CNN) – Saddam Hussein let the world think he had weapons of mass destruction to intimidate Iran and prevent the country from attacking Iraq, according to an FBI agent who interviewed the dictator after his 2003 capture. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in an unknown location in Iraq after his capture in 2003.
According to a CBS report, Hussein claimed he didn’t anticipate that the United States would invade Iraq over WMD, agent George Piro said on “60 Minutes,” scheduled for Sunday broadcast.
“For him, it was critical that he was seen as still the strong, defiant Saddam. He thought that (faking having the weapons) would prevent the Iranians from reinvading Iraq,” said Piro.
During the nearly seven months Piro talked to Hussein, the agent hinted to the Iraqi that he answered directly to President Bush, CBS said in a posting on its Web site.
“He told me he initially miscalculated … President Bush’s intentions. He thought the United States would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998 … a four-day aerial attack,” Piro said. “He survived that one and he was willing to accept that type of attack.”
“He didn’t believe the U.S. would invade?” Correspondent Scott Pelley asked.
“No, not initially,” Piro answered. [B] [/B]
Once it was clear that an invasion was imminent, Hussein asked his generals to hold off the allied forces for two weeks, Piro said. “And at that point, it would go into what he called the secret war,” the agent said, referring to the insurgency.
But Piro said he was not sure that the insurgency was indeed part of Hussein’s plan. “Well, he would like to take credit for the insurgency,” he said.
Hussein had the ability to restart the weapons program and professed to wanting to do that, Piro said.
“He wanted to pursue all of WMD … to reconstitute his entire WMD program.”
Hussein said he was proud he eluded U.S. authorities who searched for him for nine months after the U.S.-led invasion, Piro said.
“What he wanted to really illustrate is … how he was able to outsmart us,” Piro said. “He told me he changed … the way he traveled. He got rid of his normal vehicles. He got rid of the protective detail that he traveled with, really just to change his signature.”
Hussein was hanged in 2006
This is the one thing that gets me when people bitch that the US went to war “for the wrong reasons”. My question is, do we blame a cop for shooting someone waving a gun and threatening people, when that gun turns out to be plastic? Of course, hindsight is always 20/20.
Why would this be any different? Saddam wanted people to think he had WMD - are we supposed to know better than his own people?
No. The point was that Iraq was “somehow” responsible for 9/11 which is why we went there in the first place rather than going after Osama. That still baffles me to this day why they did not bring him to justice.
Maybe because an all out war with the countries that pretty much control the world’s oil would have a global effect and throw off the global economy. You think gas is expensive now? Think of how much it would be if they county’s what control the majority of it stop selling, or light the oil fields on fire like in desert storm. Also, Saddam was a whacked out fucker…he would off thousands of his own people for shits and giggles…you want a man like that having WMD? If a man can willingly murder hundreds of thousands of his own people with no remorse, what would stop him from starting a nuclear war?
i mean i know why we do it “to protect OUR interests” but its still aggravating… theres more behind the scenes stuff than most of us know and i can understand it, but when every off ramp i come to theres someone standing there asking for money… ughh…
the only people I saw saying that, were the ones who also said we are there for oil. It was never their (the government) position that Saddam was responsible for 9/11
We went after Saddam for not letting UN weapons inspectors in to do their job. Saddam really put the final nail in his coffin. Granted, like TramaDog said, hindsite is always 20/20. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea (or didn’t turn out the way it was planned) but after 9/11, they saw Iraq as a possible threat and acted on it. Shit, the Democrats and Republicans BOTH were in favor of going in.
Dear God do we have to go through this again?
He broke many, many, many UN resolutions!!!
What is the point of laws/rules if you NEVER enforce them?
I’m done.
Simple history really. How many lives would have been saved had we stopped Hitler BEFORE he gained so much power? You can’t play wack-a-mole with every dictator, but some it’s better to deal with before they get out of hand.
It’s very complicated, but a simplified formula involves adding up a dictators drive to conquer (he already invaded Kuwait), his level of technological advancement (he had WMDs, used them, and was telling the world he wanted them again), his budget (funded by oil so he had the funds), and finally how important his country is to the world economy (like it or not, the world still needs middle east oil).
Add all that up and it’s pretty easy to see why we went to war. It also explains why we don’t go to war with rebel governments in other regions just because they commit attrocities against their people.
You know the reason, you’ve seen the movie… “America! F*CK YEAH!!”
I think it’s apparent to most countries that being energy independent will be necessary to insulate against international incidents that will cause an energy crisis. Yeah I know that statement is completely obvious. But it sets up the idea that Joe Public American should seek to understand the benefits and drawbacks of nuclear power (instead of seeing just the improbable meltdown calamity).
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in an unknown location in Iraq after his capture in 2003.
