The London Guardian reports on the captivity of Saddam Hussein in tomorrow's edition, a "dejected" and dispirited prisoner of the US military that holds him for the new Iraqi government. Michael Howard notes Saddam's new routine in his more modest digs:

Mr Amin, a longtime Iraqi human rights campaigner who had family members killed by the former regime, said he could not bring himself to speak to Saddam but observed that he was "in good health and being kept in good conditions".

However, Mr Amin said the former president "appeared demoralised and dejected".

Saddam is being held in a white-walled air-conditioned cell, three metres wide and four metres long, Mr Amin said. He is kept apart from the other prisoners, who can mix freely with each other during the daily three-hour exercise periods.

Lest anyone think that it's all bad for Saddam, he also has access to a library of 145 books, but in a bitterly ironic twist, they're mostly either novels or travel books, the latter of which Saddam is unlikely to ever need again in what's left of his life. He also gets to tend his garden during his outdoor exercise periods. He eats well, probably better than a good percentage of other Iraqis, and after losing a good deal of weight during his fugitive days and early captivity he's again putting some weight back on.

He also has taken up another hobby:

Since appearing in court, Saddam had taken to reading the Qur'an and writing poetry, Mr Amin said. "One of the poems is about George Bush, but I had no time to read it."

Saddam the Poet! Well, wonders never cease. Who knew that under all that genocidal lunacy beat the heart of a poet? In honor of the artistry of this misunderstood bard, Captain's Quarters invites you to submit poems you think Saddam would write, either about George Bush, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan, Jacques Chirac, America, the UN ... pretty much anything. I'll post the winners later on this week. We'll call it the Saddam Hussein Poetry Festival, and whenever Uncle Saddy comes up in the news, we'll trot out one or two of the poems to commemorate the event.

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» Sadaam, 21st Century Poet from InTheBullpen.com
While Sadaam Hussein sits in U.S. confinement, he has taken to writing poetry, reading books and eating muffins reports the London Guardian. In honor of Sadaam Hussein’s new found love of poetry, Captain Ed over at Captain’s Quarters is hosting a cont... [Read More]

Tracked on July 26, 2004 12:33 AM