Saddam became the bird man of Baghdad

Published on Tuesday 2 January 2007 00:05

AN AMERICAN military nurse who cared for Saddam Hussein in jail said the deposed dictator saved bread crusts to feed birds and rarely complained to his captors.

Master Sergeant Robert Ellis looked after the former Iraqi dictator, from January 2004 until August 2005 at Camp Cropper, the compound near Baghdad where Saddam and other "high-value detainees" were held.

Sgt Ellis, 56, now a surgical theatre nurse in St Louis, said he was ordered to do whatever was needed to keep Saddam alive.

"That was my job: to keep him alive and healthy, so they could kill him at a later date," he said.

Sgt Ellis checked on Saddam twice a day and wrote a daily report on the former tyrant's physical and emotional condition.

Saddam, who was executed on Saturday, claimed that cigars and coffee kept his blood pressure down, and it seemed to work, the nurse said, adding that his captive would insist that he smoked with him.

"He had very good coping skills," Sgt Ellis said.

Saddam shared memories of happier times when his children were young. The former dictator described telling bedtime stories and giving his daughter medicine when she had a stomach ache.

When he was allowed short visits outside, Saddam would feed the birds crusts of bread saved from his meals. He also watered a dusty plot of weeds.

"He said he was a farmer when he was young and he never forgot where he came from," Sgt Ellis said.

When Sgt Ellis told Saddam he had to leave for America because his brother was dying, Saddam hugged him and said he would be his brother.

"I was there to help him, and he respected that," Sgt Ellis said.

Saddam never discussed dying and expressed no regrets about his rule.

"He said everything he did was for Iraq," Sgt Ellis said. "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.' "

Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein's eldest daughter, Raghad, yesterday made a surprise visit to a sit-in held by hundreds of her father's Jordanian supporters to condemn his execution.

The protesters, including Islamists and politicians, gathered in front of a union building chanting anti-American and pro-Saddam slogans.

There were also demonstrations against Saddam's execution in the Adhamiya district of Baghdad, in the Sunni stronghold of Samarra and in his home town Tikrit, which was sealed off for a third day.

• Two US soldiers were killed in an explosion in Iraq's Diyala province north-east of Baghdad on Sunday, the US military said in a statement yesterday.