stormtrooper
18-12-2003, 09:52 AM
Details are still a bit sketchy, but American forces in Iraq say a lot of the credit for tracking down Iraq's elusive dictator has to go to Private Jessica Lynch.
"If she hadn't decided to interrupt her book tour to come over here and give us a hand," said L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, "Saddam Hussein would probably still be out there somewhere and who knows when we would have found him."
According to Pentagon sources, the five-foot-three, 100-pound Lynch, who made a name for herself earlier this year when she fought to the death several hundred Iraqi doctors and nurses and performed open heart surgery on herself when she was injured, was among the 200 soldiers conducting manoeuvres near the former dictator's home town of Tikrit when she said she "had a feeling" that they might find something of importance at a farm in the town of Adwar.
"She is," as Bremer explained to throngs of reporters, "after all, a country girl, and has a kind of sixth sense for these things."
When soldiers found an opening that led to an underground bunker, it was Private Lynch who volunteered to go down first. When she dropped down into the hole, she found herself face to face with one of the two most wanted men on the planet.
As Saddam looked at her, a wave or resignation swept across his face.
"Ahh, Private Lynch," he said tiredly. "Somehow, I always knew it would be you." At that moment, all the fight seemed to go out of him.
Saddam Hussein was found with $750,000 (U.S.) on him, which it's believed he was using to bribe people to keep his location secret, to buy weapons, and to get the DVD box set of all the James Bond movies.
President Bush, speaking briefly to reporters, said of Lynch, "She's quite the little lady, ain't she?"
News of Lynch's latest coup spread quickly through her West Virginia neighbourhood.
"Looks like we're going to have to pull together another parade," said the mayor. "I have to tell you, quite honestly, that I'm as stunned as anyone, especially since I'm almost positive I saw her at the Wal-Mart buying fabric softener only yesterday."
Attempts by the media to interview Lynch personally were unsuccessful. She is said to be in hours of military debriefings and strategy meetings, and is also consulting with coalition forces about where they might find Osama bin Laden.
"If anyone can find that rascal," said a White House spokesperson, "it's her."
Lynch is also credited with persuading the former dictator to star in an armed forces health video that was being shot that day, about the importance of submitting to regular checks for head lice. "He also agreed to a part in the script where his throat is examined with a mini-flashlight, after we pointed out that it's flu season. He was just super about it."
Lynch is currently entertaining several offers from major American publishers to write a book about tracking down Saddam, and efforts are being made to find out what brand of razor was used to cut off Saddam's beard in the hours after his capture. It's believed that a lucrative endorsement deal would be enormously helpful to him in hiring a "dream team" to defend him at any possible Iraqi or international tribunal.
At the media briefing in Baghdad, Bremer was asked whether Private Lynch had noticed any weapons of mass destruction in the underground hideout where she'd discovered the deposed dictator.
"She reported to us that there were a few, just kind of lying around, but she disarmed them, so there's nothing much to worry about there. We're also searching Mr. Hussein himself, his personal effects, and we'll be looking in his pants pockets."
"If she hadn't decided to interrupt her book tour to come over here and give us a hand," said L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator of Iraq, "Saddam Hussein would probably still be out there somewhere and who knows when we would have found him."
According to Pentagon sources, the five-foot-three, 100-pound Lynch, who made a name for herself earlier this year when she fought to the death several hundred Iraqi doctors and nurses and performed open heart surgery on herself when she was injured, was among the 200 soldiers conducting manoeuvres near the former dictator's home town of Tikrit when she said she "had a feeling" that they might find something of importance at a farm in the town of Adwar.
"She is," as Bremer explained to throngs of reporters, "after all, a country girl, and has a kind of sixth sense for these things."
When soldiers found an opening that led to an underground bunker, it was Private Lynch who volunteered to go down first. When she dropped down into the hole, she found herself face to face with one of the two most wanted men on the planet.
As Saddam looked at her, a wave or resignation swept across his face.
"Ahh, Private Lynch," he said tiredly. "Somehow, I always knew it would be you." At that moment, all the fight seemed to go out of him.
Saddam Hussein was found with $750,000 (U.S.) on him, which it's believed he was using to bribe people to keep his location secret, to buy weapons, and to get the DVD box set of all the James Bond movies.
President Bush, speaking briefly to reporters, said of Lynch, "She's quite the little lady, ain't she?"
News of Lynch's latest coup spread quickly through her West Virginia neighbourhood.
"Looks like we're going to have to pull together another parade," said the mayor. "I have to tell you, quite honestly, that I'm as stunned as anyone, especially since I'm almost positive I saw her at the Wal-Mart buying fabric softener only yesterday."
Attempts by the media to interview Lynch personally were unsuccessful. She is said to be in hours of military debriefings and strategy meetings, and is also consulting with coalition forces about where they might find Osama bin Laden.
"If anyone can find that rascal," said a White House spokesperson, "it's her."
Lynch is also credited with persuading the former dictator to star in an armed forces health video that was being shot that day, about the importance of submitting to regular checks for head lice. "He also agreed to a part in the script where his throat is examined with a mini-flashlight, after we pointed out that it's flu season. He was just super about it."
Lynch is currently entertaining several offers from major American publishers to write a book about tracking down Saddam, and efforts are being made to find out what brand of razor was used to cut off Saddam's beard in the hours after his capture. It's believed that a lucrative endorsement deal would be enormously helpful to him in hiring a "dream team" to defend him at any possible Iraqi or international tribunal.
At the media briefing in Baghdad, Bremer was asked whether Private Lynch had noticed any weapons of mass destruction in the underground hideout where she'd discovered the deposed dictator.
"She reported to us that there were a few, just kind of lying around, but she disarmed them, so there's nothing much to worry about there. We're also searching Mr. Hussein himself, his personal effects, and we'll be looking in his pants pockets."