Shutting the door against the setting sun?

By now, the US soldiers in Iraq are used to conduct many such raids. They have done so in the last eight months from Arbil in the north to An-Nasariyah in the south, from Baghdad in the east to Ar-Ramadi in the west. The soldiers taking part in the raid were told on Saturday, December 13, 2003, that they would be looking for a big fish in the proverbial pond. This time around, they indeed caught the very biggest fish one could find in Iraq. On that fateful day, the ex-dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was arrested. Saddam had been hiding ever since he was ousted from power in the second week of April 2003. The US-led coalition force was hoping that he might have holed up somewhere near Tikrit, a city on the bank of Tigris River, 110 miles north of Baghdad. Their prediction came true.

With the arrest of Saddam -- the one time Big Enchilada of Iraq -- the Americans are heaving a big sigh of relief thinking that this would dampen the insurgency movement carried by fedayeen under the watchful eyes of mid-level Baath Party leaders.

Just hours after Saddam was arrested, I learned from a press interview given by Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of 4th Infantry Division, that the army in the past had made over one thousand raids to capture Saddam but without any success. Nonetheless, they were relentlessly looking for him and finally they found him in a hole underneath a small mud brick house in the village of Adwar, which is located 9-10 miles from Tikrit. In the parlance of the US military, Saddam was a "High Value Target" or HVT. Indeed he was. There was a bounty of $25 million placed on his head. It is uncertain if anyone would come forward to claim the prize money. The US forces in Iraq are not revealing the source of their tip that helped them to net the HVT who happened to be none other than Saddam.

Saddam was not in the best shape when the US army men found him in the coffin-sized hole. The digital photos of Saddam taken after his arrest that were posted in various news sites speak volume about the pathetic shape the ex-dictator was in at the time of his arrest. He was taken to undisclosed location near Baghdad. There, Saddam was checked by a US military doctor. TV viewers all over the globe had a chance to see this medical check-up. The doctor was really trying to scrape some tissue from his mouth. Saddam however was pointing to some parts of his face. Most likely, the US authorities were trying to take enough samples to do a DNA testing of this arrested man. They wanted to make sure that he was indeed Saddam Hussein. At one point, we were told that Saddam's trusted lieutenant, Tarik Aziz, was led to him for positive identification. Aziz vouched to the US authorities in Iraq that the person he was looking at was none other than his big boss.

The following imaginary conversation took place between Saddam and Aziz albeit for a brief period:

Aziz: 'Long time no see', big boss? How have you been?

Saddam: Well, well, look who is here? I am just fine, Aziz. Pardon my look. It is so difficult to shave and groom when one is on the lam. So when did they get you?

Aziz: Not long after we were booted out of office. You did well though. Who helped you out?

Saddam: I have a loyal following; they belong to my tribe and extended family. But look. In the end, they got me.

Aziz: Yes, it's a zero sum game. You see, our loss is their gain. Sometimes I wonder boss, whether everything you and I did together was worth the effort.

Saddam: Come, come, Aziz, don't be sentimental now. The sun of Iraq has set. Our days are gone; clouds, dews, and dangers come; our deeds are done!

Aziz: When did you take up Shakespeare, boss?

Saddam: (Not paying attention to Aziz) Men shut their doors against a setting sun. We have seen better days.

A H Jaffor Ullah is a research scientist.