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#74 Saddam's favorite guard: The American who spent 8 hours a day for 6 months guarding and talking with the dictator until his exe*cu*tion
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Imagine being a 19 year old soldier and you get selected to guard Saddam Hussein during his final months of life.
The Army may have plucked this play right out of the Silence of the Lambs movie script: Was "Tucker" their Agent Starling?
8 hours a day sitting with, at the time, public enemy number one, a man who committed unspeakable acts, atrocities, and directed many others to do the same, sits in front of a 19 year old American soldier day in and day out for months. Eventually, the two talk.
For "Tucker" (Not even close to his real name) it was his reality. I knew this guy for a few years before I ever knew the stories he tells me on this episode.
Some may get mad hearing these stories, but remember, human beings build bonds when they are in close quarters. Jokes are shared. Stories of home life are told. Grandfatherly advice is given. Great manipulators groom the eager ear. Dictators contort stories into falsehoods. A caged man can seem less and less of a threat the more words he speaks.
"Tucker" opens up about all of it. Many of you will be surprised to learn what the trial and final moments of Saddam's life were like through the eyes of his favorite American guard.
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