Interrogator: Saddam surprised by US attack

[Adrian Laguna]

Interrogator: Saddam surprised by U.S. attack
Iraqi leader expected bombing in 2003, but not invasion

NEW YORK - Saddam Hussein allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction to deter rival Iran and did not think the United States would stage a major invasion, according to an FBI interrogator who questioned the Iraqi leader after his capture.

Saddam expected only a limited aerial attack by the United States and thought he could remain in control, the FBI special agent, George Piro, told CBS’s “60 Minutes” program in an interview to be broadcast Sunday.

“He told me he initially miscalculated ... President Bush’s intentions,” said Piro. “He thought the United States would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998 ... a four-day aerial attack.”

“He survived that one and he was willing to accept that type of attack,” Piro said.

In 2003, a close aide of Saddam's told The Associated Press that Saddam did not expect a U.S. invasion and deliberately kept the world guessing about his weapons program, although he already had gotten rid of it.

Keeping up the illusion of weapons program
Saddam publicly denied having unconventional weapons before the U.S. invasion, but prevented U.N. inspectors from working in the country from 1998 until 2002 and when they finally returned in November 2002, they often complained that Iraq wasn’t fully cooperating.

Piro, a Lebanese-American who speaks Arabic, debriefed Saddam after he was found in an underground hideout near his home city north of Baghdad in December 2003, nine months after the U.S. invasion.

Piro said Saddam also said that he wanted to keep up the illusion that he had the program in part because he thought it would deter a likely Iranian invasion.

“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,” Piro told Scott Pelley of “60 Minutes.”

Piro added that Saddam had the intention of restarting an Iraqi weapons program at the time, and had engineers available for chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Kuwait invasion after insult to Iraqi women
Piro also mentioned Saddam’s revelation during questioning that what pushed him to invade Kuwait in 1990 was a dishonorable swipe at Iraqi women made by the Kuwaiti leader, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah.

During the buildup to the invasion, Iraq had accused Kuwait of flooding the world market with oil and demanded compensation for oil produced from a disputed area on the border of the two countries.

Piro said that Al Sabah told the foreign minister of Iraq during a discussion aimed at resolving some of those conflicts that “he would not stop doing what he was doing until he turned every Iraqi woman into a $10 prostitute. And that really sealed it for him, to invade Kuwait,” said Piro.

Well, this is interesting. Hussein seems to have underestimated George the Lesser's recklessness.

[Raw Shark]

Well, this is interesting. Hussein seems to have underestimated George the Lesser's recklessness.

Didn't we all? I remember back in 2000 I was freaking out about his record on the Environment and the Death Penalty, with no inkling that we would soon face the Biggest Cock-Up Evah.

[TheMuffinKing]

Wow, Saddam underestimated both Bushes. This article adds another level of understanding of this man, not that it alleviates any evil deeds, but I can see the logic of these specific actions.

The part about invading Kuwait over an infringement of honor sound like something from Arabian knights, or some other medevil fairy tale. Interesting stuff. I'm really curious as to what else they found out when they interrogated Saddam.

[Adrian Laguna]

The part about invading Kuwait over an infringement of honor sound like something from Arabian knights, or some other medevil fairy tale.

I think the article writer is being stupid, actually. The quote given is, more than a insult, a declaration of economic warfare on Iraq. Saddam replied by engaging in real war.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Yeah, stereotypical thinking or ethnocentricism and a good dose of the fact that journalists' degrees are worth less than anything this side of English are responsible for that. The Kuwaiti minister was obviously not being literal, and the real issue at hand is economic warfare.