Zero Hour (2004–…): Season 2, Episode 5 - Capturing Saddam - full transcript

SAMIR: I was with Saddam face-to-face.

So many things went through my mind.

What to do, what to do?

I told him that, "You killed the Iraqis.

"You killed the children.

"You are against God."

And he said, "I'm Saddam.

"I'm still the President."

Millions of Iraqis wished
for that day to come

and they see Saddam

captured. And he's in my hands.



This is a dream come true to me.

I want to prove it to the world.

SAMIR: I was born and raised in Iraq.

1970 in Nasiriyah in the south of Iraq.

I left the country when I was 20 years old.

The reason I left because

I was involved with the uprising

during the Gulf War, 1991.

NARRATOR: Samir was among
tens of thousands of Iraqi Shia Muslims

driven into exile after the 1991 Gulf War.

It was a stark choice

for anyone who'd taken part in the
Shia uprising that followed the war.

Leave home and survive,

or stay and risk death.



NARRATOR: By the early spring of 1991,

Saddam had looked beaten.

His invasion of Kuwait had been repulsed

with almost indecent ease
by an American-led coalition.

Encouraged by the West,

the Shia cities of southern
Iraq erupted in rebellion

against decades of oppression.

(GUN SHOTS FIRING)

SAMIR: We thought it's a perfect time

to change Saddam's regime.

So we went

with the uprising against Saddam,

but we couldn't make it.

We couldn't get any help from anywhere.

So we had to leave the country.

NARRATOR: Western assistance never came.

And the Shia uprising
was crushed within weeks,

with estimates of between
25 and 100,000 dead.

This footage, recorded in
Samir's home city of Nasiriyah,

contains graphic evidence of
what happened to those who stayed.

NARRATOR: The man in the
heavy coat was Saddam's cousin.

Ali Hassan al-Majid.

Better known in the West as Chemical Ali.

He had directly ordered
the mass murder of Kurds.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

NARRATOR: Samir's escape from all this

was the beginning of a
long, painful journey into exile.

SAMIR: We were thousand of us,

and our refugee camp in Saudi Arabia,

I had to live there for
three and a half years

in a tent, middle of the desert.

It was bad experience for me.

It's really hard to live in a tent,

not knowing what your future is.

Pretty much we lost hope.

NARRATOR: In 1994,

Samir was finally accepted
as a political refugee

by the United States.

Then, in 2003,

America led the invasion of Iraq.

I ask if I can help as

a fighter or a soldier, or
anything to go and help.

And the only thing it was open,

the position for me is
to be as a translator.

NARRATOR: Twelve years after
he was forced from his homeland,

Samir would return and get his revenge.

On a cold December night in 2003,

he is part of a U.S. Special Forces team

in pursuit of Saddam Hussein.

(CLOCK TICKING)

NARRATOR: The U.S. Army in Iraq has a lead

on a fugitive, code name,

High Value Target One.

Tonight they will try to capture him.

MAJOR GENERAL RAY ODIERNO: My
Brigade Commander, Colonel Jim Hickey,

came to me that morning

and laid out for me that
we'd gotten this information.

We did a good look at the forces available

and we had a discussion of what
forces he would need to execute this.

He went back and looked
at a plan and came back

to me about two hours
later, laid out the plan for me,

and the plan was to go in that evening.

And we called it Operation Red Dawn.

Okay, one more time.

We're here, just off highway 24.

We'll set the outer perimeter here.

We have eight Apaches airborne.

COLONEL HICKEY: We had a pretty good
assessment of where our objective area was,

and within that area

we designated two specific points.

The first one was entitled Wolverine One,

the second one Wolverine Two,

simply so we can
communicate to one another.

Right, so we're hitting the
targets from here and here.

NARRATOR: Saddam Hussein has eluded
the Americans for almost nine months.

But with Iraq in deepening crisis,

his capture has now
become an urgent priority.

(MACHINE GUN FIRING)

The invasion had seemed
to be over so quickly.

It all began on the 20th of March, 2003.

But by the 9th of April,

American troops were
at the gates of Baghdad.

For a few brief weeks

the atmosphere was
one of heady celebration.

(WHISTLING)

(CHEERING)

President George W. Bush
declared the conflict over.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Major combat
operations in Iraq have ended.

In the battle of Iraq,

the United States and her allies

have prevailed.

The tyrant has fallen

and Iraq is free.

NARRATOR: But then the insurgency began.

(GUN SHOTS FIRING)

Coalition troops were
now in a war of attrition

against an invisible enemy.

(MACHINE GUN FIRING)

As the chaos grew,

many Iraqis remained convinced that

Saddam Hussein was
directing the insurgency,

and could still regain power.

I always sensed

widespread fear of Saddam Hussein,

and I felt that within my area if
he could be killed or captured,

it would dramatically reduce the
tension of the people living in my area.

And that was my aim,
was to achieve a stability

within my area of operation.

That was my mission.

NARRATOR: Only three people know
Saddam's exact hiding place tonight.

Two of them are acting as his minders.

They're the sons of a Saddam loyalist

in the small farming town of Ad Dawr,

close to the dictator's home city, Tikrit.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

NARRATOR: The other is
Saddam's personal bodyguard.

His name is Mohammed
Ibrahim Omar al-Musslit.

Two nights earlier, Musslit had been
captured in Baghdad by the Americans.

Samir, now working as an
interpreter for American Special Forces,

has been brought in to translate during

Musslit's interrogation.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SAMIR: First he lied to us about Saddam.

He lied about where Saddam is.

But we have information.

We put him on the spot.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SAMIR: He knew he couldn't lie anymore

because we have a picture on a satellite.

We brought the map and he

locate the farm on the map.

He showed a farm called Ad Dawr.

We knew the guy who we'd
picked up was a guy who was

very, very close

to Saddam Hussein and
should have good information.

What we didn't know if
he was telling us the truth,

if he was putting us on a wild goose chase.

He start crying and
he said, "Don't kill me.

"I will take you to Saddam
before it get too late.

"Let's go now."

I guess I would say I took the
information, we took it very seriously,

obviously, when we executed the mission.

But if you told me I thought we
were to capture Saddam Hussein

that specific night I would have told you

50-50 chance.

NARRATOR: The first stage
in Operation Red Dawn begins.

(CLOCK TICKING)

MAJOR GENERAL ODIERNO:
We had about 600 people.

Tanks, Bradleys,

attack helicopters, ground infantry.

Colonel Hickey briefed me.

I added a little bit more aviation
because I wasn't quite happy.

He then approved the plan
for execution that evening.

NARRATOR: Farmland and orchards
just north of Ad Dawr are sealed off

in a huge and well-rehearsed
military maneuver.

No one will be able to move
in or out of a wide perimeter.

SAMIR: We had tanks and helicopters

and forces that are ready to fight.

I think they thought it
was going to be a battle.

It was a lot of forces. A lot of forces.

MAJOR GENERAL ODIERNO:
We cordoned off about a two kilometer

by four kilometer area

and then we made sure
we had supporting aircraft,

which in this case was attack helicopters,

to also make sure we had good eyes

if somebody was trying
to break out of the cordon.

NARRATOR: Inside the
cordon are the targets,

the two farmhouses known
as Wolverines One and Two.

The Fourth Infantry Division
is expecting to encounter

fierce resistance from
well-organized Saddam loyalists.

We had thought that he would
have a warning system of individuals

who would be out a couple of kilometers

that would warn him that
something was going on,

then there would be some
sort of escape that would occur.

So we had riverine blockage, 'cause
this was right along the Tigris River.

So they couldn't escape by
boat down the Tigris River.

(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING)

(CLOCK TICKING)

NARRATOR: Lieutenant
Colonel Steve Russell is in charge

of blocking any escape
along the River Tigris

which runs close to the two farmhouses.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL RUSSELL: I was told
to have all of my forces ready for action.

And when the raid actually did go down,

we had a blocking position just opposite

of the Tigris River.

NARRATOR: As well as the
huge advantages of night vision,

the entire outer cordon is
visible only to the Americans,

using a sophisticated
digital tracking system

which plots all of their positions.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL RUSSELL:
The Fourth Infantry Division was equipped

with a digital technology,

and it did allow us to assemble

forces very quickly on a certain location.

That helped a great deal,
because if something went down

we could just go, assemble
on one another very quickly.

You could see it on the
map and you'd just go to it.

NARRATOR: Waiting at an
abandoned barn just outside Ad Dawr,

the attack force for tonight's
raid is a Special Operations Unit,

known as Task Force 121.

With them is Musslit,
Saddam's personal bodyguard.

The translator is Samir.

He is now just a few kilometers
from his tormentor of 12 years ago.

(CLOCK TICKING)

NARRATOR: With the outer perimeter sealed,

the attack force moves in.

SAMIR: When you think about Saddam Hussein,

the dictator, the killer,

the criminal,

the man who ruined
his country for 35 years.

I lived my life in Iraq for 20 years

and I know what happened to my country.

What happened to my own people,

for the family I lost.

For the friends, for the neighbors

being executed during Saddam's regime.

NARRATOR: Colonel Hickey
moves up with the Special Forces

as they head towards what he believes

will be Saddam Hussein's last hiding place.

COLONEL HICKEY: That
particular evening we had

as good a chance as
we ever had, if not better.

The information was quite good

and uh, what else do you do
on a Saturday night in Tikrit?

NARRATOR: Sergeant John Iversen
is a driver for a small support unit

that will form a protective inner
perimeter for the Special Forces.

When we left for the,
from the staging area,

it was a clear night.

We had no problems
with any of our equipment

or our night vision glasses
which normally arise,

when you have not enough
illumination at night or maybe too much.

It just seemed to be one of those nights

where nothing could go
wrong equipment-wise.

Or weather-wise.

What happened is I was first vehicle behind

the Special Forces Operations group.

Our instructions were simple.
We were to follow them,

they will move into a location,

and when they move into a
location we will set our perimeter.

At that point all the other
vehicles in our convoy

behind us went and set in their positions.

(VEHICLE APPROACHING)

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(CLOCK TICKING)

(METAL DOOR OPENING)

One clear!

Two clear!

Three clear!

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

One clear!

Two clear!

(CLOCK TICKING)

COLONEL HICKEY: General, Wolverine
One and Wolverine Two are clear.

No sign of HVT 1.

Yeah, we've got one
more place to check out.

(ELECTRONIC BEEPING)

When I got a call from
Colonel Hickey he told me,

"We've finished Wolverine
One and Wolverine Two

"and we haven't found anything."

Now time had elapsed.

It gave people time to move around,

to maybe understand we were out there.

My thought that we were
going to get him that evening

did diminish quite a bit.

NARRATOR: Next to the Tigris River

and midway between Wolverines One and Two,

is a desolate farm building,

barely fit for human habitation.

(HELICOPTER BLADES WHIRRING)

NARRATOR: With Wolverines
One and Two yielding nothing,

the only other place that
might conceal Saddam

is the nearby farm building.

But in the dark the
route to it is a difficult one

through a complex maze of tracks.

Even Musslit is unsure.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SAMIR: Go right.

Which way, left or right?

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

I need an answer now.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

Go left.

SAMIR: There is so many dirt road,
we don't know which one to take.

And he's like, keep telling us
this one, no, no, the other one.

No this one. The other one.

They got really upset about him

and they were starting to yell at him.

When they yell I have to yell.

DRIVER: We should be
able to see the farm by now.

Where the hell is it?

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

It's over there, go right.

We kind of slowed down,

and we stopped a little bit, then we,

then we start moving and
they start screaming at him.

And for some reason he just,

he just took us to the right way.

(CLOCK TICKING)

Clear!

(PANTING)

Arghh!

-Three clear! -Four clear!

Five clear!

(METAL CLANGING)

NARRATOR: Sergeant John
Iversen occupies a position

just 50 meters away from the farm building.

SERGEANT IVERSEN: My gunner
scanned through his sighting system

to make sure that our sector was clear

and by that time when I had already seen
that they had entered the compound area,

I don't really know what was
happening inside the compound,

but I remember my gunner kicked me,

told me that there was someone
moving around in the orchard next to us.

I looked out with my night vision

and I saw that there was
someone who was coming out.

My truck commander told me snatch him up.

So I went out with my night vision.

Snatched him up, detained him.

Notified my Commander. We called it up.

It turned out later on that
that man drove the taxi cab

whenever he needed to maneuver around.

NARRATOR: Although there are signs

that this crude farm building
had been inhabited tonight,

it looks like another dead end.

We've got nothing, boss.

Okay. Let's get Samir
to talk to our new friend.

Samir, we need you.

Argh!

Where is Saddam?

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

They're both lying, boss.

We tried so many things for
these guys to make them talk,

to tell us where's Saddam.
We gave them a chance

to tell us where Saddam is.

They lied to us.

(DOG BARKING)

Argh!

(DOG BARKING CONTINUOUSLY)

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

Right, he's got to tell us where Saddam is.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

Arghh!

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(DOG SNARLING)

(DOG GROWLING)

He's says he'll take us to the bunker.

Okay, let's go.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(SIGHS)

SAMIR: Inside that farm

it's all trees.

Orange trees.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

I think the reason he took us

inside there because the forces,

they were standing on top of the bunker.

He tried to walk us away from that place.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

He said, "This is the bunker."

It was like, "What you
mean this is the bunker?"

He just like point to the trees. He said,

"This is what we call a bunker.

"This is the bunker."

Man.

What's he saying?

He's trying to say that's a bunker.

Where?

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

Among those trees he said, in Iraq,

that's what we call a bunker.

What?

I think he's lying.

I guessed. We don't have time for this.

SAMIR: We scared him
with a dog to make him talk.

I punched him in the face. I was
like shaking him up and down.

You know you have a chance to tell us

where Saddam is.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

This is going nowhere.
Let's get back to Musslit.

He didn't tell us where Saddam is.

We had to go back

to the bodyguard. That's
all the hope we have.

I was kind of disappointed.

I mean, we're here to capture Saddam.

Where Saddam is, this is the time we need

to get Saddam out

and so far there's nothing.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

Where's Saddam?

OFFICER: Tell us now show us the bunker.

(SAMIR SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

He said, "That's the
bunker you guys stand on."

We ask him are you sure? He
said, "Yes. We walked him in."

And he point exactly where is the door.

And he tapped with his feet
on the ground and he said,

"Dig in here."

(SCRAPING OF STONE)

When they pulled the cover I
saw the hole. I couldn't believe it.

We used to see Saddam on TV,

the hero, the man, the powerful man.

The scary man.

The man who build like
thousands of palaces.

Just no way, I just believe

he's in that hole.

A small, dirty hole.

There is no way Saddam is here.

The bodyguard is lying.

Okay, light it up.

OFFICER: Samir, come and talk to him.
Tell him to come out before he gets killed.

Tell him we wanna see both hands up.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

They pulled me back. They let
me go talk to him for a second

to tell him to come out.

And then they pulled me back.

I think the reason because
they don't know what's coming.

Maybe Saddam pull a gun and fire,

or like he was going to commit suicide.

Or like a bomb was going
to come out of that hole.

And I for some reason,
I didn't thought about it.

Just Saddam is in there, the
man who destroyed my life.

I want to see him, I want to pull him out.

Boss, please let me talk to him.

Okay. Be careful.

Tell him I want to see both hands up.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

Tell him to put his other hand up.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SAMIR: For some reason he
thought we want his left hand.

He put his right hand down

and he did this with the... Left hand up.

And I tell him no, both hands.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

SAMIR: We've got him.
I've got him. Come on.

(CLOCK TICKING)

Come on, get him up.

SAMIR: I'm not going to forget that moment,

the way Saddam looked
when we pulled him out.

SADDAM: America lie. America lie.

SAMIR: He start saying in English,

"America lie, not Saddam."

He looked so old and so tired.

He looked so scared and shaken.

He was hair all over.

A long beard, long hair.

When some guys they
grabbed him from his hair,

the hair, his hair was greasy I think,

God knows how many
time he never took a shower.

He look terrible.

That's him, that's Saddam.

OFFICER: Ask him his name.

That's Saddam.

Ask him.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

And he said, "I'm Saddam."

They ask me to tell him, what
Saddam. Ask him Saddam what?

We need to say his full name.

Ask him Saddam what?

-What? -Ask him!

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

He said, "I'm Saddam Hussein."

When I told the guys, Saddam Hussein,

(SIGHS) that moment just uh,

everybody got freaked.

Saddam Hussein.

Yeah!

Hurrah!

(SOLDIERS HOOTING)

SAMIR: I still couldn't believe that man,

how we pulled him out of the hole.

The man I was born and
raised, see him on TV and

call himself the hero

and it was so easy to capture
him. He wants to stay alive.

And I was looking, too, at
Musslit and he was not happy.

The way he looked on
his face, he was not happy.

He was kind of like uh, upset.

Tell him, President Bush
sent us to get his fucking ass.

And I told him what
the guy told me tell him,

and uh, he was not happy about it.

He said, "My shoes, my shoes."

In Arabic culture when you say, "my shoes"

it's unrespectful.

He said, "My shoes, it's better

"than you and your
family and your country."

That was his response for this guy.

121 to command.

HVT 1 is in custody.
Repeat, HVT 1 is in custody.

Over.

SAMIR: The million of Iraqis
wished for that day to come

and they see Saddam dying or captured.

And he's in my hand. Just so many things

went through my mind.

What to do, what to
do. I thought about, uh...

To do, to kill him that night and just um,

for some reason I couldn't do it.

I want Saddam to be alive on TV

to show this to the world,

to show to the Iraqis
this is the coward man.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

I want him to feel like

he's no one, he's nobody.

The same way he,

he made... He made us feel for many years.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

I had to punch him.

In the face. I punched him
a couple of times in the face

with some kicking in the face and head

and uh,

he started bleeding from his mouth,

and to make him stop telling
me I'm a traitor, I'm a spy.

And the forces told me to
stop hitting him anymore.

Search him.

SAMIR: Well we found that pistol.

We had to pull some clothes off him

to make sure he's not have a bomb
or anything connected to his belt.

He didn't use the pistol.

He's not even willing,
willing to use his pistol to fight.

It was Saddam Hussein.

LIEUTENANT COLONEL
RUSSELL: Then I received a call

from Colonel Hickey on
the satellite telephone and

he said to me, "Cesar Romero,"

and my reaction was instant.

During the summer, or late summer,

authorities in Baghdad had

released a number of
"what if" digital images

of what Saddam might look like,

and one of them was of
the actor Cesar Romero.

A resemblance, I mean you had Saddam with a

a moustache and kind of
bald head and that type of thing,

and he looked... There was a resemblance

and so I knew that when
Colonel Hickey told me that

he was telling me Saddam had been captured.

And my reaction was "Oh, my God, we...

"That's great." It was almost

one of

awe, where you were like,

"It's really happened.
We've really done it."

And then he told me not a word, not a word.

He said the proper
authorities have to be notified.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(PANTING)

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

OFFICER: Okay, get him
up, let's get him dressed.

SAMIR: For some reason that
night I had a different feeling.

Something going to happen.

I took my camera with me.

Boss, this is a dream come true for me.

Please let me take a picture.

We can't do that, Samir.

I want to prove to the world
that this is the coward man,

this is Saddam, how we pulled him out.

I need to take a picture with Saddam.

I have to take a picture with Saddam.

Please let me take a picture.

You got a camera?

Okay, quick.

(CAMERA CLICKS)

SAMIR: Inside the bunker
they found a green box.

It was cash money in that box.

750,000 U.S. dollars.

(HELICOPTER APPROACHING)

The whole area was secured and it's time

to get Saddam up, so we had to stand him up

and walked him out of the farm.

Saddam

was looking to the forces,

right and left,

and uh,

not saying a word, just the way he look.

I was talking to him in
Arabic the whole time

and I remember

Colonel Hickey, he's commander

of the foreign infantry,

he heard me. I was yelling

at him, at Saddam, in Arabic.

I was telling him things
in Arabic, cussing him off

and he said, "Shut up, that's enough."

So... (CHUCKLES)

We had to walk him out of the farm.

I was with Saddam, with two forces.

We walked Saddam out of the farm.

I was with him, I was behind him

holding him from his shirt.

We walked him out of
the farm and we had to wait

(HELICOPTER HOVERING)

for the helicopter to land,

to put him in the helicopter
to fly him back to our place.

It was so dark that night.

In Iraq one thing you love,

the sky is so clear

and you can see every
single star that's glowing.

It's beautiful, beautiful.

For some reason Saddam

was looking to the sky.

Looking right, left,

looking to the palm trees.

I was looking at him.

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

(SPEAKING IN ARABIC)

He said God loves me.

And I am Saddam Hussein.

I'm a good man and our people know

who Saddam is.

(HELICOPTER LANDING)

SPOKESMAN: Ladies
and gentleman. We got him.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUDING)

Saddam Hussein was captured

Saturday, December the
13th at about 8.30 p.m. local.

This is Saddam as he was being
given his medical examination today.

(CHEERING)

(WHISTLING)

The Iraqis reporters

were particularly joyous.

When they showed Saddam's picture

being examined,

the Iraqis became very, very emotional.

Some were clearly angry

and I think some were
relieved, they were sobbing.

I realized we had gotten
something done that was important,

truly important to them. It struck me

that it truly was something more
than a military accomplishment.

Saddam had this quality about him

that people believed that
he was almost invincible.

In fact, the way he
gave up and didn't fight

and gave himself up to us right away

was against everything he
told everybody else to do.

I think forever that probably
tarnished Saddam Hussein

in the eyes of all Iraqis.

SAMIR: This is the
man I left my country for.

This is the man I haven't
seen my family for 13 years,

because of him.

But we got him. We got Saddam.

To me it was I think a special feeling.

Because

sometimes I think I'm
just a victim of Saddam.

So...