December 13: Operation 'Red Dawn' ends with the arrest of Saddam in Tikrit, his home town, in 2003.

Former President Saddam Hussein smiling during a public hearing held in Baghdad in June 2001.

"Today is a great day for the history of Iraq," said the civil administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer, because "the tyrant is a prisoner by order".

Iraqi-American, Samir, 34, pinning deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to the ground during his capture in Tikrit, on Saturday, December 13, 2003. Samir was the translator for the U.S. Special Forces that helped find Hussein and pull him from his hiding place on December 13, 2003. Samir later met with U.S. President Bush and thanked him for liberating Iraq.

"Iraqis have suffered for decades at the hands of the dictator, who also threatened neighboring countries.

This era has ended forever and now a hopeful future is open to Irak and its neighbors, "he added, as he urged Iraqis, whether Arabs or Kurds, Sunnis or Shiites, Muslims or Christians "to" initiate a process reconciliation" to rebuild the country.