Ex-Marine Says Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction

A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated.

Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army.

"I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced," Abou Rabeh said.

"We captured him after fierce resistance during which a Marine of Sudanese origin was killed," he said.

He said Saddam himself fired at them with a gun from the window of a room on the second floor. Then they shouted at him in Arabic: "You have to surrender. ... There is no point in resisting."

http://www.13wham.com/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=422B960A-26BA-4891-9E60-21C8818788D4

...when the original story, if true, would have been far more dramatic for TV news? This news story strikes me as not credible.

Does it really matter to the public whether or not it was in a hole or in a house? At the time, he was the target and the target was achieved. Why lie?

trying to pre-empt something worse that's about to break. Many of us here on DU thought Saddam had been captured months before and was being held somewhere until they could conveniently stage a fack capture.

This story is a little odd, because what's a former Marine doing living in Lebanon? And why is the story coming out in selected places.

Something's fishy about the way it's leaking. :shrug: