‘It was like losing a family member’: The US soldier who cried after Saddam Hussein’s execution

Published

1 year ago

September 2, 2023

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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”.

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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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.

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 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.

‘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.

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.”

US

Elon Musk denies ‘hostile takeover’ of US government – as son sits on his shoulders in Oval Office

Published

10 hours ago

February 12, 2025

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Elon Musk denies 'hostile takeover' of US government - as son sits on his shoulders in Oval Office

Elon Musk joined Donald Trump in the Oval Office as the US president signed an executive order allowing the tech billionaire to make large-scale reductions in the federal workforce.

As head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an advisory group, Mr Musk says he wants to add “common sense controls” to government and ensure taxpayer money is spent wisely.

The executive order requires government agencies to work with DOGE, in some cases so they can be “eliminated or combined because their functions aren’t required by law”.

In addition, the agencies have been told to “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart from federal service”, with exceptions for immigration, law enforcement and public safety.

Answering reporters’ questions in the Oval Office, Mr Musk was asked to respond to accusations he is orchestrating a “hostile takeover” of government in a non-transparent way.

The Tesla CEO and owner of X said “the public voted for major government reform… and they’re going to get what they voted for. And that’s what democracy is all about”.

“We have this unelected, fourth unconstitutional branch of government, which is the bureaucracy, which has in a lot of ways, currently more power than any elected representative,” he added, while stood alongside his son X Æ A-12.

Mr Musk also spoke about what he described as a lack of Treasury controls. “Your tax dollars need to be spent wisely on things that matter to the people… it’s just common sense. It’s not draconian or radical”.

When challenged about what checks and balances are in place to ensure accountability for Mr Musk, who is unelected, he replied: “We are trying to be as transparent as possible… I don’t know of a case where an organisation has been more transparent”.

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Another reporter raised the possibility of conflicts of interest, pointing out Mr Musk has received billions of dollars in federal contracts.

“All of our actions are fully public,” he says, adding that he fully expects to be “scrutinised nonstop” – comparing it to “a daily proctologist exam” – but also admitting “we will make mistakes, but we’ll also fix the mistakes very quickly”.

“Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected,” he said. “So nobody can bat 1,000.”

Musk’s awkward, full-scale assault on federal government

This was the most awkward news conference starring the most awkward man, with his son picking his nose.

It was quite a remarkable event. The president of the US was justifying a full-scale assault on the federal government in the Oval Office with Elon Musk by his side.

There was little in the way of accountability, even if the country did vote for Donald Trump.

Nobody saw Elon Musk coming. Nobody saw the half dozen young men that have been sent into these federal agencies to sack people by the thousands.

Musk’s description of bureaucracy as an unconstitutional branch of government is “a stretch to say the least”.

Over many years, the will of the people has been to construct a bureaucracy to deal with their interests, whether that’s social security payments or high finance.

At the same time, team Trump is attempting to “railroad” their legislation through the courts despite the objections of judges.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Musk posted an attack aimed at judges who have issued rulings that paused Mr Trump’s executive actions.

“Democracy in America is being destroyed by judicial coup,” Mr Musk wrote on X.

The president voiced a similar complaint in the Oval Office alongside Mr Musk.

“We want to weed out the corruption. And it seems hard to believe that a judge could say, we don’t want you to do that,” he said.

“So maybe we have to look at the judges, because that’s very serious. I think it’s a very serious violation.”

Mr Trump also held discussions with Jordan’s King Abdullah at the White House.

The president repeated his pledge to “take Gaza” and move its residents to Jordan and Egypt, something the king has rejected.

US

Trump doubles down on plans to ‘take Gaza’ as he meets Jordan’s King Abdullah

Published

13 hours ago

February 12, 2025

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Trump doubles down on plans to 'take Gaza' as he meets Jordan's King Abdullah

Donald Trump has doubled down on US plans to take over Gaza in a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House.

The meeting came the day after the president said he would withhold aid to Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries if they refused to take in people forcibly displaced from Gaza.

King Abdullah’s “steadfast position” – as he laid out on X after the news conference – was “against the displacement of Palestinians.”

He said Jordan, which is already home to millions of Palestinians, will take in 2,000 children who have cancer or are otherwise unwell.

But on taking in more Gazans, he stressed a solution that was “good for everybody” – including Americans, the “people in the region” and Jordanians – was his priority.

However, the King sat quietly as Mr Trump reiterated his plans to displace two million Palestinians, which he said was a “very small number of people”.

Mr Trump also said he believes there will be “parcels of land” in Jordan, Egypt and “someplace else” where Palestinians will live “happily and very safely”.

“They only want to be in the Gaza Strip because they don’t know anything else, they’ve never had an alternative,” Mr Trump said.

“They are being killed there at levels that nobody has ever seen – no place in the world is as dangerous as the Gaza Strip.”

He claims – contrary to what Gazans have said – that “not one person” wants to stay in Gaza.

Asked to respond to the widespread view among experts in international law that his plan amounts to ethnic cleansing, Mr Trump said: “We are moving them to a beautiful location.”

However, Trump appeared to ease off his previous threat to withdraw aid to countries that refused to take in people from Gaza.

“Well, I don’t want to say that… we don’t have to threaten that, I do believe we’re above that,” he said.

In the same news conference, Mr Trump said the US won’t buy Gaza, it will simply “have it”.

“We don’t have to buy, there’s nothing to buy,” he said.

“It’s a war-torn area, we’re going to hold it, we’re going to take it… Gaza the way it is, civilisation has been wiped out in Gaza. It’s going to be a great economic development.”

He declined to answer how that would work – and how he can avoid spending US taxes running it.

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“We’re going to run it very properly and eventually we’ll have economic development at a very large scale”, he said, promising “peace in the Middle East”.

“With the United States in control of that piece of land… you’re going to have stability in the Middle East for the first time.

“The Palestinians, the people who live now in Gaza, will be living beautifully in another location.

“They are going to be living safely – they’re not going to be killed, murdered and having to leave every 10 years.”

Trump added that he is 99% sure he will work out a deal with Egypt.

US

Russia releases American teacher Marc Fogel from prison

Published

13 hours ago

February 12, 2025

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Russia releases American teacher Marc Fogel from prison

An American teacher sentenced to 14 years in a Russian jail has been released and is flying home to be reunited with his family.

Marc Fogel, 63, was pictured on a flight to the US on Tuesday – more than three years after he was arrested in Moscow for drug smuggling.

He was detained after travelling with what his family said was medically prescribed cannabis. In December, the US government designated him as wrongfully detained.

Mr Fogel left Russia with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in what officials said could help bring about talks to end the Ukraine war.

US national security adviser Mike Waltz said: “President Trump, Steve Witkoff and the president’s advisers negotiated an exchange that serves as a show of good faith from the Russians”.

“By tonight, Marc Fogel will be on American soil and reunited with his family and loved ones thanks to President Trump’s leadership,” he added.

Moscow has so far not commented and it is unclear what concessions the US might have made.

“We are beyond grateful, relieved, and overwhelmed that after more than three years of detention, our father, husband, and son, Marc Fogel, is finally coming home,” the family said in a statement.

They said their time apart had been “the darkest and most painful period of our lives”.

Mr Waltz said the deal was “a sign we are moving in the right direction to end the brutal and terrible war in Ukraine”.

Donald Trump said last month his administration was involved in “very serious” talks with Russia about the future of the conflict.

Mr Fogel’s release comes six months after he was excluded from the biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War.

That historic deal won the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan, among others.

Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov was among those released from Western prisons in exchange.

However, US-Russian national Ksenia Khavana remains locked up after getting a 12-year treason sentence in August related to a $52 donation to a charity benefiting Ukraine.