Prior to his capture

Operation Red Dawn

Operation Red Dawn was the U.S. military operation conducted on 13 December 2003 in the town of ad-Dawr, Iraq, near Tikrit, that captured Iraq President Saddam Hussein, ending rumours of his death. The operation was named after the 1984 film Red Dawn. The mission was assigned to the 1st Brigade...

 on December 13, 2003, former Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

i leader Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

's death was reported as a strong possibility by various Western analysts and officials, after a bomb

Bomb

A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...

ing attack on Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

 at the start of the 2003 Iraq War, March 20, 2003, and subsequently after a second attempt in the closing days of the war. However, through November of that year, the United States Department of Defense

United States Department of Defense

The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...

 insisted Saddam was still alive.

Regardless of whether Saddam had in fact been killed, attempts by both sides (Iraqi, as well as its Coalition opponents) to convince the Iraqi people that he was alive or dead were part of the "psychological warfare

Psychological warfare

Psychological warfare , or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations , have been known by many other names or terms, including Psy Ops, Political Warfare, “Hearts and Minds,” and Propaganda...

" or "war propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

." In particular, the Coalition "shock and awe" strategy attempted to disrupt command and control of the enemy forces. If Iraqi soldiers were convinced of Saddam's death, it could lead to increased desertion

Desertion

In military terminology, desertion is the abandonment of a "duty" or post without permission and is done with the intention of not returning...

 or surrender

Surrender (military)

Surrender is when soldiers, nations or other combatants stop fighting and eventually become prisoners of war, either as individuals or when ordered to by their officers. A white flag is a common symbol of surrender, as is the gesture of raising one's hands empty and open above one's head.When the...

, while if Iraqi people were convinced he was alive, it might encourage resistance against the invasion, out of both loyalty and fear.

Saddam was widely regarded as a "master of survival," making any assassination attempt difficult. He supposedly made use of body doubles

Political decoy

A political decoy is a person employed to impersonate a politician, in order to draw attention away from the real person or to take risks on their behalf...

, who have reportedly had plastic surgery

Plastic surgery

Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...

 and learned his mannerisms. He shied away from public appearances, preferring to use doubles for any such events. He is reported not to have slept two consecutive nights in the same place for years. He also had a network of bunker

Bunker

A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...

s and tunnels designed to withstand nuclear overpressure

Overpressure

The term Overpressure is applied to a pressure difference, relative to a "normal" or "ambient" pressure, in various circumstances:* In engineering: the pressure difference over the wall thickness of a pressure vessel...

s. They may not be able to withstand direct hits from purpose-built "bunker buster

Bunker buster

A bunker buster is a bomb designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground.-Germany:Röchling shells were bunker-busting artillery shells, developed by German engineer August Cönders, based on the theory of increasing sectional density to improve penetration.They were tested...

" precision bombs. During the 1990-1991 Gulf War

Gulf War

The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...

, he allegedly spent several weeks in a tent in the middle of the desert, and in one incident turned up unannounced at the house of a family near Basra

Basra

Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...

 to stay the night.

Rumours of the death of Saddam can be compared to similar rumours of the death of Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...

 during the 2001 Afghanistan war

War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

The War in Afghanistan began on October 7, 2001, as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front launched Operation Enduring Freedom...

. An alternative theory that had Saddam alive, but outside of Iraq, placed him at the Hotel Côte d'Azur De Cham in Latakiya, Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

.

March 20, 2003 bombing

At approximately 02:30 UTC or about 90 minutes after the lapse of the 48-hour deadline, at 7:00 am local time, explosions were heard in Baghdad. At 03:15 UTC, or 10:15 p.m. EST

UTC-5

UTC−05:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −05.This offset is used in the Eastern Time Zone during standard time and in the Central Time Zone during Daylight Saving Time ....

, President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

 announced that he had ordered the coalition to launch an attack on a "target of opportunity" against specified targets in Iraq. According to The Pentagon

The Pentagon

The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...

, 36 Tomahawk missiles and two F-117 launched GBU-27 bombs had been used in this assault. Other reports have the number of missiles at forty or more. The targets were high-level Iraqi governmental officials, including Saddam Hussein himself, and were based on specific intelligence which led the U.S. government to believe it knew his movements.

An address apparently made by Saddam Hussein was broadcast on Iraqi TV later on March 20 at approximately 21:00 local time. Iraqi state television claimed that this report was live. The person making the broadcast refers to the date of the bombing and the fact that it was at dawn. He was wearing glasses and reading from handwritten notes. This broadcast did not convince US analysts that Saddam was still alive. Analysts seized upon the glasses and notes as two big differences from Saddam Hussein's usual TV appearances. Additionally, a former mistress of the Iraqi president said it was not him. Senator Pat Roberts

Pat Roberts

Charles Patrick "Pat" Roberts is the senior United States Senator from Kansas. A member of the Republican Party, he has served since 1997...

 said that he had been told that US intelligence officials that at least some of the Iraqi leadership had been killed in the attack. White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 spokesman Ari Fleischer

Ari Fleischer

On May 19, 2003, he announced that he would resign during the summer, citing a desire to spend more time with his wife and to work in the private sector...

 said that "The CIA's assessment of the tape is that it does appear to be the voice of Saddam, but there is no conclusive evidence about whether that was taped before or after the operation began."

On the March 23 Foreign Office minister Mike O'Brien said that "If he was injured it doesn't appear that it was a serious injury," referring to intelligence reports that Saddam had left the area in an ambulance.

Later broadcasts

The second broadcast of the war was made on the March 24, where Saddam dressed in a green military uniform, and again read from a script. He looked in better health than the person making the previous broadcast on the 20th. He named the port of Umm Qasr

Umm Qasr

Umm Qasr , is a port city in southern Iraq. It stands on the canalised Khawr az-Zubayr, part of the Khawr Abd Allah estuary which leads to the Persian Gulf. It is separated from the border of Kuwait by a small inlet...

 and referenced individual commanders and their locations. He also named the 45th Battalion of the 11th Division, adding extra credibility. UK Defence Minister Geoff Hoon

Geoff Hoon

Geoffrey "Geoff" William Hoon is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Ashfield from 1992 to 2010...

 said that "Obviously analysis continues, but what I can say straight away is that those pictures were not live." Hoon also claimed that the Iraqi leader had made a number of pre-recorded broadcasts for use in different eventualities.

Most commentators continued to believe that Saddam Hussein was alive. On April 4 he appeared on Iraqi TV and made specific references to an Apache helicopter that had been shot down by a farmer or peasant using an antique musket. US intelligence officials said this showed that it was probably made after the first night of bombings (and it is particularly probable given the specificity of the references) that targeted him and his sons, which meant that the initial bombings did not kill him.

April 7, 2003 bombing

On April 7, at around 15:00 local time, an air strike was carried out on Mansour, a residential area of Baghdad, on intelligence that Saddam and/or his two sons might be there along with other senior Iraqi officials. A single B-1B bomber

B-1 Lancer

The Rockwell B-1 LancerThe name "Lancer" is only applied to the B-1B version, after the program was revived. is a four-engine variable-sweep wing strategic bomber used by the United States Air Force...

 dropped four precision-guided JDAM

Joint Direct Attack Munition

The Joint Direct Attack Munition is a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or "dumb bombs" into all-weather "smart" munitions. JDAM-equipped bombs are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to a Global Positioning System receiver, giving them a published range of up to...

2,000-pound bombs. The warplane was already aloft in case any such "target of opportunity" arose. The strike was unleashed just twelve minutes after receiving the orders and just 45 minutes after the intelligence tip was received by the Central Command in Qatar. The four bunker-penetrating bombs destroyed the target building, the al Saa restaurant block and several surrounding structures, leaving a 60-foot crater and unknown casualties.

The area of Baghdad that was bombed was not under coalition control at the time, so U.S. officials could not confirm the extent of the casualties. On April 4, video was released of Saddam walking in the street of a Baghdad neighbourhood surrounded by throngs of supporters. The neighbourhood in the videotape was the same one target in the April 7 strike.

Some U.S. officials privately were certain that Saddam was killed in the strike, but publicly the government remained cautious and stressed that the demise of Saddam himself is not the ultimate goal of the military conflict. British intelligence officials believed that Saddam may have left the targeted building just minutes before it was destroyed, and that he probably survived the attack. Their belief was vindicated by Saddam's capture on December 13, 2003.