SADDAM LIKES JUNK FOOD AND REAGAN

Saddam's former American guards have spoken about their talkative charge:

Saddam Hussein loves Doritos, hates Froot Loops, admires President Reagan, thinks Clinton was "OK" and considers both Presidents Bush "no good." He talkhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifs a lot, worries about germs and insists he is still president of Iraq.

Now that he's powerless he comes across as a nice but strange guy:

Saddam was friendly toward his young guards and sometimes offered fatherly advice. When O'Shea told him he was not married, Saddam "started telling me what to do," recalled the soldier. "He was like, `You gotta find a good woman. Not too smart, not too dumb. Not too old, not too young. One that can cook and clean.'"

Then he smiled, made what O'Shea interpreted as a "spanking" gesture, laughed and went back to doing his laundry in the sink.

The soldiers also said Saddam was a "clean freak" who washed after shaking hands and used diaper wipes to clean meal trays, utensils and table before eating. "He had germophobia or whatever you call it," Dawson said.

The article said Saddam preferred Raisin Bran Crunch for breakfast, telling O'Shea, "No Froot Loops." He ate fish and chicken but refused beef.

For a time his favorite snack was Cheetos, and when that ran out, Saddam would "get grumpy," the story said. One day, guards substituted Doritos corn chips, and Saddam forgot about Cheetos. "He'd eat a family size bag of Doritos in 10 minutes," Dawson said.

Interesting.

Rory Carroll takes up the story for the Guardian but with a slightly different emphasis, and a bit of embellishing:

The guards said Saddam admired Reagan, whose administration fed Iraq intelligence and weapons in its war with Iran in the 1980s, and had said President Clinton was "OK".

The least Carroll could do is elaborate on the weapons provided by the Reagan administration.

Update: Australia's ABC provides a bit more detail:

The jailed former Iraqi leader described how Mr Reagan, who was president during the time of Iraq's 1980-88 war with Iran, sold him planes and helicopters.