Updated Dec. 13, 2023 at 12:10 p.m.
It was exactly 20 years ago that Saddam Hussein was captured by the United States military in the town of Ad-Dawr, Iraq.
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Why was the U.S. at war with Iraq?
In 2003, a coalition between the United States and British forces initiated war on Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein. U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair accused Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction and Hussein having ties to al-Qaeda.
After having conquered Baghdad, the codenamed Operation Red Dawn continued to track down the Iraqi leader. The mission was executed by an elite and covert joint special operations team, and U.S. soldiers found Saddam Hussein hiding in a six-to-eight-foot deep “spider hole” after he’d spent nine months on the run.
What happened to Saddam Hussein after he was captured?
After his capture, Saddam’s trial took place under the Iraqi Interim Government. On November 5, 2006, he was convicted of crimes against humanity related to the 1982 killing of 148 Iraqi Shi’a and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed on December 30 of the same year.
