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Guard reveals Saddam's jail life (Likes Cheetos)
BBC ^ | June 20, 2005

Posted on 12/22/2005 4:21:54 PM PST by Shermy

Saddam Hussein still believes he is president of Iraq, is obsessed with cleanliness, makes bad coffee and loves Doritos, an ex-guard has revealed. The deposed leader, set to face trial for massacres and killings during his time in power, also washes his clothes and cares for birds in his prison yard.

US National Guardsman Sean O'Shea, 20, gave GQ magazine in the US a unique look into Saddam Hussein's daily life.

The former president was captured near the city of Tikrit in December 2003.

Despite officially being in Iraqi custody, Saddam Hussein is guarded by US troops at a secret location.

Specialist O'Shea, who joined the Pennsylvania National Guard a year before the US-led invasion of Iraq, was one of five guards who told GQ their memories of guarding the world's most famous prisoner.

Spartan regime

Spc O'Shea gave the magazine a detailed portrait of the monotony of life in jail.

He described the former leader's daily routine of toilet visits, mealtimes, recreation and regular medical check-ups.

In his cell there was a bed, a toilet, a chair, a towel, some books and a prayer rug.

The former leader would often spend silent days writing in Arabic on legal pads, Spc O'Shea said.

The guard described how Saddam Hussein spent each day watering plants and was obsessive about cleanliness, continually wet-wiping the cutlery he used to eat his meals.

He did not want a treadmill that guards installed in his cell, asking instead for a table-tennis table. The request was turned down.

He enjoyed Raisin Bran Crunch for breakfast, but refused to eat Froot Loops.

He liked to snack on Cheetos, until someone brought him a bag of Doritos, which he took silently into a corner and ate in a hurry.

'President Saddam'

Although physically weak, there was also evidence that the son of a farmer from near Tikrit had not lost his confidence.

He enjoyed Cuban cigars, and sometimes offered Spc O'Shea blunt advice, including how to find a "good woman", and how to "keep her in line".

He told stories of how he brought prostitutes in for his son, Uday, the night before his wedding.

The guard described how Saddam Hussein walked out of a meeting with Iraqi prosecutors, disgusted at them for wanting to try him for crimes against his country.

"Ministers? Ministers of what," Saddam Hussein raged in his cell.

"I'm still the president of this country."

He went quiet when Spc O'Shea told him that former US President Ronald Reagan - who used to sell Iraq planes and helicopters, he remembered - had died.

Unsurprisingly, neither former President George H W Bush or the current US leader ranked highly with the man they both went to war against.

Yet Spc O'Shea said his prisoner wanted to meet President Bush, "to make peace with him".

But the reality was more mundane: the man who once lived amid endless wealth in colossal palaces had to use the toilet under the gaze of a teenage soldier from small-town Pennsylvania.

"He was a very bad man," Spc O'Shea told GQ. "But when we had him, he was a broken man."


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bbcbs; cheetos; doritos; iraq; munchies; prisonersaddam; prostitutes; saddam; saddamhussein; saddaminprison; trialofsaddam
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An oldie, but I thought a revisit due given Saddam's claim of mistreatment.
1 posted on 12/22/2005 4:21:55 PM PST by Shermy
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To: Shermy
and cares for birds in his prison yard.

The bird man of Alcatraz was not a nice person either!

2 posted on 12/22/2005 4:27:00 PM PST by rocksblues (John McCain says adopt a terrorist today!)
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To: Shermy

"I'm still president of the country."I can't believe he's serious.Maybe when he's standing on the gallows with a noose around his neck,he'll realize the game is up:(


3 posted on 12/22/2005 4:33:22 PM PST by Thombo2
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To: Shermy

I think Saddam had a bit of a reality check in there, but he's still a delusional madman.


4 posted on 12/22/2005 4:34:16 PM PST by RockinRight (It’s likely for a Conservative to be a Republican, but not always the other way around)
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To: Shermy

Would it be that difficult to make his toilet to back up now and then?


5 posted on 12/22/2005 4:37:18 PM PST by GSlob
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To: Shermy
He liked to snack on Cheetos, until someone brought him a bag of Doritos, which he took silently into a corner and ate in a hurry.

LOL

I don't think Doritos will be using that in their commercials.

6 posted on 12/22/2005 4:37:48 PM PST by silent_jonny
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To: GSlob
Would it be that difficult to make his toilet to back up now and then?

They could cover the bowl with cellophane--but that might be considered torture.

7 posted on 12/22/2005 4:39:08 PM PST by silent_jonny
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To: RockinRight

Maybe he ought to be made to clean ALL the toilets at the prison where he is kept. And how about taking away his bird and Doritos, then apply some "electrical medicine" to his private parts for an hour each day, then let about 10 people in a day whose families were killed, to wear him out with a rubber hose....then, oh well I could go on. But for me a quick trial and a quick execution so he can be with Tookie would be ok also.


8 posted on 12/22/2005 4:40:30 PM PST by Meadow Muffin
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To: Shermy

Probably being advised to act like a loopy old man that does'nt deserve capital punishment. Maybe he'll write some childrens books.


9 posted on 12/22/2005 4:43:13 PM PST by roamincadillac (Still waitin' for all the pinkos to leave our country.)
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To: Shermy
US President Ronald Reagan - who used to sell Iraq planes and helicopters, he remembered - had died.

WTF! Let me guess, Ronald Reagan was running a side business selling Migs, Mirage F1's, Hips, and Hinds to Saddam Hussein. What a bunch of crap.

10 posted on 12/22/2005 4:47:39 PM PST by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: Thombo2

Will they use the noose or the sword on him?


11 posted on 12/22/2005 4:50:03 PM PST by plain talk
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To: plain talk

Good question.They do have a tradition of beheading over there.I just hope they won't let em wimp out with lethal injection.


12 posted on 12/22/2005 4:58:45 PM PST by Thombo2
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To: Shermy
Ahhh Cheeto's . AMD drives a FL truck. An employee at one of his grocery stores decided to play a joke on AMD and put a sign on the back of his truck saying "Saddam Loves These Chips". AMD didn't notice the sign until he got back to the warehouse.
How bad can anyone be treated if they have a favorite junk food in custody?
13 posted on 12/22/2005 5:02:25 PM PST by armymarinemom (My sons freed Iraqi and Afghanistan Honor Roll students.)
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To: Thombo2

Wouldn't it be great if Iraq made it a pay per-view event?I'd shell out a few bucks to see it.


14 posted on 12/22/2005 5:07:11 PM PST by Thombo2
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To: USNBandit
WTF! Let me guess, Ronald Reagan was running a side business selling Migs, Mirage F1's, Hips, and Hinds to Saddam Hussein. What a bunch of crap.

Yea, the U.S. was really flooding Iraq with weaponry, wasn't it? Just another damnable media-fostered lie.


15 posted on 12/22/2005 5:40:35 PM PST by reagan_fanatic (Darwinism is a belief in the meaninglessness of existence - R. Kirk)
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To: Shermy
Hmmm, could Sadam be related to Ron White?

Ron White: I was sitting on a bean bag chair, naked, eating Cheetos the other day when Robert Tilton came on TV. He's a televangelist out of Dallas.

He looked at me and said, "Are you lonely?"

Yeah.

"Have you spent half your life in bars pursuing sins of the flesh?"

This guy's good!

"Are you sitting in a bean bag chair naked eating Cheetos?"...

Yes, sir!

"Do you have the urge to get up and send me a thousand dollars?"

Ha, ha close! I thought he was talking about me there for a second!

16 posted on 12/22/2005 6:03:56 PM PST by Reaganesque
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To: USNBandit

"Ronald Reagan was running a side business selling Migs, Mirage F1's, Hips, and Hinds to Saddam Hussein. What a bunch of crap."

Yeah, this pegged my BS meter too. It never happened. It's just a furthurance of the "we armed Saddam" leftie myth. Totally Orwellian BS.


17 posted on 12/22/2005 6:24:05 PM PST by Owl558 (Pardon my spelling)
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To: Reaganesque

He liked to snack on Cheetos, until someone brought him a bag of Doritos, which he took silently into a corner and ate in a hurry.

Sounds like a rat hoarding food.(oh wait, it is!)
I can just imagine him squatting in a corner, nibbling a dorito chip, his eyes darting side to side, snapping at anyone who tries to take those chips...just like my chihuahua.


18 posted on 12/22/2005 6:27:59 PM PST by confederate_infidel (Tunafish: tastes like Santa's reindeer.)
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To: Shermy; aculeus; Coop; Senator Bedfellow; hellinahandcart; Petronski; Larry Lucido; BlueLancer; ...
He did not want a treadmill that guards installed in his cell, asking instead for a table-tennis table. The request was turned down.

There's your smoking gun for torture.

;-)

19 posted on 12/22/2005 6:32:47 PM PST by dighton
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To: dighton
If I was in prison, I'd turn down a table-tennis table in my cell. I'd demand a tennis court in my cell.

Or an Olympic-size swimming pool, in my cell.

20 posted on 12/22/2005 6:34:39 PM PST by Petronski (I love Cyborg!)
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