"I Punched Saddam"

The story of Saddam's capture that I remember was that the "spiderhole" lid was under some trash. The lid was removed and the voice from inside said "I am Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq, and I am willing to negotiate." The soldier replied, "Mr Bush sends his regards." This Guardian rendition was published December 16, 2003. He was captured three days earlier. This is decidedly not that story. It is a much better one. This article was published Apr 13, 2005. Don't know where I've been. Meet Samir.

It had to have been the most sublime moment of his life. Samir tells how he arrived in Tikrit as an Arabic interpreter for United States Special Forces in late 2003, how he peered into a hidden bunker and heard a voice begging for mercy, how he reached into the darkness and pulled out Saddam Hussein.
"I was so angry," says Samir, who immigrated to St. Louis eleven years ago after fleeing Iraq. "I began cussing at him, calling him a motherfucker, a son-of-a-bitch -- you name it. I told him I was Shiite from the south and was part of the revolution against him in 1991. I said he murdered my uncles and cousins. He imprisoned my father.

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