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Maavaradest leidus mesopotaamias savi ja pilliroogu, sellest tulenevalt kutsutakse seda ka savitsivilisatsiooniks. Mesopotaamia alad olid suhteliselt kuivad ning selleks loodi lisaks jõgedele ka niisutuskanaleid, et põllumajanduslikku kaju ei tekiks.

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Poliitikas on peamiseks Iraagi probleemiks korruptsioon, mis on esinenud juba Husseini ajast. Kuna Iraagis on pidevalt probleemid sõja ja keskkonna saastega, on elamustingimused ebakvaliteetsed (rüüstatud linnad ja reovesi). Peale reovee on probleemiks ka õlisaaste ja õhku ja pinnasesse kandunud ohtlikud ained. Lisaks muule sõjalisele tegevusele on probleem ka terrorismiga (terrorirühmitus ISIS).

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Hussein oli Iraagi president 1979-2003. Ametist kukutati ta 2003. aastal USA ja tema liitlaste poolt.Tema valitsusajal oli Iraagis tegelikult diktatuur ning riiki juhtis vasakpoolne partei Husseini jutimisel. Algul langes ta USA sõjaväe kätte vangi, kuid kohus mõistis ta lõpuks surma inimsusvastaste kurtegude eest, mis leidis aset 5. november 2006.

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The young military policeman sat watching as Saddam Hussein carefully began to eat his breakfast in sections, beginning with the omelet (which he'd reject and send back for a new one if it was "torn" in any way) before moving on to a sugary muffin.

Specialist Chris Tasker could hardly believe he was there, sitting across from the man, only a few years removed from a snowy morning at basic training when a drill sergeant had pulled the trainees inside to see the breaking news: Hussein had been captured. Tasker and the other recruits had let out a loud cheer. Some feared the war would be over before they even had a chance to deploy and put their training to use.

Nearly three years later, Tasker was one of about 140,000 troops deployed to Iraq. He was one of only 12, though, whose primary responsibility was guarding - really, caring for and living alongside - the former dictator in the months leading up to his execution.

Tasker noticed that Hussein had a sweet tooth. The young soldier had begun to pick up on his human idiosyncrasies - some trivial, some more revealing - and he wasn't quite sure what to make of them. He supposed it made Hussein less intimidating, that he could yield to the siren call of a sugary muffin the way anyone else might.

Hussein then lit a cigar.

He seemed remarkably content, perhaps because for the first time in decades he was able to rest comfortably without fearing, as one of his young American minders put it, that "someone in his security detail would cut his head off in the middle of the night."

Tasker watched as Hussein, clad in his dishdasha, walked over to his rickety exercise bike.

Time to ride my pony, he said spiritedly.

His pony was in fact little more than "a crappy old bike like you'd find at Goodwill," another of the guards recalled.

Hussein fixed his gaze on Tasker and flashed his devilish grin.

He patted one leg, said, "This leg gazelle," and then patted the other one, saying, "This leg not gazelle." He paused briefly, still smiling, and concluded, "Once I get stronger, and am a full gazelle, I am going to jump that fence outside and escape."

As I spent two years working on my book about American guards assigned to care for Hussein, my mind kept circling back to just how peculiar their assignment was: to keep him as healthy and content as possible until it was time to hand him over to be killed. On an intellectual level, they knew that Hussein had been responsible for terrible bloodshed, but they had never seen Hussein commit these crimes. Instead of the "crazed madman" they had expected to encounter, "holding the bars of his cell and shouting, 'Death to America!' " they came to know a kindly older man, whose company reminded a few of their own grandpas.

Their stories resonated with me. I never quite reconciled how, back in 2006, I could have cordial weekly meetings with a local Iraqi leader in the violent city of Hit - complete with chai tea and relaxed laughter - all the while aware of his links to the insurgency. Conversely, he knew that Americans had killed his brother in a firefight. And yet, there we were.

I remember growing fixated on the most random things - how he hitched his pants up towards his belly the way my father sometimes does, the way he would pause after a bad joke, seemingly eager for approval. It was these peculiar idiosyncrasies that made him - that make all people - human. I wondered how it was that we could seemingly get along well in person, and yet return to our separate beds after those relaxed meetings, lay our heads on our pillows, and discover over the next morning's coffee that our guys had killed some of their guys, or vice versa.

These thoughts were on my mind as I sat across from another one of the soldiers who had guarded Hussein. He was 10 years older now, and had carved out a comfortable life for himself and his young family. But he was still troubled by the execution. As we nursed our beers, this tough, tattooed veteran of numerous deployments could at once casually show me pictures of dead insurgents, half-joking, "You never forget your first," and then grow emotional when remembering his time with Hussein and the ugly execution. His compartmentalization of these experiences is not as bizarre as it seems, but instead reveals how it is more difficult to play a role in the death of someone you have grown to know than to shoot at an anonymous enemy target.

Another of Hussein's young guards, a broad-shouldered former linebacker from outside Cleveland, told me, "It didn't really hit us until we had time to distance ourselves, but once the dust settles and you're lying in your bed at night, your mind wanders, and you think: Did I really just do that? We'd gotten so close to him ... ." At that point his voice trailed off. "I feel like I let him down," he whispered.

In Norwegian author Geir Angell Øygarden's book "Bagdad Indigo," an American soldier says, "My enemy doesn't have a face. He has, I guess, a target on him. I don't see a human being. I can't see a human being." Military training necessarily conditions soldiers to see things this way.

Getting to know the enemy subverts this process. Hussein's interpreter, known as Joseph, said, "Will I miss Hussein the brutal dictator? Of course not. But will I miss sitting in the evening with him as a human being? Yes, I will."

Ironically, Hussein seems to have been immune from this human resistance to killing, as he unflinchingly dispatched so many to violent ends. When he discovered that his two sons-in-law had defected to Jordan, he grew obsessed with punishing them. Foolishly choosing to return, they would quickly meet their end in a grisly shootout. When informed that the young men had been killed, Hussein reportedly shook his head and said, "I can't think how they could have left Iraq, and I certainly don't understand how they could have thought of returning."

In fact, they had returned because he had invited them, assuring them they would be welcomed as family. They had trusted him, inexplicably confident that his familial affection would trump his anger. Like so many others who miscalculated Hussein, they were wrong, and would pay.

In perhaps the ultimate sleight of hand, Hussein appears to have had no conscience, but to have succeeded in getting others to examine theirs.
Will Bardenwerper of Denver is the author of "The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein, His American Guards, and What History Leaves Unsaid," published this month by Scribner. Follow him on Twitter: @wbardenwerper To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.

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Caring for Saddam Hussein in the months before his execution

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The young military policeman sat watching as Saddam Hussein carefully began to eat his breakfast in sections, beginning with the omelet (which he'd reject and send back for a new one if it was "torn" in any way) before moving on to a sugary muffin.

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Mesopotaamia langes araablaste vallutuseks 7. sajandil. Selle vallutas Kalifaat, mis oli islamiriik 7.-13. sajandil. Enne Kalifaadi vallutust jagunes Mesopotaamia erinevateks hõimudeks, mis olid paganlikud, kuid pärast araablaste vallutust muutusid alad islamimeelseks ja ühtseks.

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Mesopotaamia üheks tuntumaks kultuuri aspektiks on kiri, mis tekkis seal 4. aastatuhandel eKr ning selleks oli kiilkiri.  Koolid asusid templite juures ja õpetajadeks olid preestrid. Koolides õpetati lugemist, kirjutamist, matemaatikat. Teaduses osutus oluliseks kuuekümnendsüsteemi, samuti ruut ja kuupjuure kasutamine. Astronoomias koostati kuukalender.

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Skulptuurideks olevad figuurid olid jäigas poosis, käed rinnal risti, eespool olev õlg oli külgvaatses, olulised polnud individuaalsed jooned, vaid rass. Skulptuuridel puudus reljeef ja perspektiiv, fihuuri suurus sõltus tema ühiskondlikust positsioonist.  Olulisel kohal oli ka ehtekunst, sest mesopotaamlased oskasid töödelda väärismetalli ja kullast ehteid valmistada. Seinamaalid sarnanesid süžeelt reljeefidega, mustad kkontuurid täideti värvidega. Kunstis kasutati palju ka mosaiiki.

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Ehitiste rajamiseks peamiselt kasutatav materjal oli päikese käes kuivatatud savitellis. Peamisteks arhitektuurilisteks olid tsikuraat (ülespoole ahenev torn, mille tipus oli tempel) ja lossid (nt suurim kuningas Sargon II oma). Hooneid kaunistati maalide ja reljeefidega. Suur rõhk oli võlvide ja kaarte rajamisel.

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Pärsia on nimetus Iraanile, mis kasutusel oli läänemaades enne 1935ndat aastat. Pärsia impeerium moodustus 6. sajandil eKr ja riik ukatus Vahemerest Induse jõeni. Riigi valitsejateks olid Ahhemeniidid , millest tuleneb riigi nimetus Ahhemeniidide riik. Nende valitsemisele tegi lõpu Aleksander Suure vallutus 330 eKr. Impeeriumis rahvastiku moodustas suurem osa kogu maailma rahvastikust. Ajaloolne tähtsus seisneb Pärsial selles, et ajaloos oli siis esimest korda Lähis.Idal üks valitseja.

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Ubaydi ajajärk ehk mesopotaamia ajajärk ulatub 6000-3800 eKr. Sumerite linna hakkasid tekkima 3500-3000 eKr. Nende linnriikideks loeti linna keskust seda ümbritseva maapiirkonnaga, mida juhtisid kuningad preestritega. Linnades oli tsikuraat ja võim oli preesterkonna (hiljem kuninga) käes. Linnad ümbritseti müüridega kaitse eesmärgil. Linnriikide vahelised "võimuvõitlused" viisid suuremate riikide tekkimisele. aastal 2150 eKr rajas Sargon I Suur Akadi riigi , mille lagunemisel tekkisid Babüloonia ja Assüüria. Vana-Babüloonia riiki (18. sajand eKr) valitses Hammurapi seadustekoguga ja Assüüriat (9-7. sajand eKr) Assurbanipal kiilkirjade koguga. Uus-Babüloonia riik tekkis 7. sajandil eKr , mille valitsejaks osutus Nebukadnetsar II .

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Mesopotaamia asub Tigrise ja Eufrati jõe kesk- ja alamjooksualal. Praegu asub Mesopotaamia aladel Iraak ja Süüria.