Saddam's FBI Interviews Released

Transcripts of Saddam Hussein's two dozen interviews with the FBI before his execution were released yesterday, after details were published last week by the New York Daily News, which obtained them through the Freedom of Information Act. Some details are still redacted, but the FBI says no "enhanced" techniques were used in interrogations. In the interviews, Saddam said he pretended to have WMDs because he was worried about looking weak to the “fanatic” leaders of Iran, and admits that refusing UN verification of the destruction of his WMDs was a mistake.

He said he had been prepared to forge a security pact with the US, if necessary, to protect his country from Iranian threats, called Osama bin Laden “a zealot” and insisted he’d never had any dealings with al-Qaeda. “Religion and government should not mix,” he said. He also dismissed intelligence reports that he used body doubles to avoid assassinations, saying, “This is movie magic, not reality.” (More Saddam Hussein stories.)