Region | Iraq
Saddam bluffed about weapons of mass destruction, says FBI
Before the Iraq war, Saddam Hussain misjudged the US military strategy and thought the United States would launch only several days of airstrikes and not a full-scale ground invasion, according to a television interview with the FBI agent
- By Ann Scott Tyson, The Washington Post-Los Angeles Times News Service
- Published: 10:42 January 26, 2008
Washington: Before the Iraq war, Saddam Hussain misjudged the US military strategy and thought the United States would launch only several days of airstrikes and not a full-scale ground invasion, according to a television interview with the FBI agent who interrogated the former Iraqi leader for seven months.
George Piro said Saddam told him he "initially miscalculated ... President Bush's intentions", according to a news release from CBS News, which will air the interview with Piro on 60 Minutes on Sunday.
Saddam "thought the United States would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998 ... a four-day aerial attack", Piro said in the interview, according to CBS.
Piro, a Lebanese American and one of about 50 Arabic-speaking agents in FBI, became Saddam's sole debriefer beginning in January 2004. He said he sought to gain influence with Saddam by serving as the former leader's only provider of basic necessities.
Even when Saddam realised that US military action was imminent, he sought to continue to project a strong image because of his worries about a potential Iranian invasion, Piro said.
Image of defiance
"For him, it was critical that he was seen as still the strong, defiant Saddam. He thought that ... would prevent the Iranians from reinvading Iraq," Piro is quoted by CBS as saying. Saddam's strategy upon facing the US invasion was to tell his generals to try to hold back the US forces for two weeks, "and at that point, it would go into what he called the secret war", Piro said, referring to the Iraqi insurgency.
Saddam bragged about escaping airstrikes and evading capture for several months after the fall of Baghdad, Piro said in the interview. "He told me he changed ... the way he travelled. He got rid of his normal vehicles. He got rid of the protective detail that he travelled with, really just to change his signature."
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