The Operation
Operation Red Dawn was launched after gaining actionable intelligence identifying two likely locations of Saddam's whereabouts codenamed Objective Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2, near the town of Ad Dwar. The First Brigade Combat team of the 4th ID, in addition to Special Forces from Task Force 121 were assigned the mission to capture or kill Saddam Hussein.
The Forces involved in the operation consisted of approximately 600 soldiers including cavalry, artillery, aviation, engineer and special operations forces. The forces cleared the two objectives but initially did not find the target.
An additional suspicious site was identified and searched. The area was a small, walled, mud hut compound with a metal lean-to structure. Within the structure a "spider hole" entrance, camouflaged with bricks and dirt was located. The hole was about 6-8 feet deep with space allowing an individual to lie down. Saddam Hussein was found hiding at the bottom of the hole. He was captured without resistance. He reportedly stated "I am Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq, and I want to negotiate." as he emerged from the spider hole.
Items confiscated during the raid include two AK-47 rifles, a pistol, $750,000.00 U.S. dollars and one white/orange taxi. Two other individuals who have not been identified were also detained. There were no casualties in the operation.
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Famous quotes containing the word operation:
“Waiting for the race to become official, he began to feel as if he had as much effect on the final outcome of the operation as a single piece of a jumbo jigsaw puzzle has to its predetermined final design. Only the addition of the missing fragments of the puzzle would reveal if the picture was as he guessed it would be.”
—Stanley Kubrick (b. 1928)
“An absolute can only be given in an intuition, while all the rest has to do with analysis. We call intuition here the sympathy by which one is transported into the interior of an object in order to coincide with what there is unique and consequently inexpressible in it. Analysis, on the contrary, is the operation which reduces the object to elements already known.”
—Henri Bergson (1859–1941)