Prisoner Hussein

"We got him," L. Paul Bremer III, the top US administrator in Iraq, said at a news conference. "The tyrant is a prisoner."

Gunfire crackled across the capital as jubilant Iraqis fired off thousands of rounds from automatic weapons into the air in spontaneous celebrations.

But not a shot was fired in the capture of the haggard and bearded fugitive, revered by many in the Arab world for his grandiose defiance of the United States -- defiance that brought economic ruin to his nation. In the end, Hussein was betrayed by a family member, US military officials said. A US intelligence official said in Washington that the relative was a cousin.

Hussein was described as "tired" and "resigned to his fate" at the time of his capture, but an Iraqi leader who helped identify him hours later called him "unrepentant and defiant."

Hussein's capture after eight months on the run was a major victory for the Bush administration's efforts to bring peace and stability to Iraq.

President Bush, in a televised address from the White House, declared that "a dark and painful era is over" for Iraq, and that "a hopeful day has arrived."

"The former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions," Bush said.

Iraqi officials pledged that Hussein eventually will be tried for genocide and "crimes against humanity."

A wrenching defeat The arrest was a humiliating end for Hussein. Iraqis who still supported him expressed bitter disappointment that their hero surrendered so easily instead of going out in a blaze of gunfire as did his two sons, Uday and Qusay, who were killed in a battle with US troops in July.

"He was betrayed by informers but has betrayed us by going like a lamb," said Kizal al-Nasasri, one of Hussein's cousins in Tikrit. "We are hoping that this is just a look-alike who has fooled the Americans. But we are also mourning because in our hearts, we think that Saddam is finally through."

So long as the 66-year-old former leader was at large, many Iraqis had feared the possibility of his return. And the shadowy guerrilla bands waging a bloody insurgency against US troops plainly drew inspiration from the idea of Hussein evading capture in the Sunni heartland northwest of Baghdad.

Hussein was carrying a pistol but offered no resistance, said Major General Raymond Odierno, commander of the Fourth Infantry Division, which carried out the raid with special forces. "He was at the bottom of a hole. He was caught like a rat. . . . He was disoriented as he came up."

There were no shots fired or injuries during the raid by soldiers from the US Fourth Infantry Division and special forces, said Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, commander of American troops in Iraq. "The captive has been talkative and is being cooperative. He seemed a tired man and a man resigned to his fate."

Near Hussein's hideaway was a pair of bodyguards who meekly turned over their Kalashnikovs, Odierno said. US forces were stunned that Hussein seemed to have no communications gear and relied for transportation on a battered orange-and-white taxi of a type ubiquitous in Iraq.

Based on information provided by local tipsters, US commanders were aware they might be closing in on Hussein as the raid, code-named Red Dawn, got underway Saturday afternoon. The capture occurred about 8:30 p.m. local time, and Hussein was quickly moved to a more secure location near or in Baghdad, military sources said.

The arrest ended one of the most intensive manhunts in history -- Hussein was the ace of spades in a deck of cards issued by the US military that depicted fugitives from the Iraqi regime. He was found in the village of Adwar, near his tribal village of Tikrit. Seized with Hussein were the two Iraqi men, described only as low-level regime figures; the pair of AK-47 assault rifles, Hussein's pistol, and $750,000 in $100 bills, Sanchez said.

"This success brings closure to the Iraqi people," Sanchez told reporters, declining to comment on whether a tipster or tipsters might receive the $25 million bounty the United States had put on the ousted dictator's head. "Saddam Hussein will never return to a position of power from which he can punish, terrorize, intimidate, and exploit the Iraqi people."

Global cheers Western leaders hailed the capture.

"This has lifted a shadow from the people of Iraq," said Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, which has been America's most important ally in the wars against Hussein's regime and Afghanistan's Taliban rulers. "Saddam will not be returning."

President Jacques Chirac of France, who led European opposition to the Iraq war, hailed the arrest as a "major event which should strongly contribute to the democratization and the stabilization of Iraq and allow the Iraqis to once more be masters of their destiny in a sovereign Iraq."

Intelligence analysts say they never believed Hussein was personally directing the insurgents' attacks against US troops. And his capture in a pit near a farm kitchen compound suggested that he might have been on the lam with fewer friends and resources than many imagined. He disappeared from view as Baghdad fell to American forces April 9.

Video footage taken by the military showed a disheveled Hussein, face covered by a matted gray beard. He offered no resistance when captured. The video also showed an American doctor peering into the mouth of the deposed leader with a flashlight while using a tongue depressor to take a saliva swab, apparently for DNA testing.

Hussein was pronounced in good health at the scene of his capture before being removed for incarceration at an "undisclosed location" where he will undergo interrogation, Sanchez said.

US officials who requested anonymity were quoted last night as saying the interrogators intend initially to press Hussein for intelligence about impending guerrilla attacks and for the locations of resistance leaders. The officials said that for now, questions about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction would be of secondary concern. Time magazine, quoting an unidentified US intelligence official in Iraq, reported that Hussein had denied during initial interrogation that he had had weapons of mass destruction.

The magazine said that when asked whether his government had such weapons, Hussein replied: "No, of course not. The US dreamed them up itself to have a reason to go to war with us."Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, interviewed last night on the CBS news program "60 Minutes," would not say where Hussein was being held, but said his "treatment would be governed by the Geneva Conventions."

After his medical checks, Hussein was shorn of his beard, and the military released a photo of him with only a moustache, looking much as he did while still in power.

In Baghdad, jubilant Iraqis let loose long bursts of automatic-rifle fire into the air -- thousands of rounds per hour crackled into the night -- and honked their car horns in joy. Others danced in downtown squares, chanting: "Saddam is captured! Saddam must die!" Boom boxes blared raucous party music.

"We are happy that the oppressor is no longer on the loose," said Issan Fadil, a restaurant owner.

Hussein's hide-out was discovered toward the end of a search of two farmhouse compounds conducted by 600 soldiers, officials said. The search was nearly concluded and thought to be yet another failure. Then soldiers, alerted by activity at a nearby house, extended their search until they found the camouflaged covering of what Sanchez described as a "spider hole" -- a simple pit in the earth, a bit more than 5 feet deep, with a crude ventilation pipe and enough space at the bottom for a man to lie down. The hole was inside a walled farm compound across a river from one of Hussein's former palaces. The top of the hole was camouflaged with bricks and a sort of lean-to.

Asked at the news conference what Hussein was doing in the hole at the time of his capture, Sanchez responded: "Hiding."

The conference was interrupted repeatedly by Iraqi journalists shouting, "Death to Saddam!" and "Down with Saddam!"

Hussein was born April 28, 1937. As a teenager, he was an enforcement thug for a tribal crime gang. His initial political hero was the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Hussein's ascent to power was bathed in blood. From the late 1950s, he served on assassination teams of the Arab nationalist Ba'ath Party and was arrested in 1958 for killing his brother-in-law.

In 1968, the Ba'aths -- supported by a military dominated by Sunni Muslims -- grabbed power, with Hussein serving as head of internal security. He became president in 1979, and a year later attacked neighboring Iran, igniting a war that lasted eight years. In 1988, in a vicious suppression of ethnic Kurds in northern Iraq, Hussein's regime used chemical weapons to wipe out the town of Halabja, killing 5,000 people.

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. But even though Hussein's regime suffered a humiliating loss in the Gulf War, he became a hero throughout the Arab world for his defiance of the United States and for firing missiles at Israel during the conflict. In 1991, the year of his defeat, his regime brutally crushed uprisings of Kurds in northern Iraq and Shi'ite Muslims in the south.

During his long stranglehold on power, Hussein spent hundreds of millions of dollars building ornate palaces and massive public monuments to himself.

Hussein was formally identified yesterday by members of Iraq's interim government.

US officials said DNA tests have yet to be completed but said there is no doubt that troops captured the right man. Iraqi officials agreed.

"We confirm it is him," said Adnan Pachachi, a leading member of the US-appointed Governing Council.

A US defense official said last night that Hussein acknowledged his identity when captured.

Other members of the council pledged that Hussein will be tried in Baghdad and may be sentenced to death for his murderous oppression of his people and for leading Iraq into three disastrous wars. "We want Saddam to get what he deserves," said Amar al-Hakim, a leader of a major party for Shi'ite Muslims, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

Shock and celebration Iraqis in Baghdad seemed at once stunned and elated by Hussein's capture. For the first time in months, there were street rallies celebrating the United States.

"He executed my brother and my brother-in-law in 1979, so I am most happy to hear of his capture," said Saad Hassan, 40, owner of an electrical supply shop.

But not all Iraqis were happy. Shamil al-Azawi, 53, a businessman, said: "Now we have no real leader to respect. There is no one to rule us."

Iraq's interim foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said the capture of Hussein will strike a serious blow to the morale of the insurgents, some of whom may lay down their arms: "This will have a dramatic and positive impact on the security situation. The nightmare of Saddam returning is over. The rest of the [former regime leaders] out there are really nobodies."

Shatha Alawsy, a Globe news assistant in Baghdad, contributed to this report. Globe correspondent Samir al-Jabouri contributed from Tikrit. Material from the Associated Press and Reuters also was used.