Tears, hanging followed conversations with Saddam Hussein

The FBI called George Piro on Christmas Eve 2003 and told the agent of five years: Go to Iraq for as long as a year and interrogate Saddam Hussein, the butcher of Baghdad. Find the answer to two essential questions: Did Saddam have weapons of mass destruction before the United States launched a war against him in March 2003? And had he worked with al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden?

Though both concerns were the purported reasons President George W. Bush declared war, the answer to both questions ended up being fairly direct: no and no.

No, Saddam didn't have weapons of mass destruction at that time but believed he could within six months and intended to do so.

No, Saddam didn't trust bin Laden, considered him a fanatic and hadn't worked with him on the 9/11 attack.

Last week in Las Vegas, Piro explained how he got those answers, speaking to both lay people and law enforcement.

He spent six weeks building rapport with Saddam, making him realize his every physical need depended on Piro, who determined what he ate, how many showers he took, when he received his medications and medical care, even whether he got pen and paper.

After the Lebanese-born agent established rapport (yes, they talked about their mothers), he entered the second phase, the reality phase. Saddam was forced to watch videos of his atrocities "to inject reality into his thought process and break down his defenses," the agent said.

It also reminded the agent what an evil man Saddam was.

Piro spent five to seven hours a day with Saddam for five months before he reached the third intelligence phase by asking critical questions.

Saddam said he perpetuated the myth he still had weapons of mass destruction because he was afraid Iran would invade and annex southern Iraq.

He believed fears of WMD would prevent that. He was far more afraid of Iran than the United States because he miscalculated that any second invasion by the United States would be short, just like the first one in 1991 under the first Bush administration.

Saddam was funny, as my Saturday column said, but he never regretted any of the atrocities he committed, including gassing 15,000 of his own people. He deemed it "necessary," Piro said.

Saddam was a born psychopath, yet he also was a good listener, which allowed him to read and analyze others and manipulate them.

He agreed to the interviews because, Piro said, "he thought he was going to be able to manipulate us. He wanted me to go back to the U.S. and write a book favorable to him."

That hasn't happened.

Like everyone else, Saddam had "tells."

When questions made Saddam uncomfortable, he would act like it was an unimportant question and break eye contact, Piro said.

"He'd pick lint off his clothes or find this was the ideal time to clean his fingernails."

On their last day together, they drank coffee as usual and smoked Cuban cigars. When the time came to leave, Saddam started to cry. He also startled Piro by giving him three farewell kisses on his cheeks .

Piro tried to end it on a joke. Saddam had joked that the two of them should be consultants together. Piro's final words were along the line of, "If you can beat this rap, I'll join your company."

Based on the prosecution report Piro provided the Iraqi government, Saddam Hussein was hanged on Dec. 30, 2006.

Although he was invited, Piro said, "I declined seeing him executed."

He watched the hanging video twice; that was enough.

The FBI agent felt some humanity for the dictator who was both funny and yet a murderer with no regrets.

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.