![]() Army Intelligence began to focus on five families in the Tikrit area, ones with lifelong connections to Hussein.Įventually, they came up with two names: Muhammed Ibrahim Omar al-Muslit, a former bodyguard and Basim Latif, Hussein’s former driver. After interviewing a series of government officials, they realized many former Ba’ath Party members no longer had contact with the dictator. The 4th Infantry Division in Tikrit began capturing and interrogating known associates and their family members for information on his location. Some 600 operations were conducted over four months, but none came up with Hussein. He even released audio tapes that called for the population to rise up against American and coalition forces occupying Iraq.Īmerican intelligence agencies launched a country-wide manhunt for Hussein and other members of his regime. For months, he remained on the run, with various sightings reported throughout the country. He was last seen on a video taken in an area near Baghdad. forces in April of 2003, the Iraqi dictator all but disappeared. At the top of the list was Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.Īfter the fall of Baghdad to U.S. Saddam Hussein’s sons were killed in the fighting.īy November 2003, Task Force 20 had been rolled into Task Force 121, a combined special operations unit with the mission of hunting down high-value targets throughout Iraq. 50-caliber machine guns, grenade launchers, and helicopter-fired rockets. When the Army demanded their surrender, the shooting started.Įnding the standoff required TOW missiles. Army’s Delta Force was positioned to assault the building. By 0900 that morning, the villa was surrounded by the 101st Airborne and the U.S. In July 2003, elements of Task Force 20 received a tip that Uday and Qusay Hussein were hold up in a villa in the Iraqi city of Mosul. It was called Task Force 121, it ended the Hussein family’s reign of terror over Iraq, and became a case study in human intelligence. Air Force Combat Controllers, Pararescuemen, Tactical Air Control Party operators, along with armored support. On top of SEAL Team Six and Delta Force, the list included the 75th Ranger Regiment, and 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the CIA’s Special Activities Division, U.S. To get to that photograph required a virtual “who’s who” of American special operations. We’ve all seen the famous photo of the Iraqi-American interpreter pulling the Iraqi dictator out of his “spider hole” in Tikrit.
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