Former translator of the US military: Saddam Hussein was detained after spying on his guard
Saddam Hussein. Photo: Hoda Emam / Reuters
A former Iraqi translator who collaborated with the Americans, anonymously revealed the details of the detention of ex-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. RIA Novosti reports.
According to him, he was with the US military, conducting the operation to detain Hussein. Approximately eight months after he started working, they received classified information about his whereabouts. “This place was located on a farm, literally a few meters from the Tigris, at a distance of 50 meters or even closer, in the El Maabar area,” the ex-translator said.
Hussein's whereabouts were determined as a result of the surveillance of his security guard, who was buying up the best goods in the markets, “goods of certain brands”, which aroused suspicions. A detachment of American special forces was sent to the site, and troops landed there. “Several people were taken out of there. After they were taken out, I asked what kind of people they were … My officer said – this is President Saddam Hussein and the special forces sent to detain him, even we were forbidden to approach him, ”the translator said. The ex-president was evacuated by helicopter.
At the site of the operation, over an area of about a square kilometer, in the building and on the farm where Hussein was, they sprayed sleeping gas. In the room where Hussein was hiding, 3.5 meters wide and about 4 meters long, there were two beds. Of the ex-president's belongings, there were two pairs of orthopedic shoes, expensive clothes, perfume and personal items – the president's wristwatch, several photographs of his family, a tape recorder with a blank tape, audio recordings made by him, as well as valuable things, in particular, a personal revolver. Most of Hussein's personal items and even food were stolen, some of the military took his things as a keepsake.
The ex-translator also recalled that on the farm after the operation, orange tree seedlings, parrots, cattle, stray dogs were covered with a kind of white substance, while the animals were all dead. The powder remained for another two or three days, and then disappeared.
Earlier, ex-US ambassador to Iraq Robert Ford said that the tribunal over former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, as a result of which the politician was sentenced to death, was held with violations. At the same time, he stressed that many evidences confirmed the involvement of Hussein in the massacres.
Dictator Saddam Hussein was executed on December 30, 2006. He was arrested as a result of the US invasion of Iraq, which took place under the pretext of searching for weapons of mass destruction, the presence of which in the country has not been confirmed. However, the prosecution was able to prove Hussein's guilt in the killings of the Iraqi population.
