Board 8 > American guards bonded and befriended Saddam Hussein in his last days

(+) Yeah! (+)

Throwing together a few snippets into one quote. Full read is more detailed.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/saddam-hussein-bonded-american-soldiers-final-days-article-1.3217517

Disturbingly, the crew known as “The Super Twelve” apparently bonded with Hussein, too — right to his bitter end.

In “The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein, His American Guards, and What History Left Unsaid,” author Will Bardenwerper describes in intimate detail the experience of guarding the monstrous, murderous Iraqi tyrant.

As they surrendered the despot to his executioners, several had tears in their eyes. Earlier, Hussein gifted one of his U.S. captors with an expensive Raymond Weill Swiss watch.

Those are but two of the eyebrow-raising examples of the ties that bound the Americans and the Iraqi with the blood of hundreds of thousands of countrymen on his hands.

Specialist Adam Rogerson explained that he found it impossible to see Hussein as a "psychopath" because the 69-year-old seemed "more like a grandpa."

Tucker Dawson (a pseudonym), the youngest of the 12 Americans, fell into a bizarre game of peek-a-boo with the sometimes playful Hussein.

"I was like a little kid," he recalled. "I'd seen him on TV, waving AKs up in the air and stuff ... and now he's in a cell. I'd just look at him. Then he'd look up at me real fast, and I'd look away real quick.

"He was messing with me. He finally looked up at me real fast and he said, 'I got you!' Then he started laughing.

"And I was like, 'Yes, sir.' "

Specialist Steve Hutchinson, who enlisted in the wake of 9/11, went into the assignment determined to deal with it as "no more, no less than burning s--- in barrels."

The harder they come, the harder they fall.

When Hutchinson noted Hussein started responding warmly to some of the soldiers guarding him and not others, the veteran MP was flattered to be among the dictator’s favorites.

Hutchinson later decided to end his Army career the moment Hussein was hanged.

"To this day, I still hear that f---ing metal trapdoor slam," Hutchinson told the author. "I always believed in everything I did in the military, but the moment that floor dropped open, I knew I was done with serving."
Bardenwerper contends the Super Twelve were proud of the fine line they walked with Hussein — "never giving him more than he was due, but according him the dignity they felt the older prisoner deserved."

Yet lines were definitely crossed. One soldier was ordered to stand down after stepping into Hussein's cell to share a Cohiba cigar.

Several fell into the trap of trying to please the prisoner. Hussein was infamous for his charisma and charm, even with his enemies.

Hutchinson, Specialist Chris Tasker and several other MPs decided to turn a storage room into an office for the prisoner.

It was planned as a surprise. Raiding the palace for old furniture, they installed a small wooden desk and a leather office chair.

The jaw-dropping finishing touch was to hang a small Iraqi flag behind the desk. The author explains the soldiers were trying "to make it seem more official and befitting a head of state."

On Dec. 30, Hussein was wakened at 3 a.m. and informed of his pending death. He had a snappish moment, then calmly bathed and readied himself. His only concern: Had the Super Twelve enjoyed enough sleep?

At one point, Hussein beckoned Hutchinson to his cell, reached through the bars and surrendered the Raymond Weil watch he wore on trial days.

When the soldier resisted, Hussein forced it on his wrist. The timepiece is still ticking inside a safe at Hutchinson’s Georgia home.

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http://www.npr.org/2017/06/05/531536419/the-prisoner-in-his-palace

Here's the NPR link to the audio interview. Again, I urge folks to at least read the full article, because I had to pick and choose which snippets to represent. (Unsurprisingly, as is often the case with content I post here, I found the info via NeoGAF originally.)

Anyway, I'll preempt any weird remarks here by noting that I think Hussein played them like fiddles, of course. There's a part in there about a guy thinking he'd have had their backs if they were attacked -- that they'd be safe with him. It's amazing how charismatic he could be.
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It's almost like leaders who stand against globalism are human instead of the monsters the bought media portray them as.
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Vlado posted...

It's almost like leaders who stand against globalism are human instead of the monsters the bought media portray them as.

Do you dispute that he killed thousands of Iraqis?
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Bush killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Your point?
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VLADO makes a fair point. His slant is silly but often the monsters of the world - especially world leaders - are still human in some ways. It is just easier to think of their every action as evil so we don't think about human nature as much.

Horrible, of course, but human.
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this is really interesting stuff, thanks for sharing. i appreciate the humanity shown by the soldiers here, even if the guy that they're bonding with doesn't deserve their affection.
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SeabassDebeste posted...

this is really interesting stuff, thanks for sharing. i appreciate the humanity shown by the soldiers here, even if the guy that they're bonding with doesn't deserve their affection.

Happy to share, yeah. I felt similarly.
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Vlado posted...

Bush killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Your point?

Yes, George Bush is a warmongering cretin who held a strong position on the world stage. I don't see what that has to do with Saddam Hussein.
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There are still Iraqis loyal to Saddam Hussein. I can feel traces of fealty to him within my own family. We are Christian Iraqi, and Hussein was like, almost unbelievably kind to Christians during his rule.

But anyway, I'm not surprised to hear this. You put anyone in a cell and they become just another human being. If you're watching over them, forming a bond is almost inevitable. Language gap aside, I'm sure Hussein told them some crazy stories.
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Good read. And the difference between saddam and Bush is that even this article merely portrays Saddam as human and shows soldiers had empathy towards him. It maintains he is bad. Our press makes excuses, legitimizes, apologizes and forgives Bush.

Stockholm Syndrome perhaps.

I find that I often end up laughing and joking around with my prisoners during the time that they're in my custody, which can often be upwards of 12 hours, even though we rarely have anything in common and the vast majority are POS human beings.
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velocycloraptor posted...

Good read. And the difference between saddam and Bush is that even this article merely portrays Saddam as human and shows soldiers had empathy towards him. It maintains he is bad. Our press makes excuses, legitimizes, apologizes and forgives Bush.

oh god
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Terastodon posted...

Vlado posted...

Bush killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Your point?

Yes, George Bush is a warmongering cretin who held a strong position on the world stage. I don't see what that has to do with Saddam Hussein.

lol i can't believe people can be so dense
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this isn't too surprising. Saddam, and any other major dictator for that matter, don't just get there out of muscle and intelligence. charisma is a huge role and Saddam had that in spades.
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Kind of an interesting and sad story. These guys probably feel like their entire motivation for entering the armed forces is on shaky ground in a lot of respects. Makes you wonder how you'd feel in the same situation.
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DoomTheGyarados posted...

VLADO makes a fair point. His slant is silly but often the monsters of the world - especially world leaders - are still human in some ways. It is just easier to think of their every action as evil so we don't think about human nature as much.

Horrible, of course, but human.

Yeah these are my thoughts as well.
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I had a dream I was Saddam Hussein about to be executed around the time it happened.

Really weird
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