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”.
Image: 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.
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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.”
Image: Hussein looked far from presidential after he was captured
Image: 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.
Image: 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.”
Image: 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.
Image: 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.
Image: 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.
Mature, developed economies like the UK and US became ever more reliant on cheap imports from China and, in the process, saw their manufacturing sectors shrink.
Large swathes of the rust belt in the US – and much of the Midlands and North of England – were hollowed out.
And to some extent that’s where the story of Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” really began – with the notion that free trade and globalisation had a darker side, a side he wants to remedy via tariffs.
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Trump’s tariffs: Ed Conway analysis
He imposed a set of tariffs in his first term, some on China, some on specific materials like steel and aluminium. But the height and the breadth of those tariffs were as nothing compared with the ones we have just heard about.
Not since the 1930s has the US so radically increased the level of tariffs on all nations across the world. Back then, those tariffs exacerbated the Great Depression.
It’s anyone’s guess as to what the consequences of these ones will be. But there will be consequences.
Consequences for the nature of globalisation, consequences for the US economy (tariffs are exceptionally inflationary), consequences for geopolitics.
Image: Imports from the UK will face a 10% tariff, while EU goods will see 20% rates. Pic: Reuters
And to some extent, merely knowing that little bit more about the White House’s plans will deliver a bit of relief to financial markets, which have fretted for months about the imposition of tariffs. That uncertainty recently reached unprecedented levels.
But don’t for a moment assume that this saga is over. Nothing of the sort. In the coming days, we will learn more – more about the nuts and bolts of these policies, more about the retaliatory measures coming from other countries.
We will, possibly, get more of a sense about whether some countries – including the UK – will enjoy reprieves from the tariffs.
To paraphrase Churchill, this isn’t the end of the trade war, or even the beginning of the end – perhaps just the end of the beginning.
Actors, directors and celebrity friends have paid tribute to Val Kilmer, after he died aged 65.
The California-born star of Top Gun, Batman and Heat died of pneumonia on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes told the Associated Press.
She said Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered.
Tributes flooded in after reports broke of the actor’s death, with No Country For Old Men star Josh Brolin among the first to share their memories.
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2:49
Watch: Val Kilmer in his most iconic roles
He wrote on Instagram: “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those.
“I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”
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Kyle Maclachlan, who co-starred with Kilmer in the 1991 biopic The Doors, wrote on social media: “You’ll always be my Jim. See you on the other side my friend.”
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Michael Mann, who directed Kilmer in 1995’s Heat, also paid tribute in a statement, saying: “I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.
“After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”
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Heat co-star Danny Trejo also called Kilmer “a great actor, a wonderful person, and a dear friend of mine” on Instagram.
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Cher, who once dated the actor, said on X that “U Were Funny, crazy, pain in the ass, GREAT FRIEND… BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness”.
Lifelong friend and director of Twixt, Francis Ford Coppola said: “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life.
“He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know – I will always remember him.”
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The Top Gun account on X also said it was remembering Kilmer, who starred as Iceman in both the 1986 original and 2022 sequel, and “whose indelible cinematic mark spanned genres and generations”.
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Elon Musk has called reports that he will leave his government role in the coming months “fake news”.
A senior White House official previously told NBC News, Sky’s US partner network, that Donald Trump had discussed the Tesla and X boss transitioning back to the private sector at a cabinet meeting last month.
Image: The Tesla boss has headed DOGE since 20 January. File pic: Reuters
After reports emerged of the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was “garbage” and added: “Elon Musk and President Trump have both publicly stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete.”
Mr Musk added in response on X: “Yeah, fake news.”
NBC News reported that the official said Mr Musk would leave at the end of his 130 days as a special government employee.
That would be 30 May, but it is unclear if the billionaire businessman will indeed leave on that date.
Previously, the White House said that as a temporary organisation, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) would be terminated on 4 July next year – the 250th anniversary of the US.
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It comes days after Mr Musk said some members of his DOGE team were getting death threats on a daily basis.
Mr Muskhad drawn criticism over his efforts to downsize the US federal government.
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0:36
‘Elon Musk has got to go’
In just weeks, entire agencies were dismantled, and tens of thousands of workers from the 2.3 million federal workforce have been fired or have agreed to leave their jobs.
A number of lawsuits were filed in state and federal courts over cuts recommended by DOGE.