Interrogator: Invasion Surprised Saddam

CBS News ^ | 01/24/08 | 60 Minutes

[blake6900]

CBS) Saddam Hussein initially didn't think the U.S. would invade Iraq to destroy weapons of mass destruction, so he kept the fact that he had none a secret to prevent an Iranian invasion he believed could happen. The Iraqi dictator revealed this thinking to George Piro, the FBI agent assigned to interrogate him after his capture.

Piro, in his first television interview, relays this and other revelations to 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley this Sunday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Piro spent almost seven months debriefing Saddam in a plan based on winning his confidence by convincing him that Piro was an important envoy who answered to President Bush. This and being Saddam's sole provider of items like writing materials and toiletries made the toppled Iraqi president open up to Piro, a Lebanese-American and one of the few FBI agents who spoke Arabic.

"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," says Piro. "He survived that one and he was willing to accept that type of attack." "He didn't believe the U.S. would invade?" asks Pelley, "No, not initially," answers Piro.

Once the invasion was certain, says Piro, Saddam asked his generals if they could hold the invaders for two weeks. "And at that point, it would go into what he called the secret war," Piro tells Pelley. But Piro isn’t convinced that the insurgency was Saddam's plan. "Well, he would like to take credit for the insurgency," says Piro.

Saddam still wouldn't admit he had no weapons of mass destruction, even when it was obvious there would be military action against him because of the perception he did. Because, says Piro, "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," he tells Pelley.

He also intended and had the wherewithal to restart the weapons program. "Saddam] still had the engineers. The folks that he needed to reconstitute his program are still there," says Piro. "He wanted to pursue all of WMD…to reconstitute his entire WMD program." This included chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, Piro says.

Saddam bragged that he changed his routine and security to elude capture. "What he wanted to really illustrate is…how he was able to outsmart us," says Piro. "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."

It took nine months to finally capture Saddam, but U.S. calculations on where he might be early on turned out to be accurate. Saddam was at Dora Farms early in the war when the known presidential site was targeted with tons of bombs and many missiles. "He said it in a kind of a bragging fashion that he was there, but that we missed him. He wasn't bothered by the fact that he was there," Piro tells Pelley.

Produced By Henry Schuster © MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[blake6900]

But...but...but...but...Bush lied.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Leave it to SeeBS to suddenly find this guy.

[Doogle]

probably like he surprised the spiders in that hole he was found in...they did’nt want to negotiate either

[CedarDave]

Posted:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1959010/posts

[xuberalles]

So If Saddam had nothing, why didn’t he give the weapons inspectors free reign? Why would you risk being the dictator of a country, having billions in oil revenue at your disposal, simply because you really didn’t have any WMD’s. Sounds ridiculous to me. After all, the man gassed his own people, attacked Iran, Kuwait, and even sent scus into Israel. He lived for military conflict and cementing his legacy within the Arab world.

[outofstyle]

he initially miscalculated...

That can be a real pain in the neck.

[mcshot]

I just finished a book about Green Beret activities and it reports he had WMDs in the form of biological and chemical weapons and dispensers from a friendly Country and we lost troops securing some and others have yet to be found and destroyed. Chilling stuff.

[mountainlyons]

where did the WMD’s that the UN tagged go? Easy, Syria with the rest of the WMD’s according to Gerorges Sada in his book.

Sorry but I do not trust the Communist Biased System.

[infidel29]

What is with the recent furor in the media over WMD? This is the third or fourth story this week.

And as far as not letting the weapons inspectors in to do their job, where are the conventional weapons Saddam admitted to having? There were a lot of rockets and super explosives that Saddam admitted he had that were never accounted for.

[ECM]

Title of that book?

[gitmo]

Everybody seems to misunderestimate George Bush.

[saganite]

No, now we finally know the truth. It’s Hussein’s fault!!!

[saganite]

What’s the name of that book?

[Donnaplume]

Humm? No real WMD? Does this confirmed they were not moved into Syria? WTF are we doing there?

[WmShirerAdmirer]

What’s the title of the book, I’d like to read it.

Did see something on Freep a couple years ago about some soldiers writing or speaking about a huge explosion which occurred and a lot of soldiers got very sick from fallout or something.

[FreeAtlanta]

Saddam, admitted liar. How do you believe anything he says? Why would CBS give him any creedence?

I guess they think it tweaks Bush. Pathetic self hating idiots, the whole lot of them.

[pfflier]

No real WMD? Does this confirmed they were not moved into Syria? WTF are we doing there?

Two things:

Did you even read the piece??

You just signed up in December to lay this wisdom on us? I smell a 'Rat.

[BerryDingle]

It's all in here:

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)Deception Activities

[rockinqsranch]

“What is with the recent furor in the media over WMD? This is the third or fourth story this week.”

I noticed that as well. I would guess we’re going to see a considerable amount of this crap throughout the coming year as the Democrats and their allies at the MSM throw everything they have into smearing the Bush Administration and the Republicans.

The Democrats are running two people that haven’t any real experience between the two of them. They are banking on emotions to win the White House, therefore they cry LIAR as often as they can to stir up the emotion of hatred for the alleged Republican Liars.

It’s pretty tame at this point in time. After the Nominations is when it’s going to be a wild ride with the likes of Hillary and Bill and their slander machine at full throttle.

[Polybius]

Humm? No real WMD? Does this confirmed they were not moved into Syria?

No, this confirms that somebody wrote that Saddam told him something.

Heads of states and former heads of states can claim that they have or do not have or never had nuclear weapons or that they never had sex with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.

Talk is extremely cheap. Especially when the person that is talking has an agenda.

Saddam had nuclear weapons scientists just as North Korea and Pakistan did and the U.S. did in 1945. North Korea and Pakistan never had nuclear weapons and neither did the United States of America in 1945 ....... until, one particular day, they did.

Nuclear weapons are like omelettes in a kitchen. You inspect that kitchen at 7:00 AM and there is no sign of an omlettte. At 7:30 AM, a dozen eggs, some bacon and some shredded cheese is missing and, magically, four omelettes have appeared in the kitchen.

WTF are we doing there?

Whether or not we should have gone in there to solve the Saddam threat once and for all can be debated. Maybe he was about to whip up some omelettes or maybe he wasn't. We may never know.

What is perfectly clear is that, right now, if the U.S. bugs out, that will leave Iranian Islamist nutjobs seeking nuclear weapons and delivery systems with the military hegemony over 70% of the World's known oil reserves.

The technical strategic term for such a move is "Screwing the Pooch".

That is what we are doing there.