Close Adviser to Hussein Turned Over to U.S. Forces

MOSUL, Iraq, Aug. 19 -- Kurdish militiamen captured Iraq's feared former vice president, Taha Yassin Ramadan, in a bloodless operation in this northern city today and turned him over to the U.S. military, marking one of the highest-profile arrests since most of ousted president Saddam Hussein's leadership went underground after his government collapsed in April.

Once known as "Saddam's knuckles," Ramadan, 65, was one of a handful of lieutenants in Hussein's inner circle. His relationship with the former Iraqi president dated from the 1960s, when the Baath Party was largely an underground organization. After it assumed power in 1968, he became one of its most recognized, and notorious, officials and remained so until its collapse on April 9.