US Got It Wrong About Saddam Hussein, Says Ex-CIA Man In His Book;Tell-All Book Details Author's Conversation With Saddam Hussein

The United States got it wrong while dealing with late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, ex-CIA agent John Nixon has said in his book 'Debriefing the President: The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein' published this year.

The book has documented Hussein, who had ruled Iraq for 24 years, saying that he had never tried to procure chemical weapons and that the lack of will to listen and understand both in the US and him had led to his fall in 2003. The US, then under the presidency of George W Bush, has attacked Iraq on charges that Hussein had obtained weapons of mass destruction though in reality the claim was found to be hollow.

When Nixon asked Hussein whether he had plans to use the deadly weapons against American troops based in Saudi Arabia, Hussein answered: "We never thought about using weapons of mass destruction. It was not discussed. Use chemical weapons against the world? Is there anyone with full faculties who would do this? Who would use these weapons when they had not been used against us?"

Hussein was captured by the US Army in April 2003 and hanged in December 2006. Iraq has been under complete chaos ever since. The West has tried to install democratic regimes in Iraq but it hasn't paid off successfully. The Islamic State has filled up the power vacuum created there instead, putting the entire region in a disarray.

Nixon said in his book how Washington got things entirely wrong on the late dictator and also revealed what he got to know by conversing with Hussein after his capture. Nixon, then a CIA analyst, was given the task to find out whether the captured person was the real Hussein or his body double as many had thought. The claim was found to be untrue.

Nixon met Hussein in December 2003 and during the conversation, he saw the fallen leader's defiant stance and an anger over the treatment that he was given during captivity. Hussein also told Nixon that it would be difficult for anybody who did not know the history of Iraq to rule the country.