McClellan called ''some identifying marks.''Ī short time later, Mr. Rumsfeld quickly called the president back to say that confirmation came from what Mr. Rumsfeld got off the phone to gather more information. Rumsfeld how General Abizaid knew it was Mr. McClellan said, and agreed that the man captured might be an impostor. McClellan recounted.īut both the president and his defense secretary still expressed some caution, Mr.
The president then said, ''Well, that is good news,'' Mr. Abizaid, the senior American commander in the Middle East, was confident that American forces had Mr. McClellan said, saying that ''this sounds like it's going to be good news.'' Mr. Hussein's government, they have not publicly committed themselves to using that tribunal to put Mr. But while the White House officials said they were comfortable with plans reached last week for a war crimes tribunal to be established in Baghdad to deal with the captured members of Mr. Hussein would remain in American military custody for a considerable time, undergoing interrogation. White House and defense officials said Mr.
Hussein's capture could give new life to the hunt. He also did not refer in his speech to the search for unconventional weapons, the major stated reason that the United States invaded Iraq, but intelligence analysts said Mr. Bush has previously also suggested that terrorists crossing the border from Syria and Iran were to blame. Bush did not mention Al Qaeda in his speech, and notably put most of the responsibility for the attacks in Iraq on Baath Party members still loyal to Mr. ''It marks the end of the road for him and for all who bullied and killed in his name.'' For a majority of Iraqis, the president added, ''this event brings further assurance that the torture chambers and the secret police are gone forever.''īut several White House aides acknowledged that the capture raised new concerns, too, among them that Iraqis might tire of the American military presence more quickly now that they feel they do not need protection from Mr. ''The capture of this man was crucial to the rise of a free Iraq,'' Mr. Hussein as a critical development in his desire to bring democracy to a nation that lived under dictatorship for 35 years. ''He said, 'No, this is a great day for the Iraqi people,' '' the senior official recounted. Paul Bremer III, the top American administrator in Iraq. They put the acting leader of the Iraqi Governing Council at the lectern in Baghdad with L. Hussein an occasion to turn the spotlight on the Iraqis themselves.
Bush and other administration officials seemed eager to make the capture of Mr. ''He can make the argument that the tide is turning,'' a senior administration official said. Baker III, who is to leave Monday for a five-nation trip intended to reduce Iraq's foreign debt and to attract support for American policies in Iraq from European leaders who opposed the war. The capture was also seen as aiding the mission of former Secretary of State James A. The capture also came at the beginning of the president's 2004 re-election campaign and steals ammunition, at least for the moment, from the Democratic presidential candidates who had criticized the war and the American occupation. The capture was both a personal and political victory for President Bush, who had been frustrated that a man he had described as an archenemy of the United States had eluded American troops for so long. Hussein tried to retaliate by assassinating him after he left office, a fact noted by his son in his 2002 address to the United Nations General Assembly. Hussein from Kuwait in the Persian Gulf war in 1991, and Mr. The president's careful demeanor hid the elation at the White House about the capture of the man who had been locked in conflict with the Bush family for the last dozen years.
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