‘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.
Read more:
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How the Iraq War unfolded
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.”
US
Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem
Stock markets around the world fell on Thursday after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs – with some economists now fearing a recession.
The US president announced tariffs for almost every country – including 10% rates on imports from the UK – on Wednesday evening, sending financial markets reeling.
While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.
Trump tariffs latest: US stock markets tumble
All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.
The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP
By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.
Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.
Worst one-day losses since COVID
As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.
It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.
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The latest numbers on tariffs
‘Trust in President Trump’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
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How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?
Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’
The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.
He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.
Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.
He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”
Read more:
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Tariffs about something more than economics: power
It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.
Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”
Tanking stock markets, collapsing world orders, devastating trade wars; economists with their hair ablaze are scrambling to keep up.
But as we try to make sense of Donald Trumps’s tariff tsunami, economic theory only goes so far. In the end this surely is about something more primal.
Power.
Understanding that may be crucial to how the world responds.
Yes, economics helps explain the impact. The world’s economy has after all shifted on its axis, the way it’s been run for decades turned on its head.
Instead of driving world trade, America is creating a trade war. We will all feel the impact.
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PM will ‘fight’ for deal with US
Donald Trump says he is settling scores, righting wrongs. America has been raped, looted and pillaged by the world trading system.
But don’t be distracted by the hyperbole – and if you think this is about economics alone, you may be missing the point.
Above all, tariffs give Donald Trump power. They strike fear into allies and enemies, from governments to corporations.
This is a president who runs his presidency like a medieval emperor or mafia don.
It is one reason why since his election we have seen what one statesman called a conga line of sycophants make their way to the White House, from world leaders to titans of industry.
The conga line will grow longer as they now redouble their efforts hoping to special treatment from Trump’s tariffs. Sir Keir Starmer among them.
President Trump’s using similar tactics at home, deploying presidential power to extract concessions and deter dissent in corporate America, academia and the US media. Those who offer favours are spared punishment.
His critics say he seeks a form power for the executive or presidential branch of government that the founding fathers deliberately sought to prevent.
Whether or not that is true, the same playbook of divide and rule through intimidation can now be applied internationally. Thanks to tariffs
Each country will seek exceptions but on Trump’s terms. Those who retaliate may meet escalation.
This is the unforgiving calculus for governments including our own plotting their next moves.
The temptation will be to give Trump whatever he wants to spare their economies, but there is a jeopardy that compounds the longer this goes on.
Read more:
Do Trump’s numbers on tariffs really add up?
Trump hits island home only to penguins with 10% tariffs
Could America’s traditional allies turn to China? Pic: AP
Malcolm Turnbull, the former Australian prime minister who coined the conga line comparison, put it this way: “Pretty much all the international leaders I have seen that have sucked up to Trump have been run over. The reality is if you suck up to bullies, whether it’s global affairs or in the playground, you just get more bullying.”
Trading partners may be able to mitigate the impact of these tariffs through negotiation, but that may only encourage this unorthodox president to demand ever more?
Ultimately the world will need a more reliable superpower than that.
In the hands of such a president, America cannot be counted on.
When it comes to security, stability and prosperity, allies will need to fend for themselves.
And they will need new friends. If Washington can’t be relied on, Beijing beckons.
America First will, more and more, mean America on its own.
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