The Story of Saddam Hussein’s Capture
The fascinating story of the St. Louis auto mechanic (working as a translater for Iraqi troops) who pulled Saddam from the rat hole he’d been hiding in:
Samir says a soldier fired several blank rounds into the bunker’s exposed opening, and a man’s voice cried out from the spider hole, pleading for his life.
“He said, ‘Don’t shoot. Don’t kill me,’” recounts Samir.
Peering into the hole, Samir could make out only part of the man. In Arabic, Samir told the fugitive that if he wanted to live, he needed to get out now. When Samir asked to see the man’s hands, he showed his right hand, and then his left, but he wouldn’t show both at the same time.
“No, I want to see both your hands,” Samir yelled.
Keeping an eye on the man’s hands, Samir plunged into the hole and grabbed the prisoner. Samir says he knew right away that it was the deposed dictator.
“He smelled bad, like a homeless person, and had the long beard and hair, but I knew it was Saddam. I told everyone, ‘It’s Saddam. It’s Saddam!’”
Unconvinced, Special Forces had Samir ask the captive his identity. When the man answered that his name was Saddam, Samir says he shook him by his hair and dirt-matted beard.
“I said, ‘Yeah, Saddam what? Saddam what?’ Finally he said, ‘Hussein.’”
Upon hearing that, Samir unleashed years of pent-up rage.
“I told him that I was going to fuck him up the ass. That we were all going to fuck him up the ass. I told him he was a criminal and a murderer. I hit him and spit in his face. I stepped my foot on his head and his back. He wasn’t crying, but I think he was shocked. No one had ever treated him this way.”
Read the full article: “I punched Saddam in the mouth.”
