A FAMILY BODYGUARD TALKS

In the interview, he provided previously undisclosed details of how Iraq's ruling family grappled with the shock of falling from power.

Saddam Hussein's own astonishment was obvious on Friday, April 11, Abu Tiba said, 48 hours after U.S. troops toppled Saddam's government and his most prominent statue in Baghdad. Saddam and his sons attended Friday prayers at the Abu Haditha mosque in Adhamiya. Word spread quickly among the worshipers, and a crowd gathered around them outside after prayers were over.

An old woman in a black abaya walked up to Saddam and berated him with a boldness that, days earlier, could have gotten any Iraqi killed.

"What have you done to us?" she demanded.

Iraq's once all-powerful leader smacked his forehead with his open palm and pleaded for understanding.

"What could I do?" he asked the woman. "I trusted my commanders. . . . They have broken the oath they took upon themselves to protect Iraq. We hope we will be back in power and everything will be fixed."...

Abu Tiba provided new details about the movements of Saddam and his sons during and just after the war. Among them:

- The initial U.S. missile attack of the war -- a March 20 strike intended to kill Saddam and his top aides in a farmland area in the south of Baghdad -- missed badly. The intended targets were nowhere near, staying in private houses scattered around the city.

- A U.S. attack on April 7, in which four tons of bombs were dropped on Mansour, a residential neighborhood, came close to killing Saddam and his sons, destroying homes and reportedly killing 14 civilians only 10 minutes after the Husseins left the area. But the incident was a sting by Saddam against one of his own officers, whom he later had executed for allegedly helping the Americans target the Iraqi leader.

Fascinating story - read the whole thing here.