Chatty Saddam forgives Bush, guards claim

[emad]

Rory Carroll in Baghdad
Tuesday June 21, 2005
The Guardian

He admires Ronald Reagan, respects Bill Clinton and bears no grudge against George Bush senior or junior. But he cannot abide Froot Loops.

Saddam Hussein can forgive his enemies but not, say some of his US guards, sweet cereal.

A mellow portrait of the former Iraqi president and his jail cell musings in broken English emerged yesterday, depicting an avuncular figure who bantered with his captors.

"Towards the end he was saying that he doesn't hold any hard feelings and he just wanted to talk to Bush, to make friends," said Specialist Sean O'Shea, a member of the Pennsylvania national guard unit that watched over Saddam. He and four other members of the unit were interviewed in the July issue of GQ, an advance copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press. The unit is believed to have been at Camp Cropper, a US base near Baghdad airport, from 2003 to mid-2004.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1510894,00.html