{"id":54342,"date":"2018-03-22T23:49:52","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T06:49:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=54342"},"modified":"2018-04-15T15:53:02","modified_gmt":"2018-04-15T22:53:02","slug":"saddam-speaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/saddam-speaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Saddam Speaks"},"content":{"rendered":"
The following is an article from Uncle John\u2019s Bathroom Reader<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n

\"saddam\"<\/a>Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was big news from the 1980s through the 2000s. But it wasn\u2019t until years after his death that the world got to hear his story in his own words.<\/em><\/p>\n

DEBRIEFING THE DICTATOR<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saddam Hussein (1937\u20132006) became the president and dictator of Iraq in 1979\u2014a position he held for 24 years. In that time, he invaded Iran in 1980, waged a genocidal campaign against the Kurdish people of northern Iraq in 1988, and invaded Kuwait in 1990.<\/p>\n

The United States went to war with him twice. After he invaded Kuwait in August 1990, President George H. W. Bush organized a military coalition of 39 states that drove Hussein out of Kuwait in 1991. That was the first time\u2014the Gulf War.<\/p>\n

Part of the cease-fire agreement that ended the Gulf War was that Hussein had to destroy all of his weapons of mass destruction, or WMDs. But by early 2003, President George W. Bush (son of George H. W.) had become convinced that Hussein was stockpiling the banned weapons, and in March 2003 the United States invaded Iraq a second time to seize them. The Iraqi government fell in April 2003 and Saddam went into hiding, but was captured and arrested eight months later. The WMDs that were used to justify the invasion of Iraq were never found, because they did not exist. The United States\u2019 intelligence agencies got it wrong: Hussein had not been stockpiling the weapons after all.<\/p>\n

The capture of Saddam Hussein by American forces offered FBI interrogators a rare opportunity to peer into the mind of a dictator and better understand his motives for invading Iran and Kuwait, and for expelling UN weapons inspectors from Iraq in 1998. Had the inspectors been allowed to continue their work, they might have helped to prevent the war, by providing proof that Saddam wasn\u2019t stockpiling WMDs. So why did Saddam kick them out? He gave answers to these and other questions while under interrogation in what was called \u201cOperation Desert Spider.\u201d The following are excerpts from FBI agent George Piro\u2019s interrogation transcripts, which were declassified in 2009.<\/p>\n

ON THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to Hussein, Iran would have occupied all of the Arab world if it had not been for Iraq. As such, Iraq expected the Arab world to support them during and after the war. However, Iraq saw the opposite, especially from Kuwait. At the end of the war as Iraq began the rebuilding process, the price of oil was approximately $7 per barrel. In Hussein\u2019s opinion, Iraq could not possibly rebuild its infrastructure and economy with oil prices at this level. Kuwait was especially at fault regarding these low oil prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

ON THE INVASION OF KUWAIT<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHussein stated that he devised the plan for the invasion of Kuwait\u2026The invasion was accomplished within two and a half hours, equivalent to that previously estimated. Hussein stated it should have taken no more than one hour. He believes it should have occurred more quickly than originally estimated due to support for the invasion from the Kuwaiti people. Hussein reiterated a previous statement to the interviewers that Iraq was asked by the Kuwaiti people to invade their country in order to remove the Kuwaiti leadership. When asked to clarify how Kuwaiti citizens communicated their desires to the Iraqi government prior to the invasion, Hussein stated some, not all, Kuwaitis felt this way. He added, \u2018we felt they were asking.\u2019\u200a\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring Iraq\u2019s occupation of Kuwait, Hussein denied knowledge of the commission of atrocities by the Iraqi military. These atrocities include the punishment [and] executions of Kuwaiti individuals who prayed on their roofs, who failed to hang pictures of Hussein, who displayed pictures of the previous Kuwaiti royal family, or who wrote anti-Iraqi graffiti. Hussein stated, \u2018This is the first time I have ever heard this.\u2019 He added, of the mentioned punishable offenses, he particularly does not believe two of them were designated as crimes. First, the Iraqi government did not force Iraqis to display pictures of Hussein, therefore, the government would not have forced Kuwaitis to do this. In Iraq, citizens voluntarily chose to display Hussein\u2019s picture in their homes. Second, neither Iraqis, nor Kuwaitis are prohibited from praying anywhere, including their roofs.\u201d<\/p>\n

ON THE PERSIAN GULF WAR<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen questioned regarding Iraq\u2019s usage of Kuwaitis, Japanese, and Westerners as human shields during the first Gulf War including the positioning of them at key sites such as communications centers and military positions, Hussein denied that such individuals were taken to Iraqi military positions. He added that the Iraqi government did not, however, prevent individuals from volunteering as human shields to protect facilities such as communications centers. When questioned whether such volunteers existed in 1991, Hussein replied, \u2018I do not remember.\u2019\u200a\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRegarding the igniting of [150] oil wells in Kuwait by withdrawing Iraqi forces and the subsequent environmental disaster deemed one of the worst in history, Hussein asked, \u2018More than Chernobyl?\u2019 He requested to know the number of people who died in Kuwait because of the smoke created by the fires. Hussein denied that Iraqi forces ignited the oil wells. He acknowledged that Iraqi forces burned \u201coil in trenches\u201d as they were retreating\u2026Hussein stated his belief that it would not be a crime for the Iraqi military to burn oil in order to prevent planes from attacking them. If such an event took place, this would have been an act of a desperate person who had no weapons remaining with which to defend himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

ON THE 9\/11 ATTACKS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHussein stated Osama Bin Laden\u2019s ideology was no different than the many zealots who came before him. The two did not have the same belief or vision. Hussein claimed he had never personally seen or met Bin Laden\u2026Hussein stated the Iraqi government did not cooperate with Bin Laden. Agent Piro asked Hussein \u2018why not\u2019 since Iraq and Bin Laden had the same enemies, the United States and Saudi Arabia. Agent Piro then cited the quote \u2018my enemy\u2019s enemy is my brother.\u2019 Hussein replied that the United States was not Iraq\u2019s enemy, but that Hussein opposed its politics. If he wanted to cooperate with the enemies of the United States, Hussein would have with North Korea, which he claimed to have a relationship with, or China.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHussein stated that the United States used the 9\/11 attacks as a justification to attack Iraq. The United States had lost sight of the cause of 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n

ON THE IRAQ WAR<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEven though Saddam claimed Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), the threat from Iran was the major factor as to why he did not allow the return of the UN inspectors. Saddam stated he was more concerned about Iran discovering Iraq\u2019s weaknesses and vulnerabilities than the repercussions of the United States for his refusal to allow UN inspectors back into Iraq. In his opinion, the UN inspectors would have directly identified to the Iranians where to inflict maximum damage to Iraq. Saddam demonstrated this by pointing at his arm and stated that striking someone on the forearm would not have the same effect as striking someone at the elbow or wrist, which would significantly disable the ability to use the arm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSaddam admitted that when it was clear that a war with the United States was imminent, he allowed the inspectors back into Iraq in hopes of averting war\u2026 Saddam reiterated he had wanted to have a relationship with the United States but was not given the chance, as the United States was not listening to anything Iraq had to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHussein said, \u2018If you asked the American soldier, who came to Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction, but none could be found, and who came to remove the leaders of the Hussein dictatorship, who are all in jail now, but are replaced with other dictators, whether he wanted to stay or go, he would say go.\u2019\u200a\u201d<\/p>\n

ODDS AND ENDS<\/strong><\/p>\n