Saddam captured

[Chris]

TIKRIT, Iraq (CNN) -- After nine months of scurrying from house to house, Saddam Hussein appeared to be a tired, resigned man who offered no resistance when U.S. troops extracted him from a hole in a rural farmhouse Saturday afternoon.

L. Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, announced Sunday morning, "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him."

The audience responded with cheers, and Iraqis took to Baghdad streets dancing, doling out candy and firing rifles into the air. But in Tikrit -- Saddam's ancestral home town and a base of loyalty to him -- the streets were quiet.

Coalition video showed the ventilated "spider hole" six to eight feet underground where Saddam was hiding with two other men who have not yet been identified. The video showed Saddam with graying hair and a long beard, undergoing a medical examination after his capture.

A spokesman for the Iraqi Governing Council said DNA tests had confirmed Saddam's identity.

Several Iraqi journalists stood up and shouted "Death to Saddam" after the video was shown.

"I'm very happy for the Iraqi people. Life is going to be safer now," 35-year-old Yehya Hassan, a resident of Baghdad, told The Associated Press. "Now we can start a new beginning."

And in Kirkuk, Mustapha Sheriff told the Associated Press, "We are celebrating like it's a wedding. We are finally rid of that criminal." (Full story)

The 66-year-old longtime Iraqi leader was number one on the coalition's 55 most wanted list, and his evasion has been a political sore spot for the U.S. administration. (Saddam profile)

Raid in rural town

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who leads coalition troops in Iraq, said the former leader was uninjured, "talkative and cooperative," after 4th Infantry Division and Special Operations forces nabbed him in Operation Red Dawn.

"Today is a great day for the Iraqi people and the coalition," Sanchez said.

About 600 4th Infantry Division soldiers and Special Operations forces conducted the raid in Adwar, near a compound of ramshackle buildings about 9 miles outside Saddam's hometown of Tikrit, Saturday night.

The raid was based on intelligence that Saddam was at a particular location in the area, the officials said. Forces arrived at the location within three hours of receiving a tip from an Iraqi, and Saddam had no time to move to another location.

The U.S. forces moved easily into the area where there were no security forces to protect the ousted leader.

Saddam, thin, dirty and hiding in the cellar of mud hut, willingly identified himself to interpreters. He was wearing a white T-shirt, dark trousers and a long-sleeved dark shirt.

Video following that raid -- exclusively shot by CNN's Alphonso Van Marsh -- showed a group of U.S.-led coalition soldiers patting each other on the back -- apparently in celebration -- and taking group photos in front of a military vehicle.

Sanchez said Operation Red Dawn targeted two locations and troops began a "cordon and search" operation when they failed to find Saddam initially. The ventilated "spider hole," its entrance camouflaged with bricks and dirt was near one of the locations.

"He was a tired man," the general said. "Also, I think, a man resigned to his fate."

Sanchez said the hole where forces found Saddam was wide enough for a man to lie down in, with a fan and a air hole.

Preparing for retaliation

Adnan Pachaci, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, said Saddam would be tried for his crimes against Iraqis, and would be tried by Iraqis.

"The terrorist, Saddam Hussein, the biggest terrorist on earth, has been arrested," said Hamid Ali al-Kifaey. "He will be tried before a special court in Iraq soon. With his arrest the Iraqi people will begin a new life, and hopefully they will have a democratic and pluralistic system and no more mass graves, and no more Saddam Hussein and no more terrorism."

A senior U.S. official told CNN's Dana Bash in Washington that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told President Bush on Saturday afternoon (EST) of the capture.

The Iraq war began on March 19 when U.S. forces launched a "decapitation attack" aimed at the Iraqi president and other top members of the country's leadership.

Hours after the capture -- but before it was announced -- a car bomb exploded outside an Iraqi police station in Khaldiyah, killing at least 10 Iraqis and wounding 20 others, most of them policemen, U.S. officials said. Iraqi officials reported a higher casualty toll. (Full story)

"Do I expect an increase in retaliation?" as a result of Saddam's capture, Sanchez asked. "I don't know. I couldn't answer that, but I will tell you we are prepared, and we will defeat those elements if they choose to attack us at any point in time."

CNN Senior Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and CNN Baghdad Bureau Chief Jane Arraf contributed to this report.

[Earwen]

Thank God he is in custody. Now hopefully it will start to ease some tensions over there and maybe bring out troops home a little sooner.