Saddam's Boy

Was Ronald Reagan. From Reuters:

"Saddam Hussein likes Doritos, washes his hands compulsively and thinks fondly of the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan, according to American soldiers who guarded him and tell their story in the July issue of GQ magazine.

"The jailed former Iraqi leader described how Reagan, who was president during the time of Iraq's 1980-88 war with Iran, sold him planes and helicopters. 'Reagan and me, good,' Saddam said, according to the article by Lisa DePaulo in the July issue that goes on sale June 28.

"'He said, "I wish things were like when Ronald Reagan was still president,"' said one of the soldiers who guarded him."

Too bad the ex-prez isn't around to stand trial with his old Iraqi pal. But then, that part of Saddam's tyranny isn't going to be brought up in court, 'else co-conspirators like Rumsfeld would be in the dock. Still, it's nice to see a mass murderer fondly recall one of his own. Old criminals are among the most sentimental -- think of all that they share!

I wonder if Saddam, while smoking a cigar, laughs to himself, knowing that many of the brutal tactics he endorsed and which landed him in jail are currently being carried out by some of the same thugs who once worked for him.

"I understand that these men need jobs," Saddam reportedly told an American guard. "But they are wasting their talents. Torture is an art, and you Americans don't understand our methods of extracting information, or simply making the dogs wish they had never been born. If only Cheney would release me, I would be of enormous help to you. I would show you how it's done and how to hide it. I'd end this insurgency in a week. But he and his president are blinded by their arrogance. This is a pity. Only my dear, departed friend Reagan truly understood."