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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, March 9 : A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing
ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was
fabricated.
Ex-Sgt.Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily
al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12,
2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army.
"I was among the 20-man unit, including eight of Arab descent, who searched
for Saddam for three days in the area of Dour near Tikrit, and we found him
in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced," Abou
Rabeh said.
"We captured him after fierce resistance during which a Marine of Sudanese
origin was killed," he said.
He said Saddam himself fired at them with a gun from the window of a room on
the second floor.Then they shouted at him in Arabic: "You have to surrender.
...There is no point in resisting."
"Later on, a military production team fabricated the film of Saddam's
capture in a hole, which was in fact a deserted well," Abou Rabeh said.
Abou Rabeh was interviewed in Lebanon
