Hunting Down Saddam (38 page)

SGT Daniel Saffeels and G Troop moved down to the east side of the Tigris River to set up the inner cordon, sealing off any of Saddam's possible escape routes and protecting the Special Operators as they conducted the raid. If Saddam was there with his forces and put up a fight, they'd be thrown into the thick of it. Saffeels, an Iowa native, saw that the task force had brought tanks and other weaponry that increased the firepower he'd seen on other raids. Special Operations Forces were building up and configuring more helicopters than usual, especially the small, highly maneuverable two man AH-6 and MH-6 varieties. It seemed to Saffeels like a lot of firepower for just a raid, and as G Troop rolled out toward ad Dawr he too got a strange feeling something big was going to happen. At 1930 hours the task force moved toward the small farm twenty kilometers away, toward a rendezvous with destiny.

“The Institute Will Be Heard from Today”

As Hickey headed out on the raid the night of December 13, the ghosts of the twelve previous raids that failed to snag Saddam no longer haunted him. Although he never smoked, he decided to take along a cigar given to him by a reporter to save for a special occasion. There seemed to be other powers in play that night, and other, more benevolent voices whispered deep in Hickey's mind, giving him a profound calm and confidence. Perhaps it was his subconscious telling him all the pieces finally fit. Perhaps it was his training and battle-space awareness telling him the information was correct. Perhaps it was the voice of VMI's great teacher, mentor, and leader, Stonewall Jackson. If it was the voice of Jackson, perhaps the soft-spoken Southerner repeated prophetic words first spoken just prior to the Battle of Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863—one hundred and forty years ago:

“The Institute [VMI] will be heard from today.”

Déjà Vu All Over Again

1LT Angela Santana was on duty in the RAIDER Tactical Operations Center (TOC) trying not to be fazed, trying to convince herself this was just another raid, that it was no big deal; it seemed like business as usual in the TOC. Murphy was working on what to do next while the various staff sections were monitoring the radios, updating the logs, and tracking the operation as they'd done hundreds of times before. This time, however, it felt like the room was charged with an increased intensity and anticipation. Yet, for Santana, it was hard to continually raise her hopes only to be disappointed time after time. Like Murphy, Gray, and the others, she too knew the informant was a promising one. As she looked around her she could feel the intensity. Everyone wore headphones in anticipation of a huge firefight like the 101st Airborne had encountered with Saddam's sons. She said a quiet prayer that there would be no casualties and that Saddam would finally be captured. The silence in the room grew deafening as time passed.

At 1935 hours, the force moved out from the assault position and headed due south on Highway 24. The task force sped down unlit roads under a moonless sky at speeds in excess of forty miles an hour. On his digital IVIS display, Hickey watched the icons representing each of the friendly elements down to the Special Operators as they moved along in near-real time. The “blue force” (i.e., “friendly force”) tracking system down-linked the exact locations to his vehicle from satellites in space. Hickey watched calmly as everybody on the screen maneuvered into position. For Bo Bocanegra, who was driving Hickey, the trip down was like a roller-coaster ride, his stomach all knotted up with a feeling of wild excitement. He knew Hickey “liked to be in the middle of stuff—a lead-from-the-front type of guy”— and so he also knew if it turned into a fight he'd be right in the middle of it with him.

As the raiding force moved into the ad Dawr area, it seemed unreal how easily the operation was coming together. Task Force RAIDER's close relationship with the Special Operations forces and the fact that they'd done a dozen raids together targeting Saddam to this point resulted in the operation coming together rapidly and in a relaxed manner. Everybody knew what they were doing and everything went off exactly on the timeline with an emphasis on surprise built around stealth and speed. It was also strange to be moving back down the same roads and into the same areas U.S. troops had searched only a few weeks before without success. Whether it was the belief that this was the night, or, as American baseball great Yogi Berra called it, just, “Déjà vu all over again,” everyone's emotions were intensified.

For G Troop the memories weren't pleasant. On September 18, three of the unit's vehicles were in the area on a routine patrol and were about to turn out of the palm groves when they were ambushed by nine Iraqis. The Iraqis executed a deadly barrage of five Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) and a hail of small-arms fire into the vehicles. Fortunately, the patrol had arrived in the area before its scheduled time so the Iraqi ambush wasn't completely set. Although that surprise kept the enemy from coordinating a full assault, three U.S. soldiers, among them Ribas' best friend Rich Arriaga, lost their lives unnecessarily as a result of RPG rounds and small arms fired from extremely close range. The memory of the carnage and loss of their close comrades haunted G Troop as they maneuvered toward their objective that night, but it strengthened their resolve that it would never happen again.

Once they arrived near ad Dawr, Hickey set up with the Special Operations headquarters vehicle and tracked the battle from there. The task force's second assault group was behind him with Terrell in Ribas' gun truck, co-located with two Bradley Fighting Vehicles as immediate direct fire support if they needed it. Hickey methodically confirmed that all his forces were in position, including the 299th Engineers on the west side of the Tigris, and Alpha Company 1st battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment with their advanced AH-64 Apache attack helicopters reinforcing. Their task was to block any movement across the river. The 4th battalion 42nd Field Artillery Regiment, down in Agwar, secured the outer corridor around the objectives, having surreptitiously moved into position last night. As soon as the assault unit passed through, they sealed off all the roads leading into the objective area. Hickey also had 1st Squadron 10th Cavalry under his control at the time. Hickey had an extremely large force standing by to react to anything Saddam or his supporters might have to come after them with. The area was completely locked down. When asked if what happened next occurred by design or by coincidence, one military source would only say “sometimes things just happen…”

The electricity in the entire area suddenly went out. There was complete darkness, and at precisely 2000 hours, the raid began exactly as planned.

Both objectives were cleared within minutes. Special Operations troops picked up one detainee on WOLVERINE 1, but no Saddam. WOLVERINE 2 was empty. Within a five-kilometer radius of WOLVERINE 1 and WOLVERINE 2, Hickey's forces tightened their cordon. The Special Operators moved in on a small mud hut in a palm grove just north of WOLVERINE 1.

Through their night vision goggles and thermal sights, soldiers of the 4th ID could see Special Operators moving soundlessly through the dark night to the target. Occasionally, the red beams of laser-aiming lights would reflect off trees and leaves, but it was deathly silent, save for the distant hum of OH-58 Little Birds and other Special Operations aircraft waiting for extraction, reinforcement, or attack. From his position, Saffeels could hear noises in the darkness. He and his fellow soldiers grew “a little jumpy,” waiting for Saddam's forces. For Bocanegra the scene and all the activity became more intense. The assault force started clearing through the palm groves and came upon a little mud-hut structure with a courtyard. In that courtyard, they heard a noise.

At 2010, with Hickey's troops sealing off the area, Special Operations forces burst into the hut, a simple construction behind a fence of dried palm leaves. It had been an orange picker's hut with one room and an open kitchen. They immediately seized one man trying to escape and another man in the hut. As it turned out, one was Saddam's cook; the other was the cook's brother and owner of the property.

Inside, they found that the hut consisted of one room with two beds and a refrigerator containing a can of lemonade, a packet of hot dogs, a can of “Happy Brand” tuna, an opened box of Belgian chocolates, and a tube of ointment. A poster of Noah's Ark hung on the mud-brick wall. There were also two AK-47 assault rifles, various packages of new clothes, and a green footlocker containing $750,000 in American hundred-dollar bills. More telling: An orange-and-white Toyota Corolla taxi was parked outside. Rumors that Saddam had hidden in taxis and even masqueraded as a taxi driver appeared to be true.

Saddam was nowhere to be seen. It looked like yet another dry hole when suddenly, one of the detainees broke away from the Special Operators and ran, telling them Saddam was hiding elsewhere and he would lead them to him. His sudden desire to cooperate, and zeal to get them out of there, further convinced the operators they were close.

At the command vehicle, CW2 Gray stood next to COL Hickey listening to the radio reports from the Special Operation forces. Those two individuals were exactly who the source stated would be at the farm. Things were going well.

Reports continued to come in that Special Operations forces were still searching the area but had not found the tunnels that the source had said Saddam would be hiding in. Hickey calmly told them to take their time. Task Force RAIDER owned that portion of Iraq. He'd hold the cordon all night if necessary.

Another ten minutes went by. Still nothing.

Jackpot

Outside the hut, the two dozen or so Special Operators were preparing to move off and expand their search. Something caught an operator's attention in the darkness of the moonless night, through the unearthly glow of his night vision goggles, The ground just didn't look quite right. The sensation of an odd landscape was nothing unusual under the glow of a night vision device, but it just didn't
feel
right, either.

The closer the operator looked, the more it appeared to be out of place. The bricks and dirt were spread about too uniformly, as if someone were trying to conceal something. A thread of fabric protruded just slightly under the dirt.

Strange.

At 2030 hours, the operators brushed away the debris, revealing a Styrofoam plug. True to his training, one of the Special Operators pulled the pin on a hand grenade while his colleagues prepared to remove the plug so he could drop it in. The remaining twenty or so soldiers prepared to fire their weapons, if engaged. The plug revealed a hole, the hole revealed a ratty-looking bearded man. The man raised his hands and announced: “I am Saddam Hussein. I am the President of Iraq, and I am willing to negotiate.”

The Task Force 121 commando covering the hole calmly replied:

“President Bush sends his regards.”

Hickey's radio broke the silence as the Special Operator reported simply, “Sir, we may have the Jackpot.”

Hickey waited breathlessly.

Back on the objective, several Special Operators yanked the disheveled, disoriented man to the surface, unavoidably scratching his head in the tight confines of the hole.

The operators quickly removed the 9mm pistol from his belt and checked him for the markings and other features that would preliminarily confirm they had their man. They began to prepare him for transportation with the standard, empty sandbag over his head and flex-cuffs on his hands. As they attempted to secure him, Saddam resisted—trying to shrug off the operators, acting belligerent, and even spitting in one soldier's face. In return, he was treated “just like any other prisoner,” and forcefully subdued to the ground, where several operators held him down while others trussed him up.

At Hickey's command vehicle, everyone waited in painful silence. The word finally came. Although it was only minutes behind the first call, it had seemed like weeks. “Sir, we've got him. Jackpot.” Hickey replied simply and unemotionally, “That's great.”

Within minutes Saddam was strapped into a Special Operations Little Bird and spirited out of the immediate area. There was a quick stop at FOB Iron Horse for a transload onto a larger Black Hawk helicopter for the flight to the Baghdad Airport prison that once boasted his name. As he moved through FOB Iron Horse, Saddam passed through a cordon of Special Operations forces. It was the only time they would see their prize, and the only recognition of their accomplishment these shadow warriors would ever receive. Hickey was not so lucky. It happened so fast that by the time Hickey's command vehicle arrived, Saddam was gone.

In the RAIDER TOC (Tactical Operations Center), Murphy had heard the objectives were clear with only two detainees and felt the letdown of failure. As he'd feared, they'd waited too long and came away empty-handed once again. He got up and was about to head over to the phone bank to call home when a single codeword broke the building silence: “Jackpot.”

It was as if the entire world suddenly went silent. Murphy looked at LTC Smith, the brigade Executive Officer, in a long moment of disbelief. LTC Smith said, “We got him. We got him.”

The TOC exploded in cheers and high fives. Hal Engstrom leaned back, put his hands behind his head, and let out a deep sigh of relief.

Everyone went back to the tasks at hand while Murphy and LTC Smith started shutting off access to the Internet and telephones to make sure news of the capture didn't get out until President Bush wanted it announced. Captain Alan Roper, the brigade Public Affairs Officer (PAO) began planning for what was to come when the media learned of Task Force RAIDER's success. As the brigade's interface with the press, he was about to become very busy.

Hickey, Wilson, Joe, and CW2 Gray rolled up to the mud hut in Hickey's humvee, parked and dismounted, and walked rapidly toward the hut entrance. On the way, CW2 Gray noticed the orange-and-white taxi parked next to the sheep pen. He turned to Hickey and asked if he'd noticed as well. Hickey gave one of his rare smiles.