Historic US military photo shows Saddam Hussein, not Maduro's arrest
- Published on January 9, 2026 at 21:10
- 2 min read
- By AFP Mexico, AFP USA
- Translation and adaptation AFP USA , Manon JACOB
An image of a US Delta Force operator posing next to a person with a bag over their head resurfaced in January 2026 after the ousting of Nicolás Maduro. But while the same unit was in charge of capturing the Venezuelan leader, the picture was taken in 2003 and shows Iraq's slain dictator Saddam Hussein.
"'Say Cheese,'" an X user wrote, responding to a January 3, 2026 alert about Maduro's capture by US forces in a daring overnight raid under President Donald Trump.
The account accompanied their tongue-in-cheek comment with a photo of a military officer posing next to a detained man with a bag covering his head.
Similar posts also circulated in Spanish.
Maduro was captured along with his wife Cilia Flores in a raid carried out by US forces amid intense bombing on January 3. The couple pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges January 5 in a New York courthouse.
The highly trained Delta Force military unit reportedly breached Maduro's residence before he was extracted to the United States, but the photo circulating on X was online years before the operation in Caracas. It spread as part of surge of misinformation that inundated social media, from AI deepfakes to out-of-context images.
Hussein in 2003
A reverse image search led to a Daily Mail article published January 1, 2023 that showed historic images of the 2003 US capture of Iraq's then-president and dictator Saddam Hussein (archived here).
The article identified the soldier as special operations veteran Kevin Holland, who served in the Delta Force during Hussein's capture, as well as Navy SEAL Team 6 (archived here and here).
"Holland - seen at left - described how soldiers posed for pictures with the deposed dictator," the caption below the photo reads.
On March 20, 2003, then-US President George W. Bush launched Operation "Iraqi Freedom" with a ground invasion by 40,000 British and 150,000 US troops, claiming the regime illegally possessed weapons of mass destruction, though none were ever found.
Hussein appeared for the last time in public on April 9, just hours before the announcement of the fall of Baghdad.
After ruling Iraq with an iron fist for over two decades, Hussein went underground until his hiding place was discovered and he was seized by US forces. He was tried and convicted for crimes against humanity by an Iraqi court before being executed on December 30, 2006.
Read more debunks of misinformation surrounding Maduro's arrest, here.
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