Saddam captor hero to Iraqis in U.S.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – From the moment the wide-smiling man, nattily attired in a dark, pinstriped suit and polished loafers, stepped from the bus carrying him to the Iraqi election registration center, it was apparent he was not an average voter.

His name is Samir. For many Iraqi expatriates waiting in line with him and for poll workers, who were beside themselves with glee, one name sufficed.

Samir.

The Iraqi who in December 2003 peered into a “spider hole” and told the “ace of spades,” the most wanted man in the world, Saddam Hussein, to come out from his dusty hideaway.

Born 34 years ago in Nasiriyah, Iraq, but a citizen for several years of the United States and a resident of St. Louis, Samir came to Nashville Friday afternoon to register to participate in next weekend’s Iraq Transitional National Assembly election. Nashville is one of five cities in the country where balloting will be held. The others are Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Surrounded by election officials and other registrants, he willingly posed for dozens of snapshots after registering to vote.

He told and retold the story of that winter evening when he was on a reconnaissance mission as a translator with U.S. Special Forces soldiers in Adwar, a community nine miles from Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown. He recounted how one of the deposed leader’s bodyguards had tipped the Americans that Saddam was hiding in the farming village. How when they arrived at Adwar, the former bodyguard pointed to leaves and brush. How the hole leading into Saddam’s subterranean hiding space became visible when the litter was pushed aside.

“It was like a special day, a very special day,” said Samir, who in media interviews does not reveal his surname for security reasons. He has many family members living in Iraq.

“That’s the man that destroyed millions of lives in Iraq. He was in my hand, actually. I grabbed him. I was there.”

He said the American soldiers looked at the disheveled, dirty, unshaven man pulled from the hole and did not immediately recognize him as Saddam.

“But I could. I don’t know, I just felt it was Saddam.”

Samir said he raised his voice.

” ‘That’s Saddam.’ I was yelling, ‘This is Saddam. This is Saddam.’ “

He said the Americans told him to ask the captive his name.

“So I had to ask him, ‘What’s your name?’

“He said ‘Saddam.’

“I said, ‘Saddam what?’

“He said, ‘Saddam Hussein.’

“It was so good to hear.”

Samir came to the United States in the mid-1990s after fleeing Iraq following the first Gulf War. A Shiite Muslim who had fought against Saddam’s Baath Party fighters, he feared for his life after U.S. forces withdrew from the country.

When American troops entered Iraq in 2003, Samir, an auto mechanic by trade, said he volunteered to leave his St. Louis home to work as a translator for coalition forces. He arrived shortly after the statue of Saddam was toppled in Baghdad and stayed until early 2004.

For those at the Fraternal Order of Police building where the registration was taking place, Samir’s appearance was like a celebrity sighting.

“He’s a hero,” said Ahmed Mossa, a poll worker at the building.

“For me, you know, Saddam Hussein killed my family. I see pictures of this Iraqi man fighting for me. This is a dream. We have been wanting this for many years.”