John Maguire—Former CIA officer and deputy chief of Iraqi Operations Group
Kanan Makiya—Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, Brandeis University
Dave Manners—Former CIA station chief, Amman
Abby Marsh—Professor of Psychology, Georgetown University
Rod Middleton—FBI agent who worked on the interrogation of Saddam Hussein
Tom Neer—FBI behavioral profiler who worked on the interrogation of Saddam Hussein
Najeeb al-Nuaimi—Member of Saddam Hussein’s defense team
Jerrold Post—Founded the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior at the CIA, and “profiled” Saddam Hussein
Shameem Rassam—Former TV host in Baghdad during Saddam Hussein’s rule
Adam Rogerson—Specialist with the Super Twelve
Jeff Rogerson—Father of Adam Rogerson
Sammy*—One of Saddam Hussein’s interpreters while in U.S. custody
Joseph Sassoon—Professor of Arab Studies, Oxford University and Georgetown University
Ali Shukri—Former head of Jordanian Royal Court
Paul Sphar—Specialist with the Super Twelve
Chris Tasker—Specialist with the Super Twelve
Steve Tasker—Father of Chris Tasker
William Wiley—Advised Saddam Hussein’s defense team as part of the Regime Crimes Liaison Office (RCLO)
Kevin Woods—Historian, Institute for Defense Analyses
Judith Yaphe—Former senior Middle East analyst for the CIA
BOOKS
Aburish, Said. Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge. Bloomsbury, 2012.
Balaghi, Shiva. Saddam Hussein: A Biography. Greenwood Biographies, 2006.
Bashir, Ala. The Insider: Trapped in Saddam’s Brutal Regime. Little, Brown, 2005.
Cockburn, Andrew, and Patrick Cockburn. Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein. Harper Perennial, 2000.
Coughlin, Con. Saddam: His Rise and Fall. Harper Perennial, 2005.
Duelfer, Charles. Hide and Seek: The Search for Truth in Iraq. Public Affairs, 2009.
Ellis, Robert, with Marianna Riley. Caring for Victor: A U.S. Army Nurse and Saddam Hussein. Reedy Press, 2009.
Hare, Robert D. Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of Psychopaths Among Us. The Guilford Press, 1999.
Hussein, Saddam. Zabiba and the King. Virtualbookworm.com, 2004.
Karsh, Efraim, and Inari Rautsi. Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography. Diane Books, 1991.
Kiehl, Kent A. The Psychopath Whisperer: The Science of Those Without Conscience. Crown Publishers, 2014.
Mackey, Sandra. The Reckoning: Iraq and the Legacy of Saddam Hussein. W. W. Norton, 2002.
Maddox, Eric, with Davin Seay. Mission: Black List #1: The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein—As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture. HarperCollins, 2008.
Makiya, Kanan. Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq. University of California Press, 1989.
Newton, Michael A., and Michael P. Scharf. Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein. St. Martin’s Press, 2008.
Post, Jerrold M., ed. The Psychological Assessment of Political Leaders with Profiles of Saddam Hussein and Bill Clinton. The University of Michigan Press, 2003.
Russell, Lt. Col. Steve. We Got Him! A Memoir of the Hunt and Capture of Saddam Hussein. Pocket Books, 2012.
Salbi, Zainab, and Laurie Becklund. Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam. Avery, 2006.
Woods, Kevin, Williamson Murray, and Thomas Holaday, with Mounir Elkhamri. Saddam’s War: An Iraqi Military Perspective on the Iran-Iraq War. National Defense University Press, 2009.
Woods, Kevin, David Palkki, and Mark Stout, eds. The Saddam Tapes: The Inner Workings of a Tyrant’s Regime, 1978–2001. Cambridge University Press, 2011.
ARTICLES/REPORTS
Agence France Presse. “Man Who Oversaw Hanging Recalls Dictator’s End.” December 27, 2013.
Anderson, Jon Lee. “Saddam’s Ear: An Iraqi Doctor Had a Unique Role in Saddam Hussein’s Life.” The New Yorker, May 5, 2003.
Associated Press. “Bush: Saddam’s Execution Will Not End Violence in Iraq.” December 30, 2006.
Associated Press. “Saddam Hussein’s Tomb Destroyed as Battle for Tikrit Rages.” March 16, 2015.
Associated Press. “Thirty Five Killed in Bombing Near Iraqi Shrine.” August 10, 2006.
Associated Press. “U.S. Troops Among Nearly 50 Dead in Iraq.” August 13, 2006.
Bennett, Brian, and Michael Weisskopf. “The Sum of Two Evils.” Time, May 25, 2003.
“Bomb Kills Head of Saddam’s Tribe.” BBC.com, June 10, 2008.
Bowden, Mark. “Tales of the Tyrant.” The Atlantic, May 2002.
Burns, John F. “Hussein Video Grips Iraq; Attacks Go On.” The New York Times, December 31, 2006.
Burns, John F., and Kirk Semple. “Hussein Is Sentenced to Death by Hanging.” The New York Times, November 6, 2006.
“Bush Challenged to ‘Duel’ with Saddam.” BBC News, October 3, 2002.
Bush, George W. “President Bush’s Statement on Execution of Saddam Hussein.” December 30, 2006.
Cordesman, Anthony. “Iraq’s Sectarian and Ethnic Violence and the Evolving Insurgency.” Center for Strategic and International Studies report, December 14, 2006.
“Declassified FBI Notes on Interrogation Sessions with Saddam Hussein.” Available at www.fbi.gov.
Duelfer, Charles. “Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the Director of Central Intelligence on Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction.” September 30, 2004.
Esterbrook, John. “Rumsfeld: It Would Be a Short War.” CBSNews.com, November 15, 2002.
“FBI Interrogation of Ali Hasan Al-Majid Al-Tikriti.” January–June 2004. Available at www.fbi.gov.
“FBI Prosecutive Report of Investigation Concerning Saddam Hussein.” March 10, 2005. Available at www.fbi.gov.
Filkins, Dexter. “In Hometown, Hussein’s Glory Is Quickly Gone.” The New York Times, April 15, 2003.
“Genocide in Iraq: The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds.” Human Rights Watch report, July 1, 1993.
Habjouqa, Tanya. “Saddam H. Christ.” Vice Magazine, March 1, 2007.
“Iraqi Leader’s Koran Written in Blood.” BBC News, September 25, 2000.
Joscelyn, Thomas. “Saddam’s Stenographers.” The Weekly Standard, July 7, 2009.
Joshi, Vijay. “Bomb Kills Two U.S. Soldiers in Baghdad.” The Washington Post, August 12, 2006.
Martin, Paul. “ ‘As I led him to the gallows, I hoped Saddam Hussein would show remorse. There was nothing’—Dr Mowaffak al Rubaie on the Dictator’s Last Moments.” The Independent, April 8, 2013.
McDonald, Mark, and Jonathan S. Landay. “Saddam Not Found When Marines Knocked at Tikrit Palace.” Knight Ridder, April 14, 2003.
“Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.” United States State Department report, September 1999.
“Saddam Outburst Follows Hidden Testimony in Trial.” USA Today, December 6, 2005.
“Tour of Prison Reveals the Last Days of Saddam Hussein.” CNN.com, March 27, 2008.
NOTES
CHAPTER 1
The account of Steve Hutchinson deciding to enlist following 9/11 is based on interviews I conducted with him.
The account of the soldiers’ arrival in Iraq is based on interviews I conducted with Steve Hutchinson, Adam Rogerson, Paul Sphar, and Chris Tasker.
CHAPTER 2
Upon arrival . . . containerized housing units: Author’s interview with Steve Hutchinson, September 3, 2015.
It was now the summer of 2006 . . . troops were being rushed in: Vijay Joshi, “Bomb Kills Two U.S. Soldiers in Baghdad,” The Washington Post, August 12, 2006.
Just days before . . . blood and collect body parts: From account of the bombing in “Thirty Five Killed in Bombing Near Iraqi Shrine,” Associated Press, August 10, 2006.
In a peculiar way . . . had i
t pretty good: Author’s interview with Adam Rogerson, May 18, 2015.
“Our squad was good” . . . “twelve-mile ruck marches”: Ibid.
CHAPTER 3
The twelve MPs were tasked with . . . hemorrhaging wound: Author’s interview with Chris Tasker, February 21, 2015.
Many of the squad members . . . “had to see them”: Author’s interview with Adam Rogerson, May 15, 2015.
Already in his mid-thirties . . . perfect foil: The descriptions of Perkins and his unfortunate episode on patrol are based on interviews with Adam Rogerson, Steve Hutchinson, and Paul Sphar. I include this scene not to embarrass Perkins (which is a pseudonym), but rather because it provides a revealing illustration of the unforgiving nature of life in a combat environment among a group of young men.
After one especially long and hot patrol . . . “I’d just had enough”: Author’s interview with Adam Rogerson, September 2, 2015.
Their transition from an ordinary squad . . . how did I get chosen to do this?: The soldiers’ accounts of how they were informed of their change in mission varied, perhaps because they were first informed in smaller groups by their noncommissioned officers as opposed to receiving the notification at the same time as a larger group. My description is a composite account based on the recollections of Adam Rogerson, Chris Tasker, Paul Sphar, Steve Hutchinson, and the February 2, 2007, Army oral history interview with Tucker Dawson.
CHAPTER 4
The episode of Steve Hutchinson being startled by the cat while on overnight guard duty at the IHT is based on interviews I conducted with him on April 28 and 29, 2015, and September 3, 2015. The description of the subterranean “crypt” under the IHT where Saddam and the codefendants were held, and where the Super Twelve stayed, when trial was in session is based on interviews I conducted with Adam Rogerson, Chris Tasker, Paul Sphar, and Steve Hutchinson.
The IHT was a massive facility . . . “you were so inclined”: Author’s interview with William Wiley, March 12, 2015.
According to Baath Party records . . . “obtained from them”: “FBI Prosecutive Report of Investigation Concerning Saddam Hussein,” 36.
Ali Hassan al-Majid may have been responsible: Cockburn and Cockburn, Out of the Ashes, 144.
He’d even donated blood: “Iraqi Leader’s Koran Written in Blood,” BBC News, September 25, 2000.
“I wish America would bring its Army”: Woods, Palkki, and Stout, eds., The Saddam Tapes, 116–17.
“He looked majestic and peaceful”: Author’s interview with Paul Sphar, September 17, 2015.
“the most traumatized leader I have ever studied”: Author’s interview with Dr. Jerrold Post, January 8, 2015.
CHAPTER 5
Awja means the “turning”: Coughlin, Saddam: His Rise and Fall, 2.
It was rife with bandits: Ibid.
“the badlands” . . . “cunning and secretive”: Aburish, Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge, 13.
A Middle East scholar . . . “mischievous young boy”: The account of Saddam’s brother’s death and his birth is based on author’s interview with Dr. Amatzia Baram, January 26, 2015.
cramped one-room mudbrick dwelling: Aburish, Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge, 15.
Forced to navigate the dusty alleyways: Karsh and Rautsi, Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography, 9.
“son of the alleys”: Aburish, Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge, 17.
“Hassan the Liar” . . . “son of a dog”: Karsh and Rautsi, Saddam Hussein: A Political Biography, 10.
“When Saddam was a child . . . If he ever was a child”: Author’s interview with Judith Yaphe, January 27, 2015.
CHAPTER 6
The description of Chris Tasker’s hometown of Amherst, Ohio, is based on my visit there. The account of Tasker’s childhood is based on multiple interviews I conducted with Chris as well as with his father, Steve Tasker. The story of Chris Tasker and Adam Rogerson receiving a speeding ticket in Kentucky on their visit home to Ohio is based on multiple interviews I conducted with both of them.
CHAPTER 7
It was located on a small island . . . columns and ceilings: The description of “the Rock” is based on the Army oral history interviews with the Super Twelve, as well as author’s multiple interviews with Adam Rogerson, Chris Tasker, Paul Sphar, and Steve Hutchinson.
“yes, sirs” and “no, sirs”: The description of the evolution of the soldiers’ interactions with Saddam—from awkward and tense to relaxed and familiar—is based on the Army oral history interviews and author’s multiple interviews with Adam Rogerson, Chris Tasker, Paul Sphar, and Steve Hutchinson.
“I was like a little kid”: Army oral history interview with Tucker Dawson, February 2, 2007.
Hutch, veteran of . . . “violent people in the world”: Army oral history interview with Steve Hutchinson, February 2, 2007, as well as author’s interview on September 3, 2015.
Sphar, in particular, felt cognitive dissonance . . . let me come back!: The account of Saddam asking Steve Hutchinson about his heritage and telling Hutchinson and Paul Sphar about threatening his teacher is from the Army oral history interview with Hutchinson, as well as author’s multiple interviews with Paul Sphar and Steve Hutchinson. The dialogue that has been re-created in this scene, and all of the scenes involving the Super Twelve’s interactions with Saddam, is based on their memory of what was said. The dialogue is not verbatim, but does capture the essence of what was said—and how it was said—to the best of the soldiers’ recollections.
Curiously, he’d always stop tuning: Army oral history interview with Art Perkins, February 2, 2007.
If the water wasn’t boiling: Army oral history interview with Jeff Price, February 2, 2007.
Khairallah was a former Army officer: Coughlin, Saddam: His Rise and Fall, 15.
An Iraqi woman: Salbi and Becklund, Between Two Worlds: Escape from Tyranny, 104.
CHAPTER 8
This chapter is based on footage of the event that is widely available on YouTube. My interpreter, Omar Feikeiki, provided translation.
Baath Party’s secretary-general . . . spare his life: Coughlin, Saddam: His Rise and Fall, 155–63.
Saddam was a devoted student of Stalin: Bowden, “Tales of the Tyrant,” The Atlantic.
The condemned included a deputy: Coughlin, Saddam: His Rise and Fall, 160–61.
CHAPTER 9
Tasker had been just days away . . . training to use: Author’s interview with Chris Tasker, October 21, 2015.
U.S. secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld: Report by John Esterbrook, CBS News, November 15, 2002.
The cigar tastes better after the fruit: Army oral history interview with Steve Hutchinson, February 2, 2007.
“someone in his security detail”: Author’s interview with Steve Hutchinson, September 3, 2015.
“a shitty old bike like you’d find at Goodwill”: Author’s interview with Paul Sphar, November 2014.
Saddam patted one leg . . . “from Sesame Street”: Author’s interview with Chris Tasker, February 21, 2015.
I escape from jail before: Saddam seems to have enjoyed telling the story of his failed assassination attempt on then prime minister Abd al-Karim Qasim, and his ensuing escape that included swimming across the Tigris. His retelling of the story in this chapter is based on Army oral history interviews with James Martin, Steve Hutchinson, Tucker Dawson, and Andre Jackson, all on February 2, 2007, as well as numerous interviews I conducted with Steve Hutchinson and Paul Sphar. Additionally, Saddam joked to a number of the soldiers about “riding his pony,” including Chris Tasker, Jeff Price, and Paul Sphar.
He’d enjoyed Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea: Duelfer, Hide and Seek: The Search for Truth in Iraq, 405; and Bowden, “Tales of the Tyrant,” The Atlantic.
One of Iraq’s most decorated generals: Author’s interview with Ra’ad al-Hamdani, July 30, 2015.
CHAPTER 10
A number of books, and countless articles, have been written about Saddam’s
capture, many of which I include in my list of sources. My account of Saddam’s capture is based on these materials, supplemented by more specific detail provided by a special operator who participated in the capture, over the course of a number of interviews with me.
“Saddam would never leave Iraq”: Author’s interview with Judith Yaphe, January 27, 2015.
“He was everywhere, yet nowhere” . . . they joked: Russell, We Got Him!, 293.
The palace complex: Some of the details on the Tikrit Palace are from Filkins, “In Hometown, Hussein’s Glory Is Quickly Gone,” The New York Times.
Where he had once swam and fished: Author’s interview with one of the special operators who was there, who wishes to remain anonymous, November 12, 2015.
As the burly special operators . . . patting his leg: The account of Saddam Hussein being led from his old palace in Tikrit to be transported to Baghdad following his capture is based on the author’s interview with one of the special operators who was there and who wishes to remain anonymous, March 17, 2015.
CHAPTER 11
The accounts of Saddam Hussein’s interrogation sessions by the FBI in this and subsequent chapters are based on the declassified FBI notes on the sessions, which are available at https://vault.fbi.gov. The National Geographic Inside documentary “Interrogating Saddam” also features extensive interviews with the lead interrogator, George Piro, and reenactments of the interrogation based on the materials declassified by the FBI. Finally, I conducted dozens of hours of interviews with members of the FBI interrogation team, including Jeff Green, Rod Middleton, Tom Neer, Todd Irinaga, and one who prefers to remain anonymous.
After they began settling in . . . crimes against humanity: Author’s multiple interviews with the CIA’s John Maguire and the FBI’s Jeff Green and Rod Middleton.
The Prisoner in His Palace Page 21