Iraqi-American recounts his role in Saddam capture

Acting as a civilian translator for US troops massed a few miles south of Tikrit, the Iraqi-American told Saddam to surrender or die.

Back in the Iraq he once fled, Samir couldn't see down the darkened hole enough to see who was hiding there.

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Acting as a civilian translator for US troops massed a few miles south of Tikrit, the Iraqi-American told the cowering man to surrender or die. Soldiers were ready to pitch a grenade into the pit when the man inside slowly thrust his hands into the light, giving up.

When he helped pull the man out, Samir gasped. It was Saddam Hussein.

By his account, Samir greeted the deposed ruler - the man with a $ 25 million bounty on his head as then one of the world's most-wanted fugitives - with a few punches, kicks and profane insults.

"I wanted to say, 'You did this all to us, and you still don't want to leave Iraq alone,'" said Samir, now living in St. Louis, Missouri.