‘It was like losing a family member’: The US soldier who cried after Saddam Hussein’s execution
In August 2006, Specialist Adam Rogerson was standing metres away from Saddam Hussein as he slept in his cell beneath the Iraqi High Tribunal building in Baghdad.
The American soldier had not yet laid eyes on the Iraqi dictator who was widely considered to be one of the most evil men on the planet.
The US had invaded Iraq in March 2003, with President George W Bush saying he wanted to end “Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism”.
The Iraqi president went on the run as airstrikes rained down on the country he had ruled since 1979.
Months later, US soldiers found him hiding in a small hole barely big enough to fit one person in Ad-Dawr, central Iraq.
The now heavily-bearded and dishevelled despot, who was estimated to be responsible for the deaths of at least 250,000 Iraqis, would be put on trial for multiple charges including war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
When he wasn’t being kept in a cell beneath the Iraqi High Tribunal building, one of Hussein’s many former palaces was now his prison, and Mr Rogerson was among 12 US soldiers tasked with guarding him.
With Hussein’s reputation for mass murder, torture, and brutal repression, the young soldier can be forgiven for being unenthusiastic when he found out he would be spending so much time with the so-called “Butcher of Baghdad”.
Saddam Hussein appears in video footage on the day the Iraq War began on 20 March 2003
But in the months that followed they struck up the unlikeliest of friendships – with Mr Rogerson breaking down in tears when Hussein was executed in December 2006.
It’s not how the 22-year-old soldier would have been expecting to feel after he first made eye contact with the murderous dictator months earlier.
“I was told I would be the first one on guard. It was very intimidating for me because I knew who he was,” Mr Rogerson told the latest episode of the Sky News Daily podcast.
“At first it was dark and I could hear him sleeping but I couldn’t see him… A bit later he woke up and looked at me and I looked back at him.
“That was the start of our relationship – it was very surreal.”
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Hussein looked far from presidential after he was captured
Hussein was found hiding in this hole in Ad-Dawr
The soldiers make a new friend
Mr Rogerson and the other guards, who became known as the Super Twelve, were tasked with guarding Hussein for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The soldiers were told not to interact with the man who was perhaps the most famous prisoner in the world – but it didn’t take long for them to break this rule.
“Saddam was a people person. Whether he was trying to manipulate us, or genuinely be friends with us, it’s not clear. But if you’re living with someone, you’re going to interact with them.”
Hussein was being kept prisoner in one of his former palaces called The Rock, with the guards having to regularly transport him to the Iraqi High Tribunal for his hearings.
“We would hear mortars going off, gunfire, we could hear all the sounds of war. Saddam would just look at us and laugh. He never showed signs of worry.
“On more than one occasion he would look over and jokingly say ‘I’m getting out, they’re coming to get me’.”
Mr Rogerson never doubted Hussein was a “maniacal dictator” who was guilty of the crimes he had been accused of – but says as he got to know him he found the tyrant could be genuinely good-humoured.
On one occasion, the guards were talking about how another of the Super Twelve soldiers had wet themselves. Hussein is said to have burst out laughing when he heard the story.
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Adam Rogerson guarded Saddam Hussein between August and December 2006
Hussein and the soldiers trade gifts
Mr Rogerson also says the mass-murdering despot appeared to have a softer side that helped them form a friendship as the weeks went by.
“We would trade stories. We would take him to see his family and they would bring him handkerchiefs and candy.
“He would share the candy with us, and then we sort of started giving stuff we’d received from our families to him.”
During the mission, Mr Rogerson’s wife sent him some scented candles and the soldier decided to give one to Hussein.
The president-turned-prisoner carved a poem into the side of it in Arabic and had it sent to his daughter as a gift.
Mr Rogerson continues: “I got to see a side of him that wasn’t evil, even though I knew he was. I only saw the 69-year-old man.
“He never came off as arrogant or as a dictator – he was just a person.”
Hussein would sometimes become animated during his trial. Pic: AP
Hussein speaks about relationship with Castro
In between trial hearings, Hussein would beat the soldiers at games of chess and listen to Western music on his radio.
One evening Hussein was sitting outside in his recreation area smoking cigars when he called Mr Rogerson over.
“He had this photo book and he was showing me all these photos of him having a good time with Fidel Castro. To me it was unbelievable.
“He told me it was Castro who taught him to smoke cigars.”
Mr Rogerson says although he was impressed by Hussein, it was always in the back of his mind that he was talking to a “master manipulator” and that this “wasn’t his first rodeo”.
Whether Hussein had genuine affection for Mr Rogerson and the rest of the Super Twelve will never be known – but the soldiers themselves clearly developed a deep connection to the man who was supposed to be their enemy.
In November 2006, Hussein’s trial came to an end and he was sentenced to death by hanging.
Saddam Hussein with former Cuban leader Fidel Castro
‘I almost felt like a murderer’
Mr Rogerson was among the handful of Super Twelve soldiers who cried tears of grief after the execution, while many Iraqis themselves celebrated the brutal death of their former dictator.
Speaking about the historical day of Hussein’s execution, Mr Rogerson says: “It was emotional. We were watching him comb his hair and pace around. He knew what was going to happen that day and it was sad to see.
“He was sad and upset, and we’re all upset ourselves. I’d gotten to know him, spent all my time with him, and then all of a sudden he was about to die.”
Mr Rogerson later told the author Will Bardenwerper that Hussein’s execution “was like losing a family member”.
“I almost feel like a murderer, like I killed a guy I was close to”, he added.
Iraqis celebrate after Hussein’s execution
Mr Rogerson, now in his 40s, has since left the military and is living in Ohio where he works as an American football coach.
The father-of-two, who has a 15-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son, has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since returning from Iraq.
He says it was caused by his experience guarding Hussein and then witnessing his execution.
He continues: “One day my grandkids will know that I did something for my country.
“That makes it worth it.”
Two people have been killed after a suspect shot at firefighters responding to a fire in the US state of Idaho, authorities have said.
Police were still “taking sniper fire” near the city of Coeur d’Alene on Sunday afternoon, the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said.
Crews were responding to a fire at Canfield Mountain around 1.30pm and gunshots were reported around half an hour later, the force said.
Pic: Reuters
Sheriff Bob Norris said officials believe the two killed were firefighters, and he did not know if anyone else was shot.
“We don’t know how many suspects are up there, and we don’t know how many casualties there are,” he said. “We are actively taking fire sniper as we speak.”
Mr Norris said the sniper appeared to be hiding in the rugged terrain and using a high-powered rifle, adding he had instructed his deputies to fire back.
“I’m hoping that somebody has a clear shot and is able to neutralise, because they’re not at this point in time showing any evidence of wanting to surrender,” the sheriff said.
Pic: Reuters
Governor Brad Little said “multiple” firefighters were attacked.
“This is a heinous direct assault on our brave firefighters,” he said on X. “I ask all Idahoans to pray for them and their families as we wait to learn more.”
The president of the International Association of Firefighters said a third firefighter was in surgery.
In a statement on social media Edward Kelly said the firefighters “were ambushed in a heinous act of violence”. He added: “Two of our brothers were killed by a sniper, and a third brother remains in surgery.”
The sheriff’s office in neighbouring Shoshone County said authorities were “dealing with an active shooter situation where the shooter is still at large”.
Smoke billows into the air after several firefighters were attacked while responding to a fire. Pic: Reuters
The fire was still raging, Mr Norris said.
“It’s going to keep burning,” he added. “Can’t put any resources on it right now.”
The FBI was sending technical teams and tactical support to the scene, its deputy director Dan Bongino said.
“It remains an active, and very dangerous scene,” he said on X.
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Canfield Mountain is a popular hiking and biking spot on the outskirts of Coeur d’Alene, a city of around 55,000 people in northern Idaho.
Donald Trump has said the US government has found a buyer for TikTok that he will reveal “in about two weeks”.
The president told Fox News “it’s a group of very wealthy people”, adding: “I think I’ll probably need China approval, I think President Xi will probably do it.”
TikTok was ordered last year to find a new owner for its US operation – or face a ban – after politicians said they feared sensitive data about Americans could be passed to the Chinese government.
The video app’s owner, Bytedance, has repeatedly denied such claims.
It originally had a deadline of 19 January to find a buyer – and many users were shocked when it “went dark” for a number of hours when that date came round, before later being restored.
However, President Trump has now extended the deadline several times.
The last extension was on 19 June, when the president signed another executive order pushing it back to 17 September.
Mr Trump’s latest comments suggest multiple people coming together to take control of the app in the US.
Among those rumoured to be potential buyers include YouTube superstar Mr Beast, US search engine startup Perplexity AI, and Kevin O’Leary – an investor from Shark Tank (the US version of Dragons’ Den).
Bytedance said in April that it was still talking to the US government, but there were “differences on many key issues”.
It’s believed the Chinese government will have to approve any agreement.
The president said the identity of the buyer would be disclosed in about two weeks. Pic: Fox News
President Trump’s interview with Fox News also touched on the upcoming end of the pause in US tariffs on imported goods.
On April 9, he granted a 90-day reprieve for countries threatened with a tariff of more than 10% in order to give them time to negotiate.
Deals have already been struck with some countries, including the UK.
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The president said he didn’t think he would need to push back the 9 July deadline and that letters would be sent out imminently stating what tariff each country would face.
“We’ll look at the deficit we have – or whatever it is with the country; we’ll look at how the country treats us – are they good, are they not so good. Some countries, we don’t care – we’ll just send a high number out,” he said.
“But we’re going to be sending letters out starting pretty soon. We don’t have to meet, we have all the numbers.”
The president announced the tariffs in April, arguing they were correcting an unfair trade relationship and would return lost prosperity to US industries such as car-making.
Iran will have the capacity to begin enriching uranium again in “a matter of months”, the UN’s nuclear watchdog boss has said.
Rafael Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that US strikes on three sites a week ago had caused “severe damage” but it was not “total”.
Mr Grossi told CBS News: “The capacities they have are there. They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that.
“But as I said, frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there.”
Iran still has “industrial and technological capabilities… so if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again”, he added.
A satellite overview shows excavators at tunnel entrances at the Fordow site in Iran. Pic: Maxar Technologies/Reuters
Iranian nuclear and military sites were attacked by Israel on 13 June, with the Israelis claiming Tehran was close to developing a nuclear weapon.
The US then carried out its own strikes on 22 June, hitting Iranian nuclear installations at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, under Operation Midnight Hammer.
Iran has insisted its nuclear research is for civilian energy production purposes.
US President Donald Trump said last weekend that the US deployment of 30,000lb “bunker-busting” bombs had “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear programme.
But that claim appeared to be contradicted by an initial assessment from the US Defence Intelligence Agency.
A source said Iran’s enriched uranium stocks had not been eliminated, and the country’s nuclear programme, much of which is buried deep underground, may have been put back only a month or two.
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Did the US destroy Iran’s nuclear sites?
Mr Trump has rejected any suggestion that the damage to the sites was not as profound as he has said.
And he stated he would consider bombing Iran again if Tehran was enriching uranium to worrying levels.
At a news conference on Thursday alongside US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Dan Caine, told reporters the GBU-57 bunker buster bombs had been designed in some secrecy with exactly this sort of target in mind.
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US: Iran nuclear sites ‘obliterated’
The head of the CIA has also said a “body of credible intelligence” indicates Iran’s nuclear programme was “severely damaged”.
Director John Ratcliffe revealed that information from a “historically reliable and accurate source” suggests several key sites were destroyed – and will take years to rebuild.
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Meanwhile, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country “slapped America in the face” by launching an attack on 23 June against a major US base in Qatar, adding the nation would never surrender.
The 12-day air conflict between Israel and Iran ended with a US-brokered ceasefire.
But the Iranian armed forces chief of staff, General Abdolrahim Mousavi, has said his country doubts Israel will maintain the truce.
A spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry said the US strikes had caused significant damage to Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
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