Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Adventurer]

ST. LOUIS - A military nurse who cared for Saddam Hussein in jail said the deposed dictator saved bread crusts to feed birds and seldom complained to his captors, except when he had legitimate gripes.

Master Sgt. Robert Ellis cared for the former Iraqi dictator from January 2004 until August 2005 at Camp Cropper, the compound near Baghdad where Saddam and other "high value detainees" were held.


Ellis checked on Saddam twice a day and wrote a daily report on Saddam's physical and emotional condition.

Saddam told Ellis that cigars and coffee kept his blood pressure down, and it seemed to work. Saddam would insist that Ellis smoke with him.

Ellis said Saddam did not complain much, and, when he did, his complaint was usually legitimate. "He had very good coping skills," Ellis said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070101/ap_on_re_us/saddam_nurse

[Bizarre, eh? I do like that he liked feeding birds and smoking Cuban cigars. I am sure he was grateful to be under American custody rather than under the Shiites.]

[nobbyken]

After seeing him on TV several times in his court appearances, I didn't really see an evil dictator, but a confused and demoralised man with an air of hopelessness.

I was sorry about the way his life ended.

[NAVFC]

He was still an Evil dictator nonetheless. Infact the pentagon is now in the process of declassifying videos found in Iraqi archives, mny of them of Saddam's men torturing people.

Saddam was not just some poor misunderstood soul! He was a evil man who had justice done to him. Period.

When did Saddam learn english by the way?

Also laws in Iraq fair? That man was a brutal tyrant. Opressed the Shiites and elevated the Sunnis.
GRRR I hate it when people try to play apologetics for such evil tyrants.
It's sick. When tyrants are brought down like this the world needs to know how evil they were and things they did so history doesn't repeat.

[Ya-ta Boy]

While its mildly interesting that he fed bread crumbs to birds and didn't whine a lot, it doesn't balance out his viciousness. No one is 100% evil.

[VanIslander]

Could a softer Saddam have ruled the bitterly divisive region known as Iraq?

He ruled with an iron hand. Too hard surely. But far from evil. Especially compared to what other rulers have done.

The CIA preferred assassination to dispose one dictator for another more U.S.-friendly one. It certainly would have avoided te hell that is Iraq today.

Is there a happy medium? Could Iraq have continued to exist without either a bloody tyrant or a civil war? The truth is it's always been a nation in name only.

If Saddam Hussein had just kept being an ally to the U.S. then he wouldn't be villified by the world today. Sad but true. The man is dead. But all those who sustained his position of leadership are still walking around pointing fingers and waging war.

The whole situation is absurd.

[NAVFC]

[VanIslander]

[Junior]

[NAVFC]

[NAVFC]