Saddam’s interrogator has unique perspective of mass murderer

For nearly seven months in 2004, FBI agent George Piro sipped his morning coffee with a man responsible for 600,000 deaths of innocents: Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Many of us have two vivid memories of Saddam -- how he looked when he was captured hiding in a spider hole Dec. 13, 2003, and how he looked when he was hanged three years later.

As the only person allowed to question Saddam, Piro has memories no one else has.

He was assigned to find out whether Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and whether he was in cahoots with al-Qaida, the purported reasons for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Piro also prepared the report used by the Iraqi government to prosecute Saddam for his crimes.

Seven years ago, Piro, 43, was one of the very few FBI agents capable of handling this job. He spoke Arabic, and he understood the culture of the strong Arab male because his Lebanese mother raised him to be one. He was born in Beirut. When his family moved to the United States, he was 12 and spoke no English. He went into law enforcement and joined the FBI in 1999.

When he was assigned to interrogate Saddam, Piro researched everything he could about the man. Piro knew the dictator was intelligent and could be charismatic, charming and polite, yet he wouldn't be intimated by threats and didn't tolerate criticism.

"The one thing I was not prepared for? There was nothing in there that told me he was going to be a funny guy," Piro said Wednesday in Las Vegas.

"He loved to tell jokes about himself," Piro said.

Without going into detail, Piro said Saddam talked and joked about women.

Once, when Saddam needed a dentist, the only one available was a woman, a lieutenant colonel. She spoke no Arabic, Saddam spoke no English.

"In 10 minutes he had her giggling and laughing like a schoolgirl. I didn't expect that from a person who at a moment's notice once could say, 'Let's gas 15,000 people.' "

Piro is now assistant special agent in charge of the Counterterrorism Division in the Washington field office. He first told his story publicly on "60 Minutes" in 2008 and was invited by the Las Vegas FBI to share his experiences, both with the FBI Las Vegas Citizens' Academy Alumni Association, where I heard him, and with state, local and federal law enforcement officials.

His audience relished questioning Saddam's interrogator.

The most obvious: How did they relate?

"There was never a point where I felt attached to him," Piro said. "I never found myself sympathetic."

Yet he sounded sympathetic, leading a woman to ask: "Why did you care about such a horrible person?"

Actually, he didn't.

He was under orders to make sure Saddam was cared for, Piro answered. If he had become depressed or sick it would have reflected negatively upon the U.S. government.

Once, Saddam had to be hospitalized and was transported to a hospital about 15 minutes away by helicopter. Piro thought he had prepared for every contingency for the 2 a.m. flight.

Wrong.

"I didn't realize Saddam was afraid of flying."

When his prisoner started to have a panic attack after liftoff, Piro lifted Saddam's blindfold in an effort to calm him and let him see the beauty of Baghdad at night, but also to show Baghdad was doing just fine without him.

Did he ever feel threatened by Saddam, who was taller, heavier and more imposing than the agent?

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope I can take a 67-year-old man when I'm in my mid-30s," he grinned.

Monday read about how Piro did his job and the results.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.