Operation Red Dawn
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Operation Red Dawn was a military operation conducted by the United States armed forces on December 13, 2003 in the small town of ad-Dawr in Iraq, near Tikrit. The operation resulted in the capture of the country's former president Saddam Hussein, and put to rest rumors of his death. The operation, and its two main checkpoints, were named for the 1984 film Red Dawn.
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General information
Image:SaddamSpiderHole.jpg The operation was assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the U.S. Army's 4th Infantry Division, the Raider Brigade. 600 soldiers participated, including cavalry, engineers, artillery, air support, and special forces, under the overall command of Colonel James Hickey of the 4th Infantry Division.
Soldiers entered two sites (codenamed Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2) outside the village of ad-Dawr but failed initially to find Saddam. A subsequent cordon and search operation found the fugitive leader hiding in a so-called "spider hole" at a small mud-walled compound. He was taken into custody at 20:30 local time. He was armed with a pistol, but offered no resistance during his capture. The soldiers also found two AK-47 rifles, US$750,000 in $100 bills, Mars bars, a stash of SPAM (a food prohibited under Muslim Halal), and a white and orange taxicab[1]. Two Iraqis, believed to be Saddam's former cook Qais Namuk and his brother, were also taken into custody. Saddam was later moved to an undisclosed location as soldiers continued to search the area.
The name of the operation, Red Dawn, apparently comes from the title of a 1984 film directed by John Milius, in which a group of American teenagers band together to commit sabotage and other terrorist attacks in their Colorado town against invading Soviet forces. The teenagers, whose leader was portrayed by a young Patrick Swayze, called themselves the "Wolverines" — the name given to the targets of the U.S. forces in ad-Dawr. Incidentally, this was also the codename of a mission of the Soviets during warfare, in which they tried to expand the borders of communist Russia by mass military means. Several pundits have made note of the wry irony that the namesake of the operation was a movie relating the story of insurgents fighting against an occupying invading force. Though Major Brian Reed, the officer who wrote up the Op Order for the mission, naming it, said that there was no connection what so ever with the film.
Conspiracy theories
Some people have raised what they regard as abnormalities and inconsistencies in the capture of Saddam Hussein. These have received little attention from the mainstream media.
A former U.S. Marine who claims he participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated. "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." [2]
A special report on CNN shows what appears to be Col. Hickey explaining to his troops how Saddam was captured and ordering them to keep quiet about it [3].
Many are questioning why photos showing Saddam's "spider-hole" also show dates growing in the background. Dates in Iraq do not grow in December.[4][5]
Many are also questioning why a man with such a massive amount of money, power and support would hide in an underground hole after having spent most of his adult life in palaces. This supports the belief that the American administration intended to portray Saddam as having lost all power and any will to fight, thus increasing American morale both at home and in Iraq.
Some also claim that the United States authorities timed Hussein's capture to divert attention from controversial actions by the Bush administration. Washington's Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott has suggested publicly that the Bush administration timed Hussein's capture to their own benefit. In a Fox News article, McDermott stated, "It's funny, when they're having all this trouble, suddenly they have to roll out something."
There were also press reports (which cite un-named British intelligence officers and Iraqi intelligence officers [6][7][8]) that American intelligence did not lead to the capture of Saddam, but rather that Saddam was betrayed by the Al-Jabour tribe and captured by Kurdish partisans. According to this story, the betrayal was revenge -- Saddam's son Uday had allegedly raped a woman belonging to the tribe -- and Saddam was turned over to the Kurdish Patriotic Front, who negotiated the ex-leader's handover to U.S. forces in return for a deal with the United States that would allow the party more power.
None of these conspiracy theories have survived any serious discussion. For instance, in December 2005, Saddam Hussein, through his attorney, former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, claimed that he was set to use a "motorcycle" to ride away from where he was hiding when he was found by American forces. Although no proof whatsoever of a motorcycle was found in the area, Clark's claims received wide play, including an interview in The Sun, a British tabloid newspaper.