I don't suppose he will be singing Oh Tannenbaum along with Adolf?
Posted on 01/03/2007 9:59:52 AM PST by presidio9
Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was an avid reader, fed birds and told jokes while he was in US custody, an American military nurse who looked after him said in interviews with US media.
Robert Ellis, 56, an operating room nurse assigned to Saddam during his US military detention, described a courteous, contemplative figure in stark contrast to the brutal reputation Saddam earned during his rule over Iraq.
"He basically talked about his wife, and his children," Ellis told CNN on Monday.
"He was an avid reader. Loved to read and write. He had a lot of stories that he had written. He had a pamphlet that he wrote in every day and then when time came to visit him he'd read things to me," the army reservist said.
The master sergeant said he had strict orders to ensure Saddam stayed alive while in US hands.
"That was my job: to keep him alive and healthy, so they could kill him at a later date," Ellis recounted in an interview from his home in Normandy, Missouri with the St Louis Post-Dispatch published on Sunday.
Saddam was convicted of crimes against humanity and executed by hanging on Saturday, an end that did not sit well with Ellis.
"I was kind of disappointed (by the execution)," Ellis told CNN.
"I thought that they would more or less put him in jail for the rest of his life to kind of stem some of the violence that I knew was going to take place," he said.
When Saddam at one point was allowed short walks outside, the former president would feed birds pieces of bread saved from his meals, the nurse told the St Louis newspaper. Saddam also watered a plot of weeds.
"He said he was a farmer when he was young and he never forgot where he came from," Ellis told the paper.
Ellis said he did not believe Saddam was lonely while in detention "because he was jovial at times."
Saddam "had a good sense of humor. You know, made jokes, you know. And he spent most of his time reading, and praying," he said.
Ellis said he monitored Saddam's health from January 2004 to August 2004, visiting him twice a day, giving him medicine daily, checking his blood pressure and temperature and ensuring he was receiving enough food and water.
Guards referred to Saddam by the code name "Victor," he said.
Saddam went on a hunger strike at one point, refusing to eat when guards slid food through the slot on the bottom of his cell door. But when guards starting opening the door, Saddam dropped his hunger strike.
"He refused to be fed like a lion," Ellis said.
At no time did Saddam display hostility toward him, Ellis said, but his patient did ask him why the United States had led an invasion of Iraq in 2003.
"He said everything he did was for Iraq," Ellis told the St Louis newspaper.
"One day when I went to see him, he asked why we invaded. Well, he made gestures like shooting a machine gun and asked why soldiers came and shot up the place. He said the laws in Iraq were fair and the weapons inspectors didn't find anything.
"I said, 'That's politics. We soldiers don't get caught up in that sort of thing.'"
Saddam never spoke of dying and unlike his defiant, angry appearances at his trial proceedings, he rarely complained, Ellis said.
"When he was with me, he was in a different environment," he said. "I posed no threat. In fact, I was there to help him, and he respected that."
Ellis had mixed feelings about his role, knowing he was treating a patient who would likely be put to death.
"I knew all along what they were going to do. This went against my grain as a nurse, but as a soldier -- well, that was my job."
Also, I'm told he really loved Doritos. Such a terrible waste.
Oh, yeah. He was such a quiet neighbor. He once gave my son a football. He helped a grandmother across the street. But then, there was that shredder thing.
Some people say that I'm a bad guy
They may be right, they may be right!
But its not as if I dont try
I just f*** up!
Try as I might.
But I can change, I can change!!!
I can learn to keep my promises, I swear it!
I'll open up my heart and I will share it!
Any minute now I will be born again!
Yes I can change, I can change!!!
I know I've been a sodding little bastard
La la la la la lalala!
*hectic*
I like to kill, I like to mate, a seventh saint, but ITS OK
CAUSE I CAN CHANGE!!!!!!!
*sigh*
Its not my fault that Im so evil
Its society, society.
You see, my parents were sometimes abusive
And it made a prick of me!
But I can change, I can change!
I can learn to keep my promises I know it!
La la la la la lalala!!
I'll open up my heart and I will show it!
Any minute now I will be born again!
Satan: But what if you never change?
What if you remain a sandy little butthole?
Saddam:Hey Satan!
Dont be such a twit
Mother Teresa wont have shit on me!
Just watch, just watch me change here I go Im changing!!!
Hey!
HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY!!!
Ah!
*whistling solo*
Dee da tlee ta tlee ta tlee tlaa tlaa...
Heeeeeeey Satan!
I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow-white turtle doves
I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I'd like to hold it in my arms
And keep it company
I'd like to see the world for once
All standing hand in hand
And hear them echo through the hills
For peace throughout the land
That's the song I hear
Let the world sing today
A song of peace that echoes on
And never goes away
Oh yeah - the guy was a regular St. Francis the Sissy.
That was good. :)
I know this may be hard for freepers to believe, but I suspect the reporter is manipulating the quotes in this story to presnnt a certain point of view.
Other news articles have quoted this medical soldier also, and they don't paint such a positive picture of Saddam.
A list of names of those to be fed into the plastics shredder, no doubt.
I don't suppose he will be singing Oh Tannenbaum along with Adolf?
I never hurt anyone in my whole life. When I said Saddam's
execution was too humane I was called evil.
"Yes, now he can expand on his benevolence by feeding the worms."
BRIILIANT, Brilliant!
Bird and children, children and birds
so innocent and easy to feed
If not for the fact that these birds can fly
I'd feed them into a plastics shredder.
Accused stand I of crimes immoral
of war and death and destruction
Oh how little of power they know,
it's copious blood of seduction.
.... that drips out of my plastic shredder.
In days of old when men were bold
and shredders weren't invented
Torture and rape room and prisons for young
would amuse me until shredders were invented. -S. Hussein.
Well, I can certainly understand that. If there is anyone who has seen the effects of lions and eating, it would have to be him.
"And Hitler loved Eva ... so what?"
Hitler was also a vegetarian and loved dogs. He just wasn't a Jewish people person.
BACKGROUND MUSIC! WHERE is the background music?
You know; Vivaldi's "Spring"?
Ya can't have a big "Oooooooh" story without Vivaldi!
Oh, yeah, and the graphic of Saddam in his tutu. Gotta have that in there, too.
Trying.......to......squuueeeeeze...........tear...........
uggg...Not going to happen...
Just like passing a kidney stone would.
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