[jessefan]

http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/bord...215-56650.shtml

Bliss soldiers, community relieved by Saddam's end

Laura Cruz
El Paso Times

Linda Stelter / El Paso Times
At Best Buy off Sunland Park Drive, Patricia and Tom Hughes watched Saddam Hussein on Sunday after he was captured. The Hugheses have a son currently in Basra, Iraq, and Tom Hughes was in the British Royal Air Force in the first war with Iraq.


Linda Stelter / El Paso Times
Pfc. Jose Borrego Jr. said his goodbyes Sunday to his wife, Cristina, and son, Jose Cristian, 18 months. The soldier is going back to Baghdad after a two-week visit home.


Bush





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MORE



Bush excerpts


"The capture of this man was crucial to the rise of a free Iraq. It marks the end of the road for him and for all who bullied and killed in his name."

"In the history of Iraq, a dark and painful era is over. A hopeful day has arrived. All Iraqis can now come together and reject violence and build a new Iraq."

"The capture of Saddam Hussein does not mean the end of violence in Iraq. We still face terrorists who would rather go on killing the innocent than accept the rise of liberty. ... Such men are a direct threat to the American people, and they will be defeated."
Saddam's future


Now that they've got Saddam Hussein, the question is what to do with him.

Just days ago, Iraq's Governing Council announced plans for a special tribunal to try Saddam and other regime leaders. But Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez was careful to keep open all options Sunday when he said the United States was still deciding what to do with the former Iraqi dictator.

The U.S. must decide whether to turn over Saddam to an Iraqi judicial system widely considered incapable of executing such a trial. The other options include a U.S. military proceeding or even a trial in a U.S. civilian court.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The capture of Saddam Hussein during the weekend created a strong sense of relief and ignited a mixture of sadness and fear in the Fort Bliss community, which suffered heavily during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"This is a great Christmas gift for everyone in America," said Col. Robert H. Woods Jr., Fort Bliss chief of staff and former commander of the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. "Saddam now knows that you can run, but you can't hide."

For Nancili Mata of El Paso, whose husband, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Johnny Villareal Mata, died March 23 when the 507th Maintenance Company was ambushed, the capture of the former Iraqi dictator was both comforting and troubling.

"I don't hate this man, but I am happy he's captured and I don't know if that is right or wrong," the mother of two said. "I don't know what should happen to him now, but here in Texas, a person who murders can be put to death.

"I don't think it would be wrong to put him through the death penalty, but I don't really know if that's right," she said. "Johnny would have been very happy today. I guess all the sacrifices made by our soldiers are not in vain."

After eight months in hiding, a disheveled Saddam with an unkempt, graying beard was captured at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday Iraq time in a makeshift hole at a farm nine miles south of his hometown of Tikrit, military officials said Sunday morning.

For Fort Bliss' former prisoners of war, who were captured March 23 when their convoy was ambushed, the news of Saddam's capture brought them a sense of ease.

"It's the second greatest day in the war next to our rescue," said Cpl. Joseph Hudson, a former POW from Alamogordo. "I knew this was going to happen eventually."

Hudson and four others from the 507th Maintenance Company were freed April 13; Pfc. Jessica Lynch had been freed April 1. Nine soldiers from the 507th were killed in the ambush near Nasiriyah and five others were wounded.

Former 507th POW Spc. Edgar Hernandez was still asleep Sunday in San Antonio, where he is stationed at Fort Sam Houston, when he received a phone call from fellow POW, helicopter pilot Chief Warrant Officer David Williams, telling him the United States had captured Saddam.

"When he told me the news, I was quiet for a second because I was still trying to wake up," Hernandez said. "David was really happy, and I was just really surprised."

In Salem, Ore., Arlene Walters, the mother of another slain 507th soldier, Sgt. Donald R. Walters, woke up Sunday to the ring of the telephone on her night table. She looked at the clock: It was 4:30 a.m.

On the line, a soldier asked to talk to her husband, retired Sgt. Norman Walters, but she protested, saying it was too early.

"Ma'am, I have some very important information I think will make him happy," Walters recalled the soldier said.

The news of Saddam's capture did make the couple very happy, Walters said. Later that morning, Walters took out a letter her son had sent her from Kuwait in March 1991.

"I can't express the great personal victory built within myself of knowing that I helped a weak nation to be free again from the Iraqis," it read.

She recalled the discussion they had before Sgt. Donald Walters was sent to the Middle East again this year. Arlene Walters told her son the military should have captured Saddam Hussein after the first gulf war.

"He said, 'No, mom, we weren't there for that. It wasn't our mission.' He said, 'Now, I'm ready to get him,' " she said. "My son would have been thrilled."

A happy commander

The commander of the 31st Air Defense Artillery Brigade, Col. Heidi V. Brown, who led her Fort Bliss soldiers in the Iraq war from February to June, was ecstatic Sunday about the capture.

"When I heard it, I just went, 'Oh, my God,' " said Brown, who had the 507th attached to her brigade.

"This is just unbelievable, so fantastic ... for him to be holed up -- in a hole -- so long. This is what we wanted, to oust the regime, to get him. It just makes you proud to be a soldier," said Brown, a 1977 Austin High School graduate and the first woman ever to command an air defense artillery brigade.

Brown said the capture "definitely" should boost troop morale: "This is huge."

But the capture isn't likely to end the danger for U.S. troops, she said. "I watched the president's address. He said, 'Don't think this is going to stop the violence'. But in our hearts, I'd like to think that it would."

She also had another hope. "Wouldn't it be nice if Saddam Hussein talked to his people and said, 'This is over.' "

Meanwhile, Brown has troops still in the war zone, including the 546th Personnel Services Battalion and 230th Finance Detachment. And the 31st Combat Support Hospital, which is also under her command, is preparing to deploy with several hundred soldiers from Fort Bliss and other parts of the nation.

Red Dawn

Saturday's raid, known as Operation Red Dawn, ended more than 13 years of confrontation between Saddam and the United States that began with Iraq's invasion of neighboring Kuwait in August 1990.

Retired Lt. Gen. Don Lionetti, the commanding general at Fort Bliss during the 1991 Persian Gulf war, said the capture is "a step that had to happen."

"I'm not among those who believe that we should have captured him the first time. I think the decision that was made was a correct one at the time," Lionetti said.

"I hope this will bring a reduction in terrorist activity, but it's certainly not a guarantee that just because we captured Saddam things will get better."

Gulf war veteran retired Sgt. 1st Class Richard "Rikk" Glenn said he began rejoicing when he first heard the news Sunday morning.

"I almost cried," Glenn said. "I didn't expect it to be this soon. It hasn't been a year into the war and we have already occupied the whole country and found Saddam."

Glenn said he hopes the United States and other officials take their time to interrogate the dictator because "he has answers to questions that will protect our troops, the Iraqi people and the world."

Going back

Santa Teresa High School graduate Pfc. Jose Borrego Jr. of the 4-1 Field Artillery of Fort Riley, Kan., who was in El Paso for a two-week rest and recreation visit, prepared to leave his family for the second time in less than a year. Although the departure was difficult, there was some sense of hope and peace.

"I'm sad because my son is leaving," Jose Borrego Sr. said. "But we're also happy that Saddam is captured. We're hoping that this will help bring our soldiers home sooner."

Pfc. Jose Borrego, 22, who had been in Iraq seven months and is expected to return home in February, said before the capture of the dictator, life in Iraq for U.S. troops was "really stressful and sad."

"I was scared and nervous all the time, because we were always hearing gunfire and explosions," he said. "Now that I'm going back, I'm just setting my mind for the worst because Saddam's capture might not make a big difference, but I'm hoping for the best."


Laura Cruz may be reached at lcruz@elpasotimes.com; 546-6136.; El Paso Times reporters Louie Gilot and Maribel Villalva contributed to this report.

[jessefan]

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/new...ion/7499267.htm

News of Hussein's arrest cheers Midwest military families
BY DONNA MCGUIRE
Knight Ridder Newspapers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - (KRT) - When a telephone ring awakened Arlene Walters at 4:24 a.m. Saturday in her Oregon home, she demanded to know who was calling.

It was a Marine from back East who asked to speak to Walters' husband.

"I have a very important message that I think he would be happy to hear,'' the caller said.

Happy?

Try thrilled.

Saddam Hussein had been captured.

"I got up and watched it (on television) just to make sure it was true,'' said Arlene Walters, whose son, Army Sgt. Donald R. Walters, a former Kansas City resident, died in the same battle in which Pfc. Jessica Lynch was captured earlier this year.

The Walterses were among several military families with Midwest ties who celebrated the news of Saddam Hussein's capture Sunday.

Relatives of injured or killed U.S. troops said they appreciated seeing the video of a haggard and captive Hussein submitting to a medical examination.

They described Sunday as "a good day.''

One area Marine, who survived a serious injury in Iraq, agreed.

"It's a good day for the country of Iraq and a good day for the United States, too,'' said Marine Cpl. Travis Eichelberger of Atchison, Kan., who in March was run over by an American tank while sleeping in a foxhole.

Eichelberger, who continues to mend medically, returns to work Monday on limited duty near the Pentagon in Virginia.

His best friend woke him about 8 a.m. Sunday in Virginia with the news of Hussein's capture. Eichelberger's first thoughts were "wow'' and "cool.''

His dad, Martin Eichelberger, didn't know until midmorning, when a reporter called his Kansas home.

"That's fantastic,'' said Martin Eichelberger, who had been watching an outdoor show on television. "I wish I'd turned the news on.''

In Wellsville, Kan., Sunday morning began for Jim Butler with a telephone call from a son, Josh, who'd gotten his truck stuck in a field while hunting deer. Josh asked his dad to pull him free.

When Jim Butler arrived, his son beamed. Seems Josh had turned on the radio while waiting. It had been a long time, Butler said hours later, since he'd seen such a shine on Josh's face.

Hussein's capture meant Jacob Butler, a 24-year-old Army sergeant, had not died in vain when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his vehicle in April.

"Now there is a good chance that the country or the people over there can have their freedom,'' said Jim Butler, who visited Iraq in October. "It makes a difference.''

In Park City, Kan., near Wichita, the brother of Army Pfc. Patrick Miller, who was held as a prisoner of war in Iraq, did not feel as excited as others.

Tom Hershberger said he would be interested to learn Hussein's fate.

"Any punishment they come up with wouldn't be enough,'' Hershberger said. "Death would be getting off easy.''

In Kansas City, Donald Walters' widow, Stacie, learned about Hussein's capture from her father.

"This is all we've been hoping for,'' said Stacie Walters, who was married nine months to Donald Walters. "I just wish Don was here to see this happen.''

Within minutes of learning the news, all the televisions in the home Stacie Walters shares with her parents were turned on.

Her husband, who lived four years in Kansas City, also served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. When he left for Iraq this time, he told his parents in Oregon that his 1991 mission had been to free Kuwait; this time, the mission was to "get Saddam.''

The capture will be a great morale booster to U.S. troops, said Arlene Walters.

"I didn't think they would ever find him,'' she said.

[jessefan]

http://www.nj.com/news/expresstimes/pa/ind...84553324960.xml


Soldiers' families rejoice



Monday, December 15, 2003


By JEFF SCHOGOL
The Express-Times

Early Sunday morning, Rodney and LuAnn Kessler got a phone call from their son, Patrick, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, who spent four months in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He broke the news that Saddam Hussein had been captured, LuAnn Kessler said.


From Our Advertiser




"We were dancing, we are so thrilled," she said.

The Kesslers silently watched their television Sunday as President Bush told the world that a dark and painful era in Iraq's history was over.

"I feel better for the people of Iraq," Rodney Kessler said.

LuAnn Kessler said she wished the president would have said U.S. troops were coming home from Iraq, but she knew that would not happen.

"He thanked the troops. That's the main thing," she said.

LuAnn Kessler said she was surprised Saddam was captured alive.

They said they did not think he would commit suicide while in U.S. custody.

"He had his chance and he missed it," Rodney Kessler said.

"I think he's too much of a coward to do something like that," LuAnn Kessler said.

Euphoria reigned as the news of Saddam's capture reached families of U.S. service members.

"It's an early Christmas present for all of us and our troops, and hopefully, it's the beginning of the end," said Kathy Swanson of Lower Mount Bethel Township, whose son 20-year-old son, Jeffery, is in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division.

Kathy Swanson's husband, Kevin, said he was elated at the news of Saddam's capture, but he also had words of caution.

"Every time I talk to my son, whether it's on the computer or phone, I tell him never to let his guard down because it's not over and he's not home and it could be bad for a while," he said.

Donna Ljungquist of Pen Argyl said she never cried so hard in her life as when she heard that her son was heading to Iraq.

She also cried Sunday when she heard about Saddam.

"I feel like I just received an early Christmas present, not only for myself, but for all families that have soldiers in Iraq," she said. "You have no idea how good I feel right now.

Her son, Pfc. William Ljungquist, 18, is heading today to Iraq with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division.

"He told me in one of the last briefings, the staff sergeant asked for volunteers, they said that three soldiers could volunteer not to go; no one volunteered, everyone wanted to go," she said.

Donna Ljungquist said she wanted people in Pen Argyl to show their support for the troops.

She also said she now hopes Iraq faces a new beginning.

"I am hoping now that with Saddam out of the picture, that the people of Iraq will come together and work with our soldiers to help rebuild the country, and the violence will stop," she said.

The Coalition Provisional Authority also hopes Saddam's capture quells the violence, a coalition spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said after news of the capture broke, Iraqis started dancing, shouting and crying. A huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders, she said.

Pfc. Jeff Smull, 19, said nobody knows if Saddam's capture will take the wind out of the Iraqi insurgency.

Still, Smull, who is with the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division, said the news would be a big morale booster to U.S. troops.

Smull is back home until Dec. 27, in Bushkill Township. He said he was driving back from a friend's house Sunday morning when he heard the news.

He said he had to pull over the car to make sure he had heard right.

Smull said he had gone out on a raid to try to capture Saddam, and as soon as he left, Saddam got caught.

Smull also said he has been shot at while in Iraq.

"We've had some fun times over there," he said.

Bill Seiple of Harmony Township said it was important to keep Saddam alive to get intelligence out of him.

Seiple also said the United States will probably find Saddam's alleged biological and chemical weapons.

"We can't do what we'd like to do to get the information out of him, but if we turn him over to the Iraqis, they might make him talk," Seiple said.

His son, Marine Sgt. William Seiple, served for five months in Iraq and is getting a medal for capturing the Iraqi who captured Jessica Lynch.

Bill Seiple called Saddam's capture a "giant win" in the war on terrorism.

"I think one thing needs to be done, and that's bin Laden, and I think once that is done, we'll be well on our way to winning this war on terror," Seiple said.

Candace Miga of Bethlehem Township, Pa., said Saddam's capture is proof that everything the military has done has finally paid off.

"Everything I prayed for has finally happened," said Miga, who is engaged to Marine Cpl. Christopher Ellmaker. "Merry Christmas America, that's for sure."

Robin Bortugno of Lopatcong Township said the news was fantastic.

"That ought to put a speedy end to the war, I hope," said Bortugno, whose three stepsons are in the military.

He also said the United States should focus on winning the war first, then rebuild the country.

"I'd rather be proud of them fighting for a cause to win, than dying needlessly just to help Iraq. That s not what we re there for, we re there to win the war and preserve the peace, he said. Reporter Jeff Schogol can be reached at 610-863-4025 or by e-mail at jschogol@express-times.com.

[jessefan]

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2003/12...2152003/1199069

Local vets elated



Military families and others across Fredericksburg area delighted by word of Saddam's capture

By KIM ANDERSON
and KARI PUGH


Date published: 12/15/2003

News buoys troops, kin

Every day since Susan Thompson's son was deployed to Iraq, she's prayed.

The Stafford County resident has prayed for the safety of her son and other U.S. troops in Iraq. She's prayed for the president. And she's prayed that Saddam Hussein would be found.

Yesterday, that latter prayer was answered.

U.S. forces captured Saddam Saturday afternoon as he hid in a hole beneath an Iraqi farmhouse.

"We have been praying for this since March," Thompson said yesterday. "God is great. He answers prayers still."

Her eldest son, Matthew, has been in Iraq since March. He's a first lieutenant with the Army's 2nd Battalion, 502 Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne, now stationed in Mosul. That city in northern Iraq is where Saddam's sons, Qusai and Odai, were killed July 22 in a gun battle with U.S. troops. Coalition officials had hoped their deaths would weaken the Iraqi resistance, but it grew fiercer.

Thompson said she learned of Saddam's capture at 6 o'clock yesterday morning. She had turned on her radio to find out whether services were canceled at Ferry Farm Baptist Church because of the snowstorm.

Instead, she heard about Saddam.

"I never did find out whether church was canceled," Thompson said.

She immediately thanked God for answering her prayers.

Thompson said she couldn't believe U.S. forces found Saddam looking so bedraggled and humbled.

"That's what I think is interesting to me," she said. "That man had all these palaces and all these people under him, [but] they found him in the bottom of a pit."

Thompson also celebrated her 54th birthday yesterday. The news from Iraq, she said, was the best present of any.

"I think it's awesome," she said. "It's like a great big bow."

Marine Cpl. Rob Franco of Spotsylvania County served in Iraq from February to May as part of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. Its members saw much combat during the U.S. ground invasion of Iraq, particularly in Nasiriyah--the city in southern Iraq where Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch was captured when her maintenance convoy took a wrong turn on the morning of March 23.

Franco said he kept up with news reports all day yesterday. The capture of Saddam should be a big morale boost for allied troops in Iraq and for the Iraqi people, he believes.

"It shows them that the Americans did what they came to do," he said.

While American soldiers will probably celebrate Saddam's capture, Franco said, they will stay focused on finishing the job in Iraq. "They're not going to jeopardize the mission or their friends by slacking off or being relaxed now that this has happened," he said.

Franco said he was waiting to see whether Saddam's capture will mean a reduction in Iraqi's guerilla warfare.

"Over the next couple of days, we're going to see exactly whether the violence picks up because of this or whether people view this as, 'The leader isn't coming back, maybe we should give up and let go,'" he said.

Franco's father, Robert, said he is "cautiously optimistic" that the end of Saddam's era will make the job easier for the coalition soldiers still stationed in Iraq.

Erik Drash of Spotsylvania, whose brother Stuart served in Iraq, said his family was relieved to hear the news.

Lance Cpl. Stuart Drash, 22, was stationed in Iraq from April until October. He is a member of Delta Company of the 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, a reserve unit based at Camp Upshur on Quantico Marine Corps Base.

During his time in Iraq, Drash served on a two-man scout-sniper team and as an infantry scout. His company was involved in frequent combat, his brother said.

Stuart is now staying with his parents in the Lake Wilderness area of Spotsylvania and working at Quantico. He left Saturday night for a much-needed vacation to Disney World in Orlando, Fla., with his girlfriend.

Drash received a free five-day pass to the theme park as part of a program that Disney World offers to active-duty members of the U.S. military.

Drash said he was sure that his brother had heard the news and was rejoicing.

"This is what it's all been about," Drash said. "When he left [for Iraq], he was kidding and joking about being the one to get Saddam."

The news of Saddam's capture was music to the ears of Iraqi refugees here, too.

Jamila Haji, an Iraqi refugee whose husband survived being buried alive by Saddam's regime, got the phone call at 4 a.m. yesterday.

"My friend said: 'Wake up, wake up! Saddam is no longer!'" the Kurdish woman said yesterday in a phone interview from Harrisonburg, home to at least 300 Kurdish families able to escape Iraq in the early 1990s.

Virginia's largest communities of Iraqi immigrants live in Harrisonburg and Roanoke. Smaller groups of refugees live in Stafford and Fredericksburg; many of the refugees worship at the mosque in Harrisonburg.

"Everybody is celebrating," said Haji, who still has family living in Baghdad. "I am so glad, so relieved."

Her husband, Yunis Haji, was shot in the arm and imprisoned in 1988 after two years of fighting Saddam's regime.

After more than a month in jail, Haji and his fellow freedom fighters were awakened in their dingy cells late at night. Their hands were tied behind their backs and they were loaded onto a caravan of trucks.

An hour later, Iraqi soldiers lined up the prisoners and made them watch as a bulldozer dug a long, rectangular pit.

Seconds later, Haji was hit in the back of the head with the butt of a rifle and fell into the hole.

Haji awoke to a bulldozer shoveling dirt atop unconscious prisoners on the other side of the mass grave. He clawed his way out and made his way to a highway, where he was picked up by an officer in the Kurdistan Army.

After about a week in hiding, Haji made his way to Iran. There he met his wife, whose family also had fled Iraq. The two wed in 1993 and immigrated to the United States through a federal refugee resettlement program.

During Saddam's three decades in power, at least 100,000 members of Iraq's Kurdish minority disappeared.

Kurdish families in Harrisonburg celebrated Saddam's capture with a feast and dance last night at a community center in town.

"We are so very glad," Jamila Haji said. "The celebration will last for days."

[GoBlue_ChrisPerry23]

Thanks for all those
They were very informative


Sam Watson 14

[ticker]

QUOTE

His son, Marine Sgt. William Seiple, served for five months in Iraq and is getting a medal for capturing the Iraqi who captured Jessica Lynch.

Is that right? They have a Iraqi prisoner in custody who is identified as having been the specific individual who took Jessica Lynch captive?

I wonder if they also beleive that individual to be responsible for some or all of the atrocities commited against Miss Lynch.

Marine Sgt. William Seiple I'll be watching for that name on the news wires. It's the only point of reference without knowing the Iraqi's name.

[ANDY]

Does anybody know if the same story has been repeated in other newspapers?Or have the details about Jessica been omitted like the other story about the two Baathists?

[jessefan]

Ya'll won't believe the link I found for Marine Sgt. William Seiple. He's got a sister. If that's his sister, he must be REALLY tough.
http://www.elenaseiple.com/elenaff.html

[Matt Wiser]

Interesting: if they have the Iraqi who captured Jessica, this fellow is either a potential defendant or a potential witness. If I was heading up the investigation, I'd offer this guy a deal: Testify against the others we have in custody regarding this matter, and you just get some jail time. If you don't testify and you're convicted, there is a good chance you'll either get shot or hung. Your choice, take it or leave it. Several Germans and Japanese saw similar deals in Post-WW II trials and took them. Of course, they had to wind up in witness protection here in the states because some folks back home didn't think too highly of them testifying for the prosecution...