Saddam ‘read poetry, fed the birds’ — AFP

I just can’t come up with an appropriate intro to this piece of garbage.

“He basically talked about his wife, and his children,'’ Sgt Ellis said on CNN today.

“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.

[…]

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,'’ Sgt Ellis told the paper.

He 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.

I love that he “never forgot where he came from.” I guess back on the old farm it was a common farming practice to use circular saws on the genitalia of men. Perhaps the rape rooms were in the barn with the animals?

To my knowledge, the AFP has yet to write as wonderfully touching an article about the death of Gerald Ford.