What U.S. found in Saddam hideout

Rural bunker a far cry from Iraqi palaces

? In the small hut near the hole where former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein spent his final hours of freedom, a dozen books were piled on top of a chest near the bed. There was a book on interpreting dreams, volumes of classical Arabic poetry titled “Discipline” and “Sin,” and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.”

Other books were tossed into boxes with what appeared to be Saddam’s clothes. The structure was viewed by reporters Monday, two days after Saddam was captured, and was cluttered and dirty. Saddam apparently slept in the 8-by-14-foot hut, which was crammed with two rusty beds piled with thick, fuzzy blankets in clashing colors. A U.S. military source speculated that Saddam had been living there for about seven days.

Personal care products sat atop a minirefrigerator: a cake of Palmolive Naturals soap, a bottle of Dove moisturizing shampoo, a pot of moisturizing cream and a stick of Lacoste deodorant “pour homme.” Saddam wasn’t starving. The kitchen held a bounty of food: brown eggs, cucumbers, carrots, apples, kiwis and flatbread, plus orange marmalade, canned meat, a jar of honey and Lipton tea.

The bunker also contained signs of a man not used to roughing it: two cans of Raid, a fly swatter and antibiotics.

The only hints of luxury were a gilded face mirror, a garlic press, sweets — pistachio baklava, candied figs — and the books.

“I expected it to be neater at least,” grumbled Army Spec. Roy Yoo, a 22-year-old from Hawaii, who serves in the 4th Infantry Division and was among those at the scene Monday.

Slapped together from clay, wood and concrete blocks, the small structure was indistinguishable from the thousands of farmhouses around it. A fence of tree branches encircled the complex; black-spotted cows and skinny chickens dallied outside a plain metal gate.

The doors opened to a courtyard where towels, clothing, dates and salami hung on wires. Thatched straw sheets lined the inner walls. Plastic lawn chairs and a bed frame served as tables. To the left was the living quarters; above the bedroom door was an inscription in gray Arabic script: “God the merciful, God the compassionate.”

The compound was a far cry from the silk-and-feather excess of the Presidential Palace that Saddam fled when U.S. troops took Baghdad this spring — but it was clear someone had gone to great trouble to ensure that the ousted leader had all the basics. The house had running water pumped in from the river; electricity from a generator powered fluorescent lights.

“It is amazing to see how a powerful guy like him could wind up in a place like this,” said Sgt. 1st Class Chris Wallace of the 4th Infantry Division’s 442nd Field Artillery Unit, who was guarding the house Monday.

“Nothing fancy, no valuables. Only thing that denotes class really are the pastries,” said Capt. Joe Munger of the 4th Infantry Division, whose team provided perimeter security during the raid that captured the former dictator.

Saddam’s earthen hideout, 6 feet underground, was so narrow that he probably could not have bent his knees while inside it. The T-shaped hole was barely large enough for a man his size to lie down. At one end, where he apparently laid his head, there was a pipe for ventilation and a tiny plastic fan. On the other side, there was a fluorescent bulb. The walls were cement and brick. The floor was dirt.

Getting inside probably required some tricky maneuvering. The opening was so narrow that if Saddam had not entered with his feet first and back to the trees, he would have gotten stuck. Once he lowered himself in, he most likely had to wiggle his legs into the inner chamber.

The hideaway was covered with a Styrofoam block, rubber mat and flower pots in an attempt to disguise the fact that the land had been disturbed.

When U.S. Special Forces troops uncovered the hole Saturday night, military officials said, Saddam quickly emerged and called out: “I am Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq, and I am willing to negotiate.”

“President Bush,” one of the soldiers replied, “sends his regards.”