On finding nothing in the two farmhouses they were targeting, troops decided to check out the nearby hut.

"The orchard and palm grove looked like the best place. If there were an underground area, it would be there," Hickey told reporters who were invited to view the site.

Special forces raided the hut, a simple two-room construction behind a fence made of dried palm leaves, while regular soldiers sealed off the area. They caught one man trying to escape and another in the hut.

When they discovered the hole, Saddam immediately gave himself up by telling soldiers, in English, who he was.

"We were about to clear that UGF (under-ground facility) in a military sort of way," Hickey said. "He was wise not to wait too long."

U.S. forces usually clear such holes with a hand grenade.

Saddam would have used his "spider hole" or "rat hole" -- as soldiers referred to it -- to hide in for short periods when U.S. troops were in the area, Hickey said.

The hut consisted of one room with two beds and a fridge containing a can of lemonade, a packet of hot dogs, an opened box of Belgian chocolates and a tube of ointment. Several new pairs of shoes lay in their boxes scattered around the floor.

Soldiers said it was unclear whether the food and other items belonged to Saddam.

The other room, open to the elements at one end, was a kitchen with a sink fed by water from a cistern on top of a chicken coop at the other end of a small yard.

Pinned to the outside wall of the hut was a cardboard box depicting biblical scenes such as the Last Supper and the Madonna and child with the English inscription "God bless our home."    Continued ...

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