Sadd The Sexist

By TOM NEWTON DUNN
Defence Editor

SADDAM Hussein is a sexist pig who believes wives should cook, clean and be kept in check by their husbands, his guards have revealed.

The captured tyrant is also fanatical about cleanliness, loves crisps and Raisin Bran Crunch cereal, and is a fan of late US president Ronald Reagan.

The fresh insight into the Butcher of Baghdad's life as a prisoner was given by five US soldiers who have been his personal jailers at a secret military compound for nine months.

They revealed that despite facing the gallows, 68-year-old Saddam is STILL convinced he is president of Iraq and will one day be restored to power.

The despot made a point of learning their names, took an interest in their lives and chatted to them in broken English.

Monster's munch ... Cheetos and Raisin Brwon

He often offered fatherly advice to the soldiers, aged between 19 and 25. But he revealed his sexist side when GI Sean O'Shea told him he was not married.

O'Shea, 19, said Saddam “started telling me what to do”.

The soldier added: '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'.

The mass killer then grinned, made a 'spanking' gesture, laughed and went back to washing his clothes in a sink.

Tyrant in the home ... Saddam, wife Sajiba (sitting) and family

The guards speaking with the Pentagon's permission told the American version of GQ magazine that the monster has turned into a clean freak. He keeps everything around him spotless. He washes his hands after every handshake. And he even uses baby wipes to clean his meal trays, utensils and tables before eating.

Guard Jesse Dawson, 25, said: 'He has germophobia, or whatever you call it.'

The tyrant has developed several other strange obsessions.

He insists on munching cheese-flavoured American crisps named Cheetos and the more familiar Doritos.

And one of his greatest concerns is whether he will get his favourite Raisin Bran Crunch, a Kellogg's cereal sold in Britain as All-Bran Sultana Bran for breakfast.

Tamed tyrant ... Saddam in his pants

He told soldier O'Shea he would NOT eat Froot Loops, another US brand similar to our Honey Loops but flavoured with fruit. Saddam happily chews fish and chicken for dinner but refuses beef.

He was given a treadmill so he could keep fit in his cell but does not use it. Instead, he asked for a table-tennis table but his plea was refused.

After years of slaughtering hundreds of thousands of his own people, Saddam now writes poetry and cares for birds in the prison yard.

He also plays at being a good Muslim by praying five times a day. He keeps a copy of the Koran that he claims he found in rubble near the underground hideout from which he was pulled 18 months ago.

The magazine says: 'He proudly showed it to the boys as it was burned around the edges and had a bullet hole.'

The soldiers said Saddam's favourite topic of conversation is politics, particularly US leaders.

He rated the two George Bushes senior and junior 'no good'. Bill Clinton was 'OK.' But he was full of praise for Ronald Reagan.

On the Bushes ... 'The Bush father and son no good. Reagan, good' Picture: REUTERS

GI Dawson said: 'He'd always be like, Bush is no good. And then hed be like, 'Reagan? Reagan and me, good.' He talked about how Reagan sold him planes and helicopters and stuff, and basically funded his war against Iran.

He said, 'I wish things were still like when Ronald Reagan was president.' And I said, 'Yeah, I wish they were, too, because then I wouldn't be here'.

When told Reagan had died of Alzheimer's, a sombre Saddam fell silent for a moment then said: 'Yes, this happens'

Soldier O'Shea said: 'He'd always say, 'The Cleeenton, he's OK. The Bush father, son, no good.' But he wanted to be friends with them. Towards the end, he was saying that he doesn't hold any hard feelings and he just wanted to talk to Bush, to make peace with him.

'He thought Bush could forgive and forget about what has happened. He said, 'He knows I have nothing, no mass weapons. He knows he'll never find them'.

Saddam, who denied any links with Osama Bin Laden, also told his guards that when Allied forces invaded Iraq in March 2003, he tried to flee in a TAXI cab.

He revealed US jets attacked the palace to which he intended to travel rather than the one he was in. Corporal Jonathan Reese, 22, said: 'He started laughing. He goes, 'America, they dumb. They bomb wrong palace'.

The fallen dictator also told angrily how he was captured after he was betrayed by the only man who knew where he was a confidant paid a fortune to stay silent.

Soldier Dawson said: 'He was really mad about that.'

He compared himself to Jesus, how Judas told on Jesus. He was like, 'That's how it was for me'.

Saddam claimed he did not always conceal himself in his hidey-hole. He said he also used a nearby house but scurried back underground whenever Allied troops approached.

He insisted all his actions, including the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which sparked the first Gulf War, were for the good of ordinary Iraqis.

And he said he was PROUD sons Uday and Qusay 'died for their country' in the second conflict.

Saddam believed '100 per cent' he was still the liberated nation's 'president' and even invited the guards to stay with him once he was restored to power.

He said: 'I'll show you around my country. You are like sons to me. It's not beautiful now but will be when I'm back in charge.'

The soldiers reservists from the 103rd Armor Regiment were chosen to serve at the compound where Saddam was a detainee. The assignment was so secret they could not tell their own families.

The GIs told of orders that Saddam must not be harmed while in US custody. And panic erupted when the brute fell over during one of his twice-weekly showers.

One soldier had to help him back to his cell, while another carried his underwear.