Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

Analysis:

Here is another example of a commercial that is run as a new story. Not only does McDonalds get free airtime, but so do 3 major clothing companies. To top it off, the newscasters then engage in banter about whether this will increase the cost of food at McDonalds. Viewers might ask themselves, why not talk to people who critique marketing strategies, someone who might ask hard questions about why McDonalds is changing their look. Even the news reader mentions that Ronald McDonald recently got “a makeover.”

Story:

WZZM 13 News reader #1 – McDonalds wants to make a change to how you see its employees. The fast food chain asked high profile clothing designers like Armane, Tommy Hilfiger, and Sean P. Diddy Combs to come up with new uniform designs. McDonalds spokesman says the company wants its 300,000 workers to look stylish and trendy. Last month it gave Ronald McDonald a makeover, dressing him in a workout suit to promote healthy living and eating.

WZZM 13 News reader #2 – My only concern is how they are going to pass along the cost, wearing designer clothing, are you paying more for burgers?

WZZM 13 News reader #1 – They are going to have a $100 French fry. Designer fries.

Total Time: 52 seconds

Analysis:

This story is typical for what we have documented over the years when it comes to local elections. It is very short (17 seconds), doesn’t provide information about the candidates, and in this case misleads voters. The news reader says “The winners move on to the November 8 general election.” This is not necessarily true. If one candidate in each race wins 51% or more of the vote they automatically win. If there is no majority winner, then the run off will be between the 2 highest vote getters in the November 8 election. Lastly, channel 13 also says “A link to learn more about the candidates is available on our website.” If you go to their link, it just takes you to the County Clerk’s website and that just lists who is on the ballot and their mailing address. It should also be mentioned that on the same newscast (6pm) channel 13 ran a 4 minute and 20 second piece about spray on tan products.

Story:

WZZM 13 News reader – In the August Election Grand Rapids voters will decide who should be on the City Commission. Five people are running in the First Ward, three in the Second, and three people in the Third Ward. The winners move on to the November 8 general election. A link to learn more about the candidates is available on our website wzzm13.com.

Total time: 17 seconds

Analysis:

This is an example of how news sources use the transition phrase “meanwhile” to link two different stories, regardless of any actual connection. In this particular piece, the first, and longest part of the story consists of troops in Iraq celebrating the Fourth of July with music, games and food. While not conveying any meaningful information about the situation in Iraq, this story does present positive images of US soldiers which the viewer is likely to sympathize with. The story than transitions to Bush giving a speech in West Virginia. After playing a short clip of Bush’s speech, the newsreader then uses “meanwhile” to introduce a few lines about the protests in Scotland. The protests are framed as a statement against President Bush and the G8. While the story does not mention what the protesters are demanding nor how many there are, the viewer is told how many police are on hand to control them. The viewer is also told that that the G8 leaders will be talking about “eliminating poverty and cleaning up the environment.” Due to the lack of information provided about the protesters and the way that this story is framed within a longer piece that is rather sympathetic to US troop sand President Bush, it is likely that this piece may prejudice viewers against the thousands of people protesting at the G8 summit.

Story:

WZZM 13 Newsanchor – ABC’s David Kerley reports from Bagdhad.

Reporter – Some of the T-Patchers, Texas troops, were dancing. The volleyball was intense. The blender was whipping up non-alcoholic drinks, and they said the BBQ was “tasty.”

Reporter – It’s not like this everyday is it?

Soldier – Negative, haha.

Reporter – This wasn’t American Idol tryouts, just a little karaoke for the American 4th of July celebration. So it’s an All-American 4th of July with hot dogs, hamburgers, and horseshoes, but the real morale booster is the swimming pool.

Soldier #2 – Of course the pool’s the best part! Being around with everyone else is a good part too.

Reporter – These soldiers at Camp Slayer donated and volunteered to get this pool open, right in the middle of one of Saddam Hussein’s former palaces. Combat boots were replaced, in some cases, with bikinis.

Soldier #3: Any day that we can come out here and do this kinda stuff is Fourth of July…it really is.

Reporter – For many of these soldiers, Americans Declaration nearly 230 years ago has meaning here.

Soldier #4 – Our independence…I have a flag in my room; it says “Fourth of July”…it’s great to be, it’s great to be an American.

Soldier #5 – It really mattered to you, the whole freedom, the whole everything. And what we’re doing here is a special moment, but it’s still nice to just take a deep breath every once in a while and, you know, slow down the rat race a little bit here.

Reporter – A welcome break, as these Americans celebrate an All-American holiday and the ideals many are fighting for. David Kerley, ABC News, Baghdad.

Newsreader – President Bush spent the 4th of July at the University of West Virginia. He asked Americans to support the troops and once again said, the US will come out on top in the War on Terror.

Bush – They continue to kill in the hope that they will break the resolve of the American people, but they will fail.

Newsreader – Again, that was the Pres. at West Virginia University. Meanwhile in Scotland, protesters were already acting out against Pres. Bush and the other G8 Leaders who will arrive there on Wednesday. About 10,000 officers will be policing the G8 event, where world leaders will talk about eliminating poverty and cleaning up the environment.

Total Time: 2 minutes, 30 seconds

Analysis:

This short piece is most likely a VNR. This story has little news value either as a business story or a story about Iraq. Coca-Cola is a huge corporation operating in over 200 countries. One additional market is unlikely to affect Coca-Cola from a busness standpoint. Nor is this segment very informative as international news. It is likely that there are more notable developments in Iraq than what carbonated beverage Iraqis are drinking. What this piece does accomplish is to further the marketing strategy of the Coca-Cola corporation, which likes to promote itself as the “world’s most popular soft drink.”

Story:

Newsreader – Coca-Cola is returning to Iraq for the first time in 37 years. The beverage giant is trying to dethrone Pepsi as the dominant soda in the Middle East. Coke fell out of favor in the late 60s when Middle East countries staged a long boycott to protest the company’s business activities in Israel. Today, Pepsi controls 80% of the market there.

Total Time: 15 sec

Analysis:

The story was basically framed as a partisan battle, with Democrats endorsing a raise in the minimum wage and Republicans opposing it. Both sides provide some reasons, but the AP reporter never verifies these comments for accuracy, despite the numerous online sources. For instance, according to the Economic Policy Institute, the minimum wage was worth just 34% of what an average worker earned per hour, the lowest point for this ratio in 40 years.

The original Associated Press version also provided voices outside of partisan lines, quoting AFL-CIO president Mark Gaffney. The Press version omitted these comments. They also omitted the fact that if the legislators do not take up this issue, that citizen groups will by trying to get it on the ballot in 2006.

One other omission was that the GR Press version did not print the Michigan House and Senate Bill numbers, making it difficult for readers to contact legislators on this issue.

Story:

John Edwards pushes for higher minimum wage in Michigan
By AMY F. BAILEY
Associated Press Writer

LANSING, Mich. — Democratic legislators fighting to increase the state’s minimum wage got some help Wednesday from 2004 Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards.

Edwards, a former U.S. senator who now directs the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina, told several hundred people at a rally on the Capitol steps that raising the minimum wage will reduce the number of people living in poverty.

He called the $5.15 national minimum wage a “national embarrassment” and encouraged Michigan lawmakers to increase the rate to $7.15 in the state.

“It’s not just an income disparity, it’s an asset disparity,” he told the crowd that included Democratic lawmakers, union members and union officials. “We have enormous work to do in this country to close that gap.”
Edwards is making stops at a number of cities across the country to push for a higher minimum wage, which hasn’t been increased by the federal government since 1997. He also promotes the issue on his One America Committee Web site.
Democrats in the House and Senate earlier this year introduced a package of bills that would have raised the minimum wage by 75 cents this Friday, 75 cents in January 2006 and 50 cents in January 2007, bringing the rate to $7.15 an hour. The proposals also would tie future state minimum wage increases to the rate of inflation so the minimum wage could rise without legislative action.

But they have not been taken up by Republicans, who control both chambers and say the changes would cost jobs.

Ari Adler, spokesman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema of Wyoming, said raising the minimum wage would help a few Michigan workers but hurt many small businesses. Other businesses already pay more than the minimum $5.15 per hour because they do business out-of-state and would not be affected by the initial increase, he said.

Senate Democrats tried Wednesday to move the bill increasing the minimum wage out of committee to the full Senate without a hearing, but Republicans rejected the Democrats’ effort.

About 3 percent of Michigan’s 2.9 million hourly workers, or about 88,000, earned the minimum wage or less in 2002, according to the most recent statistics available from the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. A little more than 16 percent, or 464,000 Michigan workers, made less than $7.15 per hour in 2002.

“Give them a raise today,” Democratic Sen. Irma Clark-Coleman of Detroit urged during the Senate debate.

Republican House Speaker Craig DeRoche of Novi has said he will not increase the minimum wage at a time when the state’s 7.1 percent May unemployment rate tied for highest among the 50 states. The national rate was 5.1 percent last month.

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

Later Wednesday night, House Republicans voted with their Democratic colleagues to discharge the package of minimum wage bills to the full House without a hearing. However, it is unlikely House Republican leaders will schedule a vote to send the bills to the Senate.

“It is a jobs killer,” DeRoche spokesman Matt Resch said of the wage hike.

But Edwards and other speakers at the Capitol rally, including Michigan AFL-CIO President Mark Gaffney, said a higher minimum wage would improve the state’s economy because families would spend more once they had larger paychecks.
Gaffney said he would prefer to see lawmakers increase the minimum wage, but added that supporters will take the issue to voters next year if lawmakers don’t act.

“If the Legislature won’t do it, we’re headed to the ballot in ’06. That process has already begun,” Gaffney told reporters before the noon rally. “We’re in the strategy planning stage.”

Supporters of a higher minimum wage would have to collect 254,206 petition signatures from Michigan voters to get an initiative on the November 2006 ballot.

The minimum wage bills are House Bills 4514-18 and Senate Bills 318 and 320.

Analysis:

This article is essentially a vehicle for “official voices” on the topic of the US prison in Guantanamo bay. The only voices presented in the article are a US Military officer, Vice-President Cheney, and White House spokesperson Scott McClellan. All the quotes in the article represent one viewpoint, which is that the prison at Guantanamo is both necessary and appropriate. In the Grand Rapids Press version of the article, no effort is made to challenge or verify the claims made. In the original full length version of the article, several other voices are presented, only one of which, a lawyer, is critical of the prison. Again, no attempt is made by the reporter to challenge or verify any of the included quotes. This despite their being a number of highly publicized studies available from human rights groups on the treatment of prisoners at Guantamano.

Story:

Gitmo prisoners start to talk, general says

WASHINGTON — The commander of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said in testimony before a House panel Wednesday that interrogators were beginning to glean valuable intelligence from some detainees held there. The White House, meanwhile, shrugged off critics and stood by its decision not to shutter the facility.

Army Brig. Gen. Jay Hood, commander of the task force running the prison, told members of the House Armed Services Committee that prisoners at the island compound could still provide crucial information to military investigators.

“In some cases detainees under our control for as long as two years — who had resisted talking to us and refused to communicate any relevant information — have, over the last six months, elected to begin to talk with us about where they were and what their activities were,” Hood said.

“And I think that in fact, time is on our side as we convince them that we are determined and that we will not falter in our efforts.”

Amid growing criticism of the way the 518 inmates, mostly detained in Afghanistan, have been treated, the Pentagon allowed members of the Armed Services Committee to visit the site over the weekend, gaining some support from lawmakers.

Following calls to shut the prison, the Pentagon has joined the Bush administration in defending Guantanamo. Last week, Vice President Dick Cheney said in a televised interview that the prisoners were “living in the tropics” with “everything they could possibly want.”

President Bush has not veered from his determination to keep the prison open, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

“There has been no better alternative that has been brought to our attention for dealing with these detainees,” McClellan said.

Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) said his visit to Guantanamo and comments by Hood had laid to rest what he considered “irresponsible allegations” of mistreatment.

“It’s obvious that we have to keep this facility, and we’ve got to keep it open,” Hunter said.

Hood denied allegations of systematic abuse of detainees at the prison. Other military officials dismissed allegations in a recent New England Journal of Medicine article that medical personnel were using detainees’ medical records to help point out vulnerabilities to interrogators. Asked if the article was accurate, Navy Cmdr. Cary Ostergaard, head of the prison hospital, replied, “Absolutely, 100% no, sir.”

Human rights and legal groups have been consistently critical of the prison. But their criticism was absent from Wednesday’s hearing, called to brief lawmakers on prison operations.

Del. Madeleine Z. Bordallo (D-Guam), a nonvoting representative to Congress, dubbed it “more of a resort” than a prison. Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) called it “the only place in Cuba where religious freedom is allowed.” Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colo.) wondered whether the prison was too accommodating.

Bordallo went on the Pentagon trip, but Reyes and Hefley did not. Reyes said he had been to Guantanamo before.

“No one wants to be in prison, but if you’re going to be in prison, this sounds like the one to be in,” Hefley said. “I’m sitting here thinking, ‘Give me a break.’ “

Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) told reporters who met him on his return from Guantanamo that “the reports of abuse at Guantanamo Bay are absolutely false; I saw no abuse, nor did I see any signs of abuse.”

The committee heard from a panel of military officers, but the declined to hear from a witness the Democrats had sought. Thomas B. Wilner, a Washington lawyer who represents detainees, said he would have contradicted the descriptions by Hood and other military officials.

“That ain’t no resort,” Wilner said. “It’s a horrible place.” Wilner called the congressional visit a “public relations stunt.”

After the hearing, Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-Walnut Creek) lamented what she called “almost a farcical attitude” by Republicans “to kind of belittle the allegations and to whitewash” charges of prisoner mistreatment.

“Clearly, Guantanamo is an international lightning rod, and frankly a recruiting poster for some deadly jihadists, and I would think we’d have to be smart enough to realize we have to deal with it in a transparent way, and have these allegations answered and clear the record,” Tauscher said.

Analysis:

The piece was about two and half minutes long and focused primarily on the rally as a statement of opposition against proposition 2, the so called “gay marriage amendment” that was voted into state law last year. The segment shows images of gay and lesbian couples exchanging vows on the steps of the state capital and three participants of the rally are interviewed. One of the people interviewed was a rally organizer, while the other was a man in a costume, prompting the reporter to say “they gathered to show support, some in costume, all with one goal in mind” despite the fact that this is the only person visibly wearing a costume is the various crowd shots. The number of participants is rather unclear since in the beginning of the piece the Anchor says that “dozens” of people participated while the reporter states seconds later that “hundreds” of people were present. A small group of counter protestors were also reported on, with one man being interviewed.

While the story does an adequate job of describing the message of this particular rally, no context is provided as to greater significance of Pride day historically throughout the country. This particular date of June 25 was not chosen arbitrarily for this rally, but has been, ever since 1969, the date of annual gay pride parades. These events commemorate the Stonewall uprising of 1969, when gay and transgender bar patrons resisted a police raid in New York, an event many consider to be the beginning of the gay rights movement. So while people were rallying in Lansing, celebrations of gay pride were happening across the country is cities such as New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle and Atlanta, as well as numerous smaller cities. This historical context of the Lansing Pride rally were completely left out of the News 8 story as were the fact that this was a national event, not just a local one.

Story:

Newsreader – Dozens of gay and lesbian couples took part in a commitment ceremony at the state capitol today, It was a response to the passing of proposal two last November defining marriage in Michigan as that between one man and one woman. Twenty four hour news 8’s Dan Bewley is back from Lansing where he met with organizers of today’s event.

Reporter – Rachel, some say that the ceremony is believed to be the first of its kind in Michigan as hundreds of gay and lesbian couples rally on the capital steps. Some to speak out for their civil rights, others to commit their lives to each other.

Minister – You may kiss your partner.

Reporter – Barbara Allen and Heidi Smith joined others from across the state, publicly committing to one another. This step the highlight of the day for Michigan’s gay and lesbian couples.

Sarah Mieras – We’re here to educate the straight community about who the lesbian and gay community really is.

Reporter – At the base of the state capital they gathered, showing support. Some in costume, all with one goal in mind.

Derek Ward – We’re celebrating pride; we’re celebrating ourselves being gay and our rights.

Reporter – The spark for the rally actually ignited last fall, an amendment to the states constitution officially banning gay marriage was passed by Michigan voters. Organizers say that ban regulates the gay and lesbian communities to second class citizens. Others disagree, protestors with signs both outside the rally and flying high above.

Brian Harris – They want special rights; they want rights people don’t have. Protection for certain kinds of sexual behavior, and we don’t have that and we shouldn’t have it at all.

Reporter – Those on the steps say the protesters are missing the point. Everyone they say should be able to choose who they share there life with.

Sarah Mieras – it’s about the right to have someone else’s pension who you have lived with for twenty years, it’s about the right to be their legal power of attorney, there are all these things over a thousand benefits of marriage.

Minister – And pledge our love and commitment to our life partners.

Reporter – And that brings us back to the ceremony. Those involved admit that it is not a legal marriage, just a public sign, complete with certificate, that two people are committed to each other.

Rally participant – I know it takes more than a piece of paper, it definitely takes love but we already have that so you know we want the right to able to be together forever.

Reporter – Organizers say they are going to keep fighting for gay and lesbian rights in Michigan and they say they hope one day to get proposal 2 reversed.

Total Time: 2 minutes, 24 seconds

Analysis:

This story appears to be the result of a media release from the Ottawa County Health Department on an e-coli testing of a beach in Ottawa County. WXMI then gets a sound-bite and runs a little b-roll of the beach front and that is it.

Viewers hear a comment from a representative of the Health Department, but no elaboration or qualification is provided by the news reader, even though one of the results mentioned is death. Some details on e-coli may be useful for viewers as well as other resources about beach closings due to contamination.

Story:

WXMI News reader – There was a no swim advisory for a beach in Ottawa County tonight due to high levels of e-coli. The Rosy Mound recreation area in Grand Haven Township is off limits until it gets the all clear. The County Health Department took a sample on Tuesday and said that e-coli levels were more than 71 units higher than health standards. No fines or tickets for swimmers while it’s closed but the Health Department says it is a serious risk.

Ottawa County Health Department – If you were to ingest water or anything for that matter with e-coli, significant intestinal issues can arise and it can result in death.

WXMI News reader – The Health Department thinks dredging nearby or rain could have caused the problem. They hope the beach can be re-opened this weekend.

Total Time: 42 seconds

Analysis:

This is a mid-length story about anchor Juliet Dragos visiting the set of the play Peter Pan during its run in Grand Rapids. The story highlights Juliet learning to “fly” just like actress Cathy Rigby, fulfilling what Dragos describes as a “lifelong dream”.

Lacking any real news content, this story serves as a form of self promotion. By focusing on the personality of the news anchor, the story serves to build a relationship between the audience and the anchor in order to create a sort of “brand loyalty” to Channel 13 News. Viewers should be aware of such marketing tactics in the news and ask themselves how this serves the public interest.

Story:

WZZM Newsreader- Peter Pan is soaring through Grand Rapids until the end of the week. Tony Award nominee and Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby stars as Peter Pan. And before hitting the stage tonight she gave me a few pointers on how to fly like Tinkerbell.

B-roll: This’ll go on like a backpack…

Cathy Rigby – It’s very physical, it’s not exactly gymnastics cause you’re…you’re limited in some of the things you can do, um, and it takes three of us to really make it work. It feels nice and snug, yes?

Newsreader – Yes, it feels very snug, hahaha!

Cathy Rigby – Just have fun and enjoy the ride and try to face the audience at all times. Dragos: Hahaha!

Randy Rees – These ropes here are the horizontal movement, move back and forth, and this is the rope that makes her go up and down.

Newsreader – I can’t imagine that this little thing is gonna hold me. Technician: It’s actually one sixteenth of an inch and it’s steel aircraft cable.

Rigby – Think lovely wonderful thoughts…

Newsreader – Weeeeeeeeee! This is soo much fun, I’ve always wanted to fly.

Rigby- Look at you, you’re a natural! Isn’t that great? Yah, get to the audience…

Paul Rubin – I’m actually probably pulling twice her weight, cause I’m pulling her against her momentum.

Newsreader – All my life I’ve always wanted to know what it was like to be like a bird, or like Mary Poppins, or like Peter Pan, or Tinkerbell, and just to be able to do it and feel that is such an exhilarating feeling.

Rigby – I thought you did a magnificent…I think she should get a 10.

Dragos – It was fabulous, exhilarating. Wonderful experience, thank you so much!

Newsreader – And you can see Peter Pan through Sunday at DeVos Performance Hall, tickets are on sale at the box office or through Ticketmaster.

Total Time: 1 minute, 45 seconds

Analysis:

This piece is essentially sensationalized trivia rather than hard news. A critical reader might ask themselves what does it matter what snack foods Saddam likes to eat. No information is presented in this article that would give the reader a clearer understanding of any of the issues pertaining to Saddam Hussein’s role as dictator, his incarceration, or his impending trial. The same day that the Grand Rapids Press ran this AP article, International news sources were running stories about Saddam’s upcoming trial and accusations of the US concealing information about the deposed president that could be damaging to the US and other countries. This was the topic of articles in international sources such as BBC and Al-Jazeera, as well as an Associated Press article which the GR Press chose not to run.

Story:

Saddam Chatty, germ-phobic, guards say
By Richard Pyle
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Saddam Hussein loves Doritos, hates Froot Loops, admires former U.S. president Ronald Reagan, thinks Bill Clinton was “okay” and considers both presidents Bush as “no good.” He talks a lot, worries about germs and insists he is still president of Iraq.

Those and other details of the deposed Iraqi leader’s life while in U.S. military custody appear in the July issue of GQ magazine, based on interviews with five Pennsylvania National Guard members who went to Iraq to fight in 2003 and instead were assigned to Mr. Hussein’s guard contingent for nearly 10 months.

The magazine, which reached newsstands yesterday, says the GIs could not tell their families what they were doing, and signed pledges not to reveal the location or other details of the U.S.-run compound where Mr. Hussein was a “high-value detainee,” awaiting trial by Iraqi authorities for mass killings and other crimes.

However, the five soldiers told GQ correspondent Lisa DePaulo of their personal interactions with Mr. Hussein, saying he spoke with them in rough English, was interested in their lives and even invited them back to Iraq when he returns to power.

A Pentagon spokesman had no comment on the article.

The GIs recalled that Mr. Hussein had harsh words for the Bushes, each of whom went to war against him.

Specialist Sean O’Shea, then 19, of Minooka, Pa., said Mr. Hussein later mellowed in that view. “Toward the end he was saying that he doesn’t hold any hard feelings and he just wanted to talk to [George W.] Bush, to make friends with him,” he told the magazine.

The soldiers also said Mr. Hussein is a “clean freak” who washes after shaking hands and uses diaper wipes to clean meal trays, utensils and the table before eating. “He had germophobia or whatever you call it,” Spec. Dawson said.

The article says Mr. Hussein preferred Raisin Bran Crunch for breakfast, telling Spec. O’Shea, “no Froot Loops.”

The magazine says Mr. Hussein told his guards that when the Americans invaded Iraq in March of 2003, he “tried to flee in a taxicab as the tanks were rolling in,” and U.S. planes struck the palace he was trying to reach instead of the one he was in. “Then he started laughing,” Cpl. Reese recalled. “He goes, ‘America, they dumb. They bomb wrong palace.’ ”

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

“He’d always tell us he was still the president. That’s what he thinks, 100 per cent,” Specialist Jesse Dawson, 25, of Berwick, Pa., told the author.

“The Bush father, son, no good,” Corporal Jonathan (Paco) Reese, 22, of Millville, Pa., quoted Mr. Hussein as saying.

Spec. Dawson quoted Mr. Hussein as saying, “He knows I have nothing, no mass weapons. He knows he’ll never find them.”

The story says that once, when Mr. Hussein fell during his twice-a-week shower, “panic ensued. No one wanted him to be hurt while being guarded by Americans.” Mr. Hussein was friendly toward his young guards and sometimes offered fatherly advice.

When Spec. O’Shea told him he wasn’t married, Mr. Hussein “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 Spec. O’Shea interpreted as a “spanking” gesture, laughed and went back to doing his laundry in the sink.

For a time his favourite snack was Cheetos, and when that ran out, Mr. Hussein would “get grumpy,” the story says. One day, guards substituted Doritos corn chips, and Mr. Hussein forgot about Cheetos. “He’d eat a family-size bag of Doritos in 10 minutes,” Spec. Dawson said.

Mr. Hussein also said his capture in an underground hideout on Dec. 18, 2003, resulted from betrayal by the only man who knew where he was, and had been paid to keep the secret. “He was really mad about that,” Spec. Dawson said. “He compared himself to Jesus, how Judas told on Jesus. He was like, ‘That’s how it was for me.’ If his Judas never said anything, nobody ever would have found him, he said.”

Mr. Hussein never indicated whether he knew his statue in Baghdad had been toppled on April 9, 2003. He insisted that everything he did, including the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, was for the good of his people, the article said.