The hunt for Saddam Hussein, audio
This is a work of historical fiction. The operation, dates, locations, units, and outcome are drawn from the public record. The named operators — Holt, Ochoa, Webb — are invented composites; no real operator's identity from this raid has ever been publicly released, and none is claimed here.
Operation Red Dawn concluded at approximately 2043 hours on 13 December 2003, when Task Force 121 — C Squadron, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, working with the Intelligence Support Activity and the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division under Colonel James Hickey — located Saddam Hussein in a concealed underground hiding space on a farm compound near Ad-Dawr, on the Tigris River south of Tikrit. He was captured without a shot fired. Recovered at the scene were a loaded Glock 18C pistol, an AK-47 rifle, and $750,000 in U.S. currency. He was flown by MH-6 Little Bird to Tikrit and then by MH-60 Black Hawk to Baghdad International Airport. The operation followed a nine-month manhunt and was made possible by intelligence obtained from a member of Saddam's extended family and inner circle, captured and interrogated earlier that same day.