Global InformationInterrogation of Saddam Hussein information
The interrogation of Saddam Hussein began shortly after his capture by U.S. forces in December 2003, while the deposed president of Iraq was held at the Camp Cropper detention facility at Baghdad International Airport.[1] Beginning in February 2004, the interrogation program, codenamed Operation Desert Spider, was controlled by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents.[1] Standard FBI FD-302 forms[1] filed at the time were declassified and released in 2009 under a U.S. Freedom of Information Act request filed by the National Security Archive.[2] Saddam, identified as "High Value Detainee #1" in the documents, was the subject of 20 "formal interviews" followed by five "casual conversations."[2] Questioning covered the span of Saddam's political career, from 2003 when he was found hiding in a "spider hole" on a farm near his home town of Tikrit, back to his role in a failed 1959 coup attempt in Iraq, after which he had taken refuge in the very same place, one report noted.[2][3]
Detailed questioning covered the Iran–Iraq War and his use of chemical weapons against Iranians.[1] Saddam denied repeated assertions by his interrogator of a current weapons of mass destruction capability in Iraq,[4] yet had resisted UN weapons inspections because he "was more concerned about Iran discovering Iraq’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities than the repercussions of the United States for his refusal to allow U.N. inspectors back into Iraq," according to the reports.[5] The former leader reportedly maintained that he did not collaborate with Al-Qaeda, as had been suggested by Bush administration officials in support of its policy of regime change in Iraq.[6] Saddam said he feared Al-Qaeda would have turned on him, and was quoted calling Osama bin Laden a "zealot."[3] The face-to-face sessions were conducted by George Piro, an FBI supervisory special agent (SSA), one of only a few FBI agents who spoke Arabic fluently.[1] Saddam was led to believe that his interrogator was a high-ranking U.S. government official with direct access to U.S. President George W. Bush, when in reality he was in a relatively low-level position at the time.[7][8] Piro discussed the interrogation process during an interview on the television news magazine 60 Minutes in January 2008.[8] In an official statement, a senior FBI official in Piro’s chain of command characterized the perceived success of their interrogation of Saddam Hussein as one of the agency's top accomplishments in its 100-year history.[8][9]
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Meek, James Gordon (2009-06-26). "How the FBI Broke Saddam — Part 1". Mouth Of The Potomac. Daily News (New York). Retrieved 2009-07-02.
The first FBI interrogation of Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti — in a program codenamed 'Desert Spider' - took place Feb. 7, 2004, in a dingy cell at Baghdad International Airport.
- ^ a b c Battle, Joyce; McQuade, Brendan (2009-07-01). "Saddam Hussein Talks to the FBI : Twenty Interviews and Five Conversations with "High Value Detainee # 1" in 2004". National Security Archive. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 279. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
FBI special agents carried out 20 formal interviews and at least 5 'casual conversations' with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after his capture by U.S. troops in December 2003, according to secret FBI reports released as the result of Freedom of Information Act requests by the National Security Archive and posted today on the Web at www.nsarchive.org.
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Gamel, Kim (2009-07-03). "FBI notes: Saddam Hussein sought familiar refuge". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein stayed in Baghdad until he saw 'the city was about to fall.' Months later, he was caught hiding at the same farm where he had fled in 1959 after taking part in an attempt to kill the country's prime minister.
- ^ Meek, James Gordon (2009-06-24). "Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein bluffed about WMDs fearing Iranian arsenal, secret FBI files show". Daily News (New York). Retrieved 2009-07-02.
The records show Saddam happily boasted of duping the world about stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. And he consistently denied cooperating with Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
NYTwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Kessler, Glenn (2009-07-02). "Saddam Hussein Said WMD Talk Helped Him Look Strong to Iran". Washington Post. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews released yesterday. The former Iraqi president also denounced Osama bin Laden as 'a zealot' and said he had no dealings with al-Qaeda.
- ^ Kessler, Ronald (2008). "18. Saddam's Friend". The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack. New York: Three Rivers Press. pp. 144–159. ISBN 978-0-307-38214-6.
The deposed dictator never knew that Piro was with the FBI. Instead, he vaguely understood that he was with the American security services. 'He just came to the conclusion, probably through some of my actions, that I was a senior member of the security service,' Piro says. 'He didn't realize that I was actually a fairly low-level FBI agent who had taken on this assignment. He would not have responded well if he realized that I was a simple GS-14 from FBI headquarters.'
- ^ a b c Pelley, Scott (2008-01-27). "Interrogator Shares Saddam's Confessions". 60 Minutes. CBS News. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
Piro says it was all a show for Hussein, and that he established at the very beginning that he was going to be in charge of the dictator. What did Piro tell Saddam? 'I basically said that I was gonna be responsible for every aspect of his life, and that if he needed anything I was gonna be the person that he needed to talk to,' he recalls.
- ^ "Interviewing Saddam : FBI Agent Gets to the Truth". Headline Archives. United States Department of Justice. Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2008-01-28. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
Piro was so successful at befriending Saddam that the former dictator was visibly moved when they said goodbye. 'I saw him tear up,' Piro said during the television interview. Joe Persichini, Assistant Director in Charge of our Washington office and Piro's boss, told 60 Minutes that Piro's expert work in revealing Saddam's secrets was 'probably one of the top accomplishments of the agency in the last 100 years.'