Hunting Down Saddam

by Robin Moore

  Mark Vargas deserves extra mention. A retired Special Forces Command Sergeant Major (CSM), Mark had a unique civilian and military vantage point during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. As KBR’s security manager in Tikrit, he worked side by side with the 4th Infantry Division in what is thought of as the most volatile region in Iraq. He also worked with Iraqi contractors and Iraqi trainees for the new police and security forces. I’ve known and known of Mark for more than twenty years, and couldn’t have chosen a better person to write the foreword to Hunting Down Saddam. And I might add, a fortuitous choice it was, as the group of soldiers he worked with on a daily basis were the ones who found and captured Saddam, the only proper ending for this book.

  Thanks to MG David Petraeus, commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), who gave me an interesting briefing on Mosul and the problems he and his troops were experiencing at the time. He provided an overview of the actions of his group, from the time they crossed over into Iraq from Kuwait until the time they took over Mosul from the Green Berets who had liberated the city.

  And thanks to COL “Smokin’ Joe” Anderson, commander of the Strike Brigade of the 101st. He deserves great recognition for his part in the demise of Saddam’s sons and for his contributions and expertise regarding this historic U.S. Army division.

  Heartfelt thanks to LTC Steve Russell and the men of the 1-22 Infantry, 4th ID. When I was leaving FOB Ironhorse in Tikrit, LTC Russell pressed a disc in my hand. He had kept copies of detailed letters he’d sent home, chronicling the war through his and his soldiers’ eyes. His letters were an extraordinarily personal glimpse into the war. Understanding the immense value of his words, LTC Russell granted permission to include his letters in the book.

  Thanks to Colonel Bob Morris, without whom I would not have been able to make the trip into Iraq, nor have obtained important information on Operation RED DAWN in time. When I learned the Special Forces couldn’t sponsor my trip to Iraq on account of my having Parkinson’s disease, my longtime friend COL Morris was the man I turned to. Within twenty-four hours, he had arranged full accreditation, visas, and charter airline reservations, and his Partner’s International Organization hosted me. Moreover, he quickly arranged my interviews with the 101st Airborne, the 82nd Airborne, and the 4th ID in Iraq. After the capture of Saddam, COL Morris stepped in once again and helped to arrange interviews with the soldiers from the 4th ID, whose accounts of Operation RED DAWN are a vital part of this book. Thanks also go to Captain Allen Roper in Iraq for organizing the Operation RED DAWN telephone interviews, and personally transcribing some.

  I would also like to thank Andrew McAleer, a longtime friend, top-notch lawyer, and fellow author who gave up his weekend to notarize documents for my accreditation, without which I would have been stuck.

  There are many men in the Special Forces community who also deserve mention and thanks for their invaluable aid—everything from first-rate information to their advice and support during the writing phase. In no particular order, I thank Major (MAJ) Steve Stone (Special Forces, Retired) and the Brothers at the Chapter 38 Team House—their communications network and countless assistance were invaluable. Colonel Michael S. Repass, commander of the 10th Group—an old friend who arranged interviews with members of the 10th Group and 3rd Group stationed there. MAJ Doug Hall—the 10th Group PAO (Public Affairs Officer) who graciously hosted me at Fort Carson, Colorado, and served as a reader and fact checker on an earlier draft of the book. Likewise MAJ Howard, 10th Group, who also provided the excellent briefing on the Special Forces efforts at the beginning of the war. Captain Sean Williams, MAJ Howard’s aide at Fort Carson, was a great help while I was there in June 2003. And Sergeant Major (SGM) Tim Strong, who provided much of the layout of the Special Forces mission in northern Iraq. Thanks go as well to LTC Christopher Haas, 5th Group, who described in detail the endeavors of his Special Forces soldiers—from the moment they crossed the berm until the time they converted from warriors to nation builders.

  Gratitude is also in order for LTC Angus Taverner, Media Operations Officer for the Ministry of Defence, for his assistance regarding Her Majesty’s forces, Lynn and Rachel Thompson, Brigadier General (BG) David P. Burford, Peter Lofgren, Sergeant Major (Retired) William Boggs, Gean Duran (for the “Ace in the Hole”), Sini McKeon, Major General Ken Bowra, and “Wild Bill” Garrison, and all of the PAOs in Iraq who provided escort duty and sightseeing services while I was in the war zone. All of you helped in many important ways to make this book project a reality—from start to finish.

  Last, but certainly not least, I must thank my surgeon Dr. Michael Reinhorn and the doctors and staff at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts, who saved my life in mid-January, just as we finished the last page of this book. I’d been in a bit of pain for several days, but passed it off as “book indigestion.” I was determined we’d meet our deadline. But by that Sunday morning, I was doubled over. After a series of X rays in the emergency room, I was told I had an intestinal blockage and could return home to take a large dose of castor oil. Two hours later there was frantic pounding at my door. A doctor friend, Charlie Maliss, shouted that I must get to the hospital, NOW! My white blood cell count reflected a critical stage of infection. The new diagnosis was a badly infected gall bladder. When my friend Paul Tessier, MD (Special Forces, Retired), heard the news, he immediately drove to the hospital from Maine to be at my side, where he stayed until my discharge. For his wise counsel and steady humor, I am much appreciative. My daughter Margo also dropped everything, including her own sick child, to be with me.

  Gallons of antibiotics and the removal of one gangrenous gall bladder later, I am grateful to be able to thank them all.

  PROLOGUE

  A Special Forces funeral always brings me to tears, and this was no exception. I was at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, with the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), who had been deployed in Iraq since they left Afghanistan in May of 2002, and who were the first to go into Iraq before the war was officially declared.

  We were here to honor and pay our respects to two Special Forces soldiers who had been killed in a predawn firefight in the Iraqi town of Ramadi, about seventy miles from Baghdad. Seven others from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group were wounded in the raid.

  The Special Forces motto, De Oppresso Liber, or “To Liberate the Oppressed,” was embodied in the deeds of these two fine soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice: freeing people from tyranny and oppression—first from the Taliban, and now from Saddam Hussein, and at the expense of their own lives.

  Sergeant Major Kenneth W. Barriger was asked to take the roll call of the team of Green Berets to which the fallen soldiers belonged.

  As he read off their names one by one, the men attending the funeral of their lost friends replied: “Here, Sergeant Major.”

  Finally, the sergeant major called the name of Sergeant First Class William Bennett, but there was no reply from the team.

  Once again, Sergeant Major Barriger called out “Sergeant First Class Bill Bennett.”

  Again—no answer.

  After a long silence, the sergeant major called out the name of another member of the team.

  “Master Sergeant Kevin Morehead.”

  Once more, a long silence filled the Fort Campbell chapel.

  With the answer of a twenty-one-gun salute, the two Green Beret sergeants were accounted for as Killed in Action.

  Master Sergeant Kevin Morehead and Sergeant First Class Bill Bennett were two of the first Special Forces men in Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of September 11. They had been in Afghanistan with Captain Mark Nutsch’s team (ODA 595), and went on from there as part of the first Special Forces on the scene of the new war in Iraq.

  I had crossed paths with both men while writing The Hunt for Bin Laden: Task Force DAGGER. Both I and Chris Thompson, my coauthor and project coordinator on the Bin Laden book, had met with their wives only months ago. Bill Bennett was a talented Special Forces Medical Sergeant, in t
he Army since 1986 and active in numerous overseas deployments and combat operations, including the Gulf War. Kevin Morehead was one of a few Special Forces soldiers who had buried a piece of the World Trade Center in an Afghan battlefield. He was killed two days before his thirty-fourth birthday, and less than two weeks before he was to return home.

  SADDAM

  Saddam Hussein was born on April 28, 1937, in the village of Owja on the outskirts of Tikrit, Iraq, a city northwest of Baghdad. As a young boy, Saddam was raised mainly by his maternal uncle, in the town of ad Dawr, a mud-brick village on the banks of the Tigris River. Saddam Hussein’s parents had been simple farmers, but his uncle, an officer in the Iraqi Army, gave him a glimpse of a life other than that of a humble peasant. He greatly influenced the young Saddam and instilled in him a deep passion for politics and the military.

  Tikrit had always been Saddam’s base of power; his birthplace held a special meaning for him, and was also part of his full name, as is the custom in Iraq: Saddam Hussein (Husayn) al-Tikriti. This connection to place was a part of his very identity. In his teenage years, Saddam moved to Baghdad, where he joined the Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party when he was nineteen years old. The Ba’ath Party was new then, and sought to overthrow the nation’s prime minister, Abdul Karim Qassim.

  As he entered his twenties, Saddam was ambitious and daring. He knew he did not want a life as a poor peasant or farmer, and the only way he saw out of that was through force. In 1959, when he was twenty-two, Saddam was involved in a brash coup attempt—an attempt to assassinate Prime Minister Qassim. The assassination attempt failed. Saddam was shot in the leg by the prime minister’s bodyguard, but fled with his life. Showing a judicious knack for escaping, he fled to Syria.

  On February 25, 1960, Iraqi courts sentenced Saddam to death, in absentia, for his part in the failed assassination attempt.

  Saddam left Syria shortly after his arrival and journeyed to Egypt, where he studied at Cairo’s College of Law. Three years later, his comrades in the Ba’ath Socialist Party were successful, and overthrew Qassim, in what is known as the Ramadan Revolution. Saddam was thrilled, and returned to Iraq, where he was soon elected to a leadership position in the Ba’ath Party. At this point, Saddam was just in his mid-twenties.

  A very short time later, in the fall of 1963, Colonel Abdal-Salam Muhammad Arif, Qassim’s partner and co-leader in the coup that brought him to power in 1958, staged a successful coup against the Ba’athists, once again putting Saddam on the run. Colonel Abd-al-Salam Muhammad Arif began rounding up and cracking down on the remaining Ba’athists.

  Saddam was not so lucky this time. Arif’s men caught up with Saddam several months later, and he was thrown in prison, remaining there for two years. Saddam, determined to survive, escaped from prison. Soon after Saddam’s escape, Arif died in a helicopter crash, and was succeeded by his older brother. Arif’s brother took over for a very brief reign.

  In July of 1968, Saddam and his fellow Ba’athists organized and carried out a successful and bloodless coup, ousting the Arif Regime. Saddam’s cousin, General Ahmed Hasan al-Bakr, became the new president of Iraq.

  Al-Bakr named his cousin Saddam vice president as well as head of the secret police, or the SSS (Special Security Service), hence controlling internal security and intelligence. Saddam’s megalomaniacal vision of power began to manifest itself as he embarked upon an agenda to clean house in the new regime. In his role as head of the SSS, Saddam solidified his role as top enforcer, purging all non-Ba’athist traces of the former regime. He was ruthless. Dozens of Iraqi officials with questionable loyalties were sent into “retirement,” imprisoned, or eliminated—the lucky ones were deported or forced to flee the country. Saddam wanted no more coups while he and his family were in power.

  As vice president, Saddam wasted no time in trying to remove all possible competition and threat. In 1968, the thirty-year reign of terror began against the Shi’ia “Marsh Arabs” in the south and the Kurdish population in the north. Saddam wanted minorities suppressed by any means necessary—all under the umbrella of what Saddam called his “Arabization” Project, an agenda with all too familiar echoes of Nazi Germany.

  Hundreds of thousands of non-Ba’athist citizens and Iraqis of non-Arab descent were arrested, deported, or killed. Entire Shi’ia Muslim and Kurdish villages were burned to the ground in a scorched earth strategy, though not before anything of value was carted away and split up between Saddam’s most trusted personnel as a “reward” for their loyalty. Families, entire generations, were wiped out. Those targeted who were not murdered by Saddam’s secret police or quick enough to flee were tortured and imprisoned.

  Oil was, and is, Iraq’s number one commodity by a significant margin. Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, foreign oil companies maintained a constant presence in Iraq. Saddam wanted them out. In 1972, he led an effort to nationalize all of the foreign oil companies, thereby consolidating Iraq’s wealth into a monopoly for the Ba’athists.

  In July of 1979, al-Bakr resigned, and Saddam Hussein became the new president of Iraq. By now, the SSS (also known as the SSO) had been beefed up by Saddam, expanded and designed to be led by those whom Saddam was confident he could trust. To ensure that security, there once again was a wave of purging and murdering those in his ranks whose loyalty was not 100 percent ascertained. Saddam went on to ban the opposing political party, the Da’wa Party. Membership in its ranks was a capital crime, punishable by death.

  The Shatt al-Arab waterway lies near the border of Iran and Iraq. It is here that the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers meet, at a place called al Qurnal. From al Qurnal, the river flows into the Persian Gulf; the Iranians claimed it was on their land, while Iraq felt it was on theirs. In September 1980, scarcely over a year after being named president, Saddam declared war against their big neighbor to the east. The Iraqi Army, surprisingly strong from oil wealth, routed the Iranians, forcing them back from the waterway. But Iran, a country over three times bigger in land mass and population, was not to be so easily defeated. Although the Iranian Army was not as sophisticated and organized as Iraq’s, Iran had a steady supply of zealous warriors and eager martyrs.

  By 1984, the war was only half over, and it wasn’t going so well for Iraq. The Iranians had turned the tables on the war, and were invading Iraqi soil. Basra, Iraq’s largest southern city, and less than fifteen miles from the Iranian border, was hit hard. The seesawing war continued, while the threat to Saddam compounded with new waves of Kurdish insurgencies in the north. Feeling collapse nigh, Saddam chose to deploy chemical warfare in the form of poison gas against the Iranian invaders, as well as against the Kurdish opposition. The results were a success for Saddam, and they were horrific. In one Kurdish village alone, Halabaja, an estimated five thousand people were killed, and more than twice that injured. An untold total number of Iranians and Kurds perished in Saddam’s chemical attacks. By the end of the Iran–Iraq war in 1988, the casualties were estimated to be between 1 and 1.5 million people.

  Two years later, Saddam sealed his fate with the world community when he invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Saddam used many reasons to justify his action, but was steadfast on his claim that Kuwait was the 19th province of Iraq. Powers from the United States and the United Nations tried reasoning with him, but to no avail.

  The invasion of Kuwait posed a number of threats that got the attention of the United States—not the least of which was the threat to Saudi Arabia, and in turn, the United States led a coalition force against the invading Iraqis. On January 17, 1991, the Persian Gulf War began with a massive air campaign. Five weeks later, the ground war started, and within seventy-two hours, Kuwait was liberated. Tens of thousands of Iraqi troops were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.

  Iraq signed a cease-fire agreement on March 3, 1991, the conditions of which included Saddam destroying all of his WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction, such as the poison gas he used in the 1980s on the Kurds and the Iranians). It called for a cease to
his ruthless persecution of ethnic minority groups, and the return of any captured prisoners, all of which Saddam agreed to. Nevertheless, Saddam was not a man of his word, and he quickly crushed a Kurdish insurrection in the north and a Shi’ia rebellion in the south.

  The massacre of the two groups put the world leaders on notice once again. This time the United Nations imposed the Northern and Southern No-Fly Zones across the north and south of Iraq so that Saddam would be unable to murder his own minority groups. Operations SOUTHERN WATCH and NORTHERN WATCH were put into place by the United States and the United Nations to police the adherence to the no-fly zones.

  For not living up to a single promise on the cease-fire agreement, the UN imposed economic and military sanctions on Iraq. As the situation for his people got worse and worse, the more lavish and opulent Saddam and his inner circle became. For twelve years, Saddam did not budge. These sanctions severely punished the Iraqi people, yet Saddam would rather starve his own population than give in to the world’s demands for justice.

  On November 8, 2002, UN Security Council Resolution 1441 was passed, which stated that for twelve years, Saddam had been in “material breach” of every agreement that had been made at the end of the Persian Gulf War. Saddam had twelve years to live up to his end of the bargain, and failed to do so, on every single count.

  In the years between the end of the Persian Gulf War and the start of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, Saddam’s Iraq was hit with three sets of major air strikes. Still, Saddam held fast as his people continued to starve and buckle under the weight of his oppression. With the Global War on Terror (GWOT) underway in the wake of 9/11, President George W. Bush decided that something more had to be done. Saddam not only laughed in the face of the world’s demands and continued the slaughter of his own people, he also harbored terrorist cells such as Ansar al-Islam, and there was mounting intelligence that pointed to Saddam acquiring components of nuclear materials (Russian U-235 weapons-grade uranium) by way of Djibouti. President George Bush II was about to finish what his father had started.…