The Prisoner in His Palace

Saddam Hussein and the Twelve Americans Who Guarded Him

By: Will Bardenwerper

Narrated by: Danny Campbell

In the tradition of In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song, this haunting, insightful, and surprisingly intimate portrait of Saddam Hussein provides “a brief, but powerful, meditation on the meaning of evil and power” (USA TODAY).

The “captivating” (Military Times) The Prisoner in His Palace invites us to take a journey with twelve young American soldiers in the summer of 2006. Shortly after being deployed to Iraq, they learn their assignment: guarding Saddam Hussein in the months before his execution.

Living alongside, and caring for, their “high value detainee and regularly transporting him to his raucous trial, many of the men begin questioning some of their most basic assumptions—about the judicial process, Saddam’s character, and the morality of modern war. Although the young soldiers’ increasingly intimate conversations with the once-feared dictator never lead them to doubt his responsibility for unspeakable crimes, the men do discover surprising new layers to his psyche that run counter to the media’s portrayal of him.

Woven from firsthand accounts provided by many of the American guards, government officials, interrogators, scholars, spies, lawyers, family members, and victims, The Prisoner in His Palace shows two Saddams coexisting in one person: the defiant tyrant who uses torture and murder as tools, and a shrewd but contemplative prisoner who exhibits surprising affection, dignity, and courage in the face of looming death.

In this thought-provoking narrative, Saddam, known as the “man without a conscience,” gets many of those around him to examine theirs. “A singular study exhibiting both military duty and human compassion” (Kirkus Reviews), The Prisoner in His Palace grants us “a behind-the-scenes look at history that’s nearly impossible to put down…a mesmerizing glimpse into the final moments of a brutal tyrant’s life” (BookPage).

riveting

outstanding. I highly recommend it. not a single paragraph that i did not find interesting.

Great book!

Amazon recommended this to me because I just read In Cold Blood and loved it. I was a little hesitant to read it because I'm not that interested in Saddam Hussein but I'm glad I did. This book is more about the psychological toll that guarding Saddam had on the American guards than a historical recounting of the dictator; although, it includes enough of Saddam's history for the reader to appreciate his gruesome rule. The author includes so much detail that you feel like you're in Iraq with the guards while also maintaining swift pacing. I'd definitely recommend it!

A man with a dual nature

The author does a fine job with stitching together the interviews that were conducted with several people close to Saddam Hussein. In particular, the author’s description of the 12 military servicemen (The Super 12) who guarded Saddam after his 2003 capture at his palace are very intriguing. These accounts describe the opposite portrait portrayed by the US media and US government officials of a mad, murderous, western-hating dictator. Although those descriptions were not inaccurate per se, they certainly did not describe the totality of the character of Saddam Hussein. In fact, the Super 12 became so close to Saddam after engaging with him on several friendly topics they discussed, in addition to playing chess, smoking cigars, and exchanging gifts with the former Iraqi president, that after his execution and desecration of of his body, they themselves felt betrayed, hurt, and traumatized by it. This was due mainly to the fact that they had considered Saddam by this time a friend and perhaps even like family. This is a suitable book for anyone looking to learn about the complexity of a man who can embody evil in one minute, but embody compassion the next.

I don't know what to say

Behind every prisoner, murderer ,monster, dictator, a hidden human and you just need find it

human and monster

I listened to this book with an open mind. it is very interesting on how the US soldiers developed a friendship with such a monster. But I guess even a monster has its charm.