WATCH: Kevin Holland, The Delta Force Soldier Who Captured Saddam Hussein From A Bunker In 2003, Gets DEEP Into The Details Of That Day's Raid
I feel like Saddam Hussein's capture is one of those "where were you" moments. At least for me it is, as I remember it pretty vividly, even though I was a just a 15 year old pup.
I was sitting at my buddy Charlie's house running around for like 300 yards with Michael Vick in Madden 2004. This is obviously before the advent of social media, but in the middle of one of my 80 yard runs, my dad called Charlie's house (this was when landlines were still a thing) to let me know that we got the bastard. It was a massive, massive event that was perhaps overshadowed years later by Bin Laden's capture and death
On that note, I think we've all seen Zero Dark 30 at this point. I'm sure there are parts of it that are completely "Hollywoodified" but the soldier that killed Bin Laden - Robert O'Neill - did a sort of press tour in the years proceeding that day. He's been on Zero Blog 30 multiple times, in fact:
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Hearing the first person account of Bin Laden's capture is really wild. I've listened to the interview a handful of times now, and when I do, I place myself into Bin Laden's compound as if I'm a fly on the wall. It really gets the imagination going. That said, I've done that over and over again with O'Neill and Bin Laden's story, but never with Delta Force's Kevin Holland and his capture of Saddam Hussein.
It was the 19th anniversary of the capture just a few weeks back and as far as I'm aware, it was the first time Delta Force's Kevin Holland went into detail on the raid. Here are a few cliff notes:
- Hussein popped out and said via a translator, "I'm the president and I'm ready to negotiate" (lol)
- One of the Delta Force members socked Hussein in the face and said "President Bush sends his regards"
- The shelter was "nice" - it had brick walls, it was ventilated
- Hussein had an "evil, unnerving presence" about him
All in all, it's a really good 10 min listen and again, I listened as if I were in the "spider hole" too. I wouldn't be shocked if there were some movie made on this event in the coming years too. This shit sells.
Here's the entire podcast: