Debriefing the President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein Paperback – Import, 17 July 2018

better than i what i thought of this book

Pretty Interesting and Insightful in terms of depicting Saddam as a person and as a leader and how the middle east events unfolded. Not sure what degree of prejudice might have affected in describing all of the events and Saddam's personality traits, given the writer is a US national, a CIA employee and as he mentioned the manuscript had to be vetted by CIA brass. So on some level a "neutral" reader might end up evaluating if the narrative is 100% accurate or if there is an alternate viewpoint, one that highlights more to it than meets the eye. By any means I am clearly not hinting at conspiracy theories hyped by media.In any case, i think the Author has done a great job by calling out on US and admitting that US leadership wasn't really paying attention to the facts and that they went in with a preconceived notion of finding WMD and getting rid of Saddam. Even though it was really about Oil and that of Bush Jr trying to outshine his father. Although reality caught up later.In the end, I am happy to have read this book and get the insights from America's perspective (read CIA's perspective)

Book takes you in to the interrogation room, the way the book is written straight to the point and not like the fiction books is what makes it different. The books lives upto it's name "Interrogation of Saddam". The author clearly has put up how Saddam reacted to all the questions and what he thought of situations and the reasons behind the Saddam's decision.Positives: Straight to the point, cut to the chase. Probably the best one could ever read about the interrogation. Just the needed information, isn't stretched too far and have points only that relate to the book. The author has written his personal reviews as well and what he thought about the president and other people with whom he was working and it takes strong will to write what is wrong.Negatives: The author being the CIA agent, one would have expected a little more inside details but there were black out areas which I believe the author did put up the information but the CIA blacked it out under "security" reasons.Anyone who wants to the after myth of Saddam once he was arrested can read the book. It surely gives an inside details and is probably the best one could ever know about Saddam

America has been the cornerstone of democracy for over two centuries. While that is remarkable, it has gone beyond limits to ensure that democracy prevails across the world, on previous occasions in the past and continues to do so. Be it the cold war, or the Iraqi invasion, or the Libyan intervention, or its Afghan presence, the US and its allies have in-turn destroyed the middle-east what-so-ever. This Saddam Hussein interview, by John Nixon, reflects the fact that how the reckless Bush Administration without thinking about what would happen post-invasion, captured Saddam and failed Iraq. He was murderer of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi's yet was the arch of stability there. This book is a reminder of the costs of imposing democracy on other countries.

A gripping book only if you understand why it was written. Initially looking at the cover I thought it would tell me more about the issue of Saddam Hussein but the book hits a much deeper issue, "the choices we make". Speaking anything more than this would, I believe, ruin the book for you. Read it to know it. It has a beauty in facts and analysis for the reader. How correct or how wrong is definitely for the reader to decide but I am sure I am taking a life lesson on how to choose from Mr. Nixon. And yes the author does share the name with a famous president, as he jokes. :-)

It's a mind blowing work of the 21st century done by some spy. John Nixon penned down the views and thoughts of the dictator that the Western world ignored it. Today, when we look at Islam and Saddam, i think the dictator was a saint compared to ISIS. Saddam was brutal but only for those who became an obstacle. But, as a reader i am bit disappointed from John Nixon that he tapped certain contents, the reasons are unknown. But since your are trying to bring the truth out then such acts should be avoided. Well, if John Nixon happen to read my comment then its a pray that he should remove his tapping and we will know more clear picture of the dictator. Honestly, if Mr. Nixon has anything else to be shared about Saddam or of his investigation, then i will be looking forward for his truth. The book is good to be read but a little more should be added, like Saddam's relationship with Christians and women has cabinet ministers and so on. This is crucial because ISIS do no believe in such theology. Saying that the book should be read and spread among people and also within Muslims.

Reading this book reinforced my belief that attacking Iraq was a dumb decision by USA and its allied and President Saddam Hussein was not that bad as America wants us to believe....

The story is not captivating

I bought a second hand book. I was stunned by the condition of the book. You wouldn't be able to tell a difference between a new paperback and this used one.As for the book itself, I had been intrigued by its title ever since I read an article that Nixon was coming out with this book. It's very interesting a page-turner and an overall amazing read.

Mit dem vorliegenden Buch liefert Autor John Nixon einen sehr interessanten und spannenden Einblick in seine Erfahrungen während der Verhöre des irakischen Ex-Präsidenten Saddam Hussein sowie ebenso eine knallharte und schonungslose Abrechnung mit der Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik mehrerer US-Administrationen – allen voran der Regierung von George W. Bush, die das Debakel im Irak zu verantworten hat.Der Autor begann Ende der 1990er Jahre seine Laufbahn als Analyst bei der CIA und wurde zu einem der führenden Experten für den Irak sowie Saddam Hussein im Speziellen. Mit dem Krieg im Irak, der Anfang 2003 begann, führte der Weg des Autors immer wieder in das Land, um als Analyst seinen Beitrag bei der Suche nach ehemaligen Regimegrößen zu leisten sowie sein Wissen und seine Expertise bei der Bekämpfung und Analyse des Aufstands nach der Invasion zur Verfügung zu stellen.Nach der Gefangennahme von Saddam Hussein im Dezember 2003 fiel dem Autor gemeinsam mit seinem Team schließlich die Aufgabe zu, die ersten Verhöre mit dem Ex-Präsidenten zu führen, ehe das FBI den Fall übernahm. Hier ist es unglaublich spannend und interessant zu lesen, welcher Mensch und welche Persönlichkeit Saddam Hussein war und wie extrem groß, weitreichend und gravierend sowohl die Fehleinschätzungen, Missverständnisse und Irrtümer auf amerikanischer als auch auf irakischer Seite im Verlauf der Jahrzehnte waren, die schließlich in das Debakel der Invasion von 2003 führten, unter deren Auswirkungen die Region und letztlich die ganze Welt heute noch zu leiden haben.Neben diesem sehr spannenden Ausflug in die Persönlichkeits- und Gedankenwelt von Saddam Hussein und die innere Machtstruktur des Iraks unter Saddams Herrschaft liefert John Nixon aber auch einen interessanten Einblick in die Arbeit und Grabenkämpfe innerhalb der CIA sowie auch eine Analyse und Abrechnung mit der Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik in Bezug auf den Irak der Regierungen unter Clinton, Bush jun und Obama. Speziell die Einschätzungen über die Motive und Politik von Bush jun fällt wenig schmeichelhaft bis verheerend aus, weil in aller Deutlichkeit evident wird, dass es der Administration an grundlegendem Verständnis der islamischen Welt und des Iraks sowie auch an strategischem Denken fehlte.Was folgte, war eine mutwillige selektive und einseitige Bewertung und Gewichtung von Geheimdienstinformationen, die im größten Desaster endete, das die USA im Nahen und Mittleren Osten je erlebten und dessen Folgen bis heute andauern und das strategische Gleichgewicht der Region eindeutig zu ungunsten der USA veränderten.Der Autor verweist dabei mehrmals ausdrücklich darauf, dass viele erfahrene Analysten lange und intensiv vor einem Krieg gegen den Irak gewarnt haben, aber von der Regierung nicht gehört wurden. Jedoch hatte die Regierung Bush jun im Anschluss keine Skrupel, das Debakel im Irak als Versagen der Geheimdienste zu deklarieren und damit die Verantwortung für das eigene Versagen und die unverantwortliche Kriegstreiberei einfach abzuwälzen.Somit ein Buch, das wirklich interessanten und spannenden Inhalt liefert und jedem politisch und zeitgeschichtlich interessiertem Leser erhellende Lektüre und Hintergrundinformationen liefert. Von mir deshalb 5 Sterne und klare Empfehlung.

Debriefing the President: The Interrogation of Saddam HusseinVoila enfin un livre qui révèle une partie de la vérité sur Saddam Hussein et sur l'erreur grossière que fur la guerre du Golfe et l'élimination de Saddam Hussein.

CIA Analyst John Nixon spent years studying the Iraqi dictator and was responsible for the positive identification of Saddam Hussein after his capture in December 2003. He was also part of the team that first debriefed (CIA-speak for "interrogate") the toppled dictator. What Nixon learned changed him, and this is his story.What we were fed prior to the war, all the way back to the Clinton Administration, was a caricature of a man, a cross between Hitler and Yosemite Sam. As an example, in 2003, while the United States was preparing to go to war, Saddam was busy writing a novel and sending it to his ministers for critique. The CIA knew this, but thought that the novel must be ghostwritten and paid this detail no significance, because it ran counter to our assumptions about Saddam. In hindsight, it showed that Saddam in his later years paid little attention to the affairs of state, let alone masterminding the death and destruction of the United States.The 2nd Iraqi war cost literally burned 3 trillion dollars. This number is difficult to fathom, but it's basically the total sum of all auto loans, student loans and credit card debt in the United States from Alabama to Wyoming. This, not counting thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, not only didn't make us safer, but made the world a much more dangerous place and gave rise to ISIS and lit the entire region on fire. It's too late to change any of that, but it's still instructive to understand what went wrong.This story is John Nixon's attempt at telling the story for the sake of history, and provide a critique from his view deep inside the CIA on the entire process that led us to his colossal mistake in the first place. The CIA, like any large bureaucracy, is full of talented but inexperienced young people, with a layer of middle-managers that are intelligent enough to get promoted but not wise enough to see the big picture, and an executive branch that is more concerned with finding facts that prove it right, rather than gathering intelligence to understand the real world. But before you think that Nixon has an axe to grind with Bush the 2nd, he in equal measure criticize the actions and attitude of the Clinton and the Obama administrations.This book is very readable and the story in of itself is fascinating. But more to the point, it provides the intelligent reader with a deeper, realistic view into national intelligence machinery. He left the parts that were redacted by the CIA in place, sometimes a word is blacked out, sometimes an entire paragraph. That is the only unfortunate and annoying aspect of the book, but through no fault of the author's. What's left, is still a story that needed to be told.

Dit boek gaf mij inzicht van hoe leiders van een land omgaan met instanties die noodzakelijk zijn voor het oplossen van een internationale conflict.