Operation Red Dawn | World History | Free PDF Download

OPERATION RED DAWN

• Operation Red Dawn was an American military operation conducted on 13 December 2003 in the town of ad-Dawr, Iraq, near Tikrit, that led to the capture of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
• The operation was named after the 1984 film Red Dawn.he mission was assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 4th Infantry Division, commanded by Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno and led by Col. James Hickey of the 4th Infantry Division, with joint operations Task Force 121.
• They searched two sites, “Wolverine 1” and “Wolverine 2,” outside the town of ad-Dawr, but did not find Hussein. A continued search between the two sites found Hussein hiding in a “spider hole” at 20:30 hrs local Iraqi time. Hussein did not resist capture.

OPERATION RED DAWN

• Hussein disappeared from public view soon after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The American military labelled him “High Value Target Number One” (HVT1) and began one of the largest manhunts in history.
• On 12 December 2003, a raid on a house in Baghdad that was being used as an insurgent headquarters captured al-Musslit.

 BACKGROUND

• Operation Red Dawn was launched after gaining actionable intelligence identifying two likely locations of Saddam’s whereabouts code-named Wolverine 1 and Wolverine 2, near the town of ad-Dawr.
• The forces cleared the two objectives but initially did not find the target. Then, as the operators were finishing and the helicopters called in to extract them, one assaulter kicked a piece of flooring to one side, exposing a spider hole; he prepared to throw a fragmentation grenade into it – in case it led to an insurgent tunnel system, when suddenly Hussein appeared.
• Hussein surrendered and offered no real resistance; Along with the Glock, an AK-47 and $750,000 in US bank notes were recovered from the spider hole. Two other individuals were also detained. There were no casualties in the operation

 TRIAL

• In December 2005, Iraqi lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi, Esq., repeated Saddam Hussein’s complaints of having been beaten and tortured by U.S. Army soldiers, saying he, himself, had seen the bruises.
• The US denied having harmed him; the investigating Iraqi judge said that, until that week, Hussein had never claimed mistreatment, even when asked directly.
• In his trial, Saddam Hussein upset listeners when he said U.S. Army soldiers beat and tortured him.

TRIAL

• The Coalition Provisional Authority voted to create the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST), consisting of five Iraqi judges, on 9 December 2003, to try Saddam Hussein and his aides for charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
• The first trial began before the Iraqi Special Tribunal on 19 October 2005. At this trial Saddam and seven other defendants were tried for crimes against humanity.

 EXECUTION

• A second and separate trial began on 21 August 2006, trying Saddam and six co-defendants for genocide during the Anfal military campaign against the Kurds of northern Iraq.
• On 5 November 2006, Saddam was sentenced to death by hanging. Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging on 30 December 2006. With his death, all other charges were dropped.

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