https://magnus919.com/tags/iraq-war/Recent content in Iraq War on Notes from the Rabbit HoleHugoen-US© [Magnus Hedemark](https://github.com/magnus919)Fri, 13 Nov 2026 01:04:00 -0500https://magnus919.com/2026/11/some-of-us-were-crying-an-american-guards-farewell-to-saddam-hussein/Fri, 13 Nov 2026 01:04:00 -0500https://magnus919.com/2026/11/some-of-us-were-crying-an-american-guards-farewell-to-saddam-hussein/<p>“Just before he walked into the death house he turned around and said goodbye, and said that we were all his friends,” Specialist Adam Rogerson recalled. “Some of us were crying and he was sad.”</p> <p>The words come from a <a href="https://www.wpr.org/shows/to-the-best-of-our-knowledge/the-american-guards-who-kept-saddam-hussein-safe-until-his-execution">retrospective interview with Wisconsin Public Radio’s <em>To the Best of Our Knowledge</em></a>, describing an unexpected parting before Saddam Hussein’s execution on December 30, 2006. In that memory, an American soldier recalled feeling grief for the captive dictator he had been assigned to protect.</p>