Go to main content

Troops Hunting Saddam Say Their Prey Is 'Elvis'

August 07, 2003 | People
He used to be Mr. President, The Leader (May God Preserve him) or The Respected General. Now Saddam Hussein is "the No. 1", a "high-value target", sometimes the Ace of Spades, as he appears in a deck of "most wanted" cards, but more often just "The Big Guy" to U.S. troops in Iraq.

But to the soldiers of the 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry Regiment out of Fort Hood Texas who are spearheading the hunt around Saddam's home town of Tikrit, he is simply "Elvis."

Not content with the Pentagon photofit images of what the elusive dictator may now look like, their mess hall in one of his palaces sports a doctored official portrait showing a now coiffed and sideburned Saddam under the title "Elvis Lives!." Inspired by countless supermarket tabloid "sightings" of the late rock legend, troops say they are on Saddam's trail. "Course we gonna get Elvis," said one senior officer. "Last I heard he was working in a Burger King down in Tikrit.
Source:Reuters