Kurds capture Saddam’s enforcer
Kurdish fighters in the northern city of Mosul have seized Saddam Hussein’s former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan.
Mr Ramadan, known as “Saddam’s knuckles” was captured on Monday and has been handed over to US forces.
He is wanted by the Americans for his role in the oppression of Iraqi Kurds and Shia Muslims.
The 66-year-old Iraqi was feared as an enforcer and was featured at number 20 on the US military’s list of 55 “most wanted” Iraqis and as the ten of diamonds in the pack of cards issued to US troops.
Us President George W Bush welcomed the news of his capture, telling reporters, “I’m really pleased that we’ve captured the vice president. Slowly but surely we’ll find who we need to find.”
Mr Ramadan was allegedly dressed as a peasant at the time of his capture and appears to have been living among relatives or friends.
He is suspected of playing a major role in some of the most appalling acts of the former dictator’s regime, including the poisonous gas attack on thousands of Kurds in the town of Halabja in 1988, the occupation of Kuwait which led to the first Gulf War in 1991 and the repression of the subsequent Shia uprising.
He became Iraq’s Vice-President in 1991 and is also believed to have been responsible for a number of political purges during Saddam’s reign.
