an expensive penthouse across the world, looking like Alec Baldwin. Not in a hole in his hometown, looking like Willie Nelson.
If YOU were Saddam Hussein, would YOU have trusted anyone to put you under and start carving on your face? After the Americans came storming in, I mean?
it would be possible, assuming he had other people he trusted enough to watch the doc druing the operation, and promise to whack him if anything goes wrong.
I’m surprised, too, but it does make sense, in a way. Remember that up till the end Hitler thought the Germans were going to win. And, though opinions on his tyranny differ, Napoleon, even after many crushing defeats and exile, came right back and figured he could just start right where he left off.
I thought he was going to end up in North Korea, somehow. Kim Jong-Il needs cash, which Saddam had in bunches (that $750K he was captured with was pocket change for hiim), and Saddam needed an ultra-safe, relatively opulent hidey-hole, which Kim could have provided quite easily. I’m sure Saddam would have made inquiries about it, probably during an arms deal.
Duke, I can’t provide a cite right now, but I recall an article that Saddam HAD offered North Korea megabucks for weapons and that NK stiffed him for it.
Reflecting on his career,it doesn’t surprise me.He seems to be seriously delusional in his import on a global scale.
He’s commanding “armies” that wear civilian shoes,and non operational WMD systems.Those fight to the death battles turn into retreat (or give up) when forced with the choice.
Supposedly his first words were "I’m Saddam leader of Iraq and I’m ready to negotiate.
What!WTF can he possibly negotiate other than his choice of death weapon?
I think this scenario played out pretty much true to me,tho I would have expected a more elaborate hidey hole.
He’s found with 750k and some Mars bars.Doesn’t compute.
Not even internet access
Admittedly in his situation I’d have said, “I don’t suppose you guys would care to surrender now, would you?”, but what the hell did you expect him to say? There may be a translation problem, too.
Perhaps he meant “Don’t shoot. I will negotiate my surrender.”
Wasn’t he offered asylum before the whole invasion thing went down?
I bet he’s kicking himself, because he could have ended up on a beach with an mini umbrella in his drink.
Well, wouldn’t internet acess have made him much more vulnerable to detection? Isn’t that part of why bin Laden’s SOP is to not even allow cell phones within so many feet of his main bases, much less computers hooked up to the web, and to have flunkies pass on all info so that he can’t be tracked down?
Yes, I know he and Hussein aren’t really allies. But it’s a sensible tactic.
I’m not surprised he stayed in Iraq. Particularly not if he believed some of what his Information Minister was spinning. 
He was probably hoping to outlive the US occupation and pick up the pieces of his power someday. I am surprised that he was in such poor shape when he was found, and apparently so isolated. I expected at the very least he’d have a small cadre of deeply loyal minions, and a real bunker set up, not a squalid little burrow like some kind of hobbit corrupted by Sauron…
Unless he executed all the architects, contractors and workmen, we would know where the fancy ones are.
I’m shocked that he didn’t go out like Scarface. I would have. How do you say “Say hello to my leetle friend!” in Arabic?