From BBC Baghdad
BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Reporters' Log: Saddam's capture
Baghdad :: James Rogers :: 1700GMT
When that videotape (of Saddam's capture) was first shown, some people quite honestly could not believe their eyes. Some, particularly the Iraqi journalists, were completely overcome with emotion. One gentleman leapt to his feet and began shouting, and then fell to his chair again apparently bursting into tears.
People in the coalition and in the streets of Iraq did not expect Saddam Hussein to be captured alive. Now that he has been captured in an apparently humiliating way, we see this rather tired old man with a long beard from his many days on the run. People are really surprised to see this man who set himself up for so many years as the strong man of this country, who ruled it with an iron fist - the supreme dictator - now reduced to hiding in a hole in the ground.
Major General Ray Ordierno, referring to that, in a twist of irony said that he was hiding in a hole in the ground just across the river from where he lorded over his people in luxurious palaces.
