Kurds capture cruel Saddam henchman

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BAGHDAD -- Taha Yassin Ramadan, a former Iraqi vice president known as "Saddam's knuckles" for his ruthlessness against regime enemies, was captured by Kurdish fighters yesterday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul and turned over to U.S. forces.

Ramadan once was considered Iraq's second-most-powerful man, but his influence declined in the later years of Saddam Hussein's regime. He was No. 20 on the U.S. list of most-wanted Iraqi fugitives and the "10 of Diamonds" in the Pentagon's deck of cards depicting former regime figures.

Pentagon spokeswoman Diane Perry confirmed that Ramadan was turned over to the U.S. Army yesterday.

President Bush expressed pleasure over Ramadan's capture, saying, "Slowly but surely, we'll find who we need to find. It's just a matter of time."

Asked if the capture made him hopeful that Saddam would be nabbed soon, Mr. Bush said: "We'll find him and we'll bring him to justice."

Fighters from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) captured Ramadan, 65, said Kasrat Rasouli, a PUK official in Sulaymaniyah. He gave no further details. The capture took place in Mosul, Ramadan's hometown.

Ramadan was disguised in traditional Arab peasant clothes when PUK fighters captured him with his family, a Kurdish source said on the condition of anonymity.

PUK spokesman Latif Rashid said from London that Mr. Ramadan "was hiding among his relatives or colleagues."

Mosul was also where Saddam's sons, Qusai and Uday, were hiding when U.S. forces raided their hide-out, sparking a furious gunbattle that killed the two brothers, a bodyguard and Qusai's son.