FBI agent George Piro spent seven months interrogating one of recent history’s most notorious war criminals: Saddam Hussein. In 2004, Piro was in his fifth year as an FBI agent. At the time, he was one of about 12,000 agents. Those may seem like long odds in being selected to interrogate Hussein, but, at the time, Piro was one of 12 Arabic-speaking agents, and Hussein only spoke Arabic.

Piro is a Lebanese-American. His family fled Lebanon in the mid-1970s during the nation’s civil war. His dream was to become an FBI agent. Piro is now retired after serving 30 years as an agent. In 2004, he was selected as the team leader and interrogator of Hussein.

On Aug. 15, Piro was the featured speaker for the Special Operators Transition Foundation fundraiser held at Boothbay Harbor Oceanside Golf Resort. Piro spoke for an hour on how he interrogated Hussein for seven months in learning what happened to Iraq’s cache of weapons of mass destruction and his long-term plans following the war.

Piro was contacted Dec. 24, 2003, about his assignment while finishing up last minute Christmas shopping. Once he received the call, his plans changed. “I immediately headed for the bookstore to buy two books on Saddam Hussein,” he said.

Piro carefully planned his initial meeting with Hussein in hopes of gaining an early advantage in their relationship. His research showed Hussein’s ego was the driving force in his actions. Piro discovered Hussein’s father died before his birth. He was physically and mentally abused by his uncle who became his stepfather. Hussein had no electricity or running water as a child. “He grew up to be self-reliant with a deep desire to prove people wrong about him,” Piro said.

Hussein later joined the Ba’ath Party, an Arab socialist organization founded in Syria seeking unification of the Arab world. As a young man, Hussein tried to assassinate Iraqi leader General Abd-al-Karim Qasim. Piro recalled how Hussein remembered the failed assassination attempt. “He thought of himself as a tough guy,” Piro said. “He was recruited to kill Qasim, but failed. He hid for a while before fleeing on horseback and swimming the Tigris River with a knife in his mouth to live in exile. At least, that’s how he described it.”

As the interrogation progressed, Piro learned Hussein believed he was one of the four greatest Iraqis. Hussein was also proud of Iraq’s world contributions. “Some of the greatest advancements of all time came from Iraq. Their criminal code, Hammurabi’s, is the basis of our penal code. The first military empire, first post office all began in Iraq. He also thought of himself as one of the greatest Iraqi leaders ever: Hammurabi, Sargon (of Akkad), Nebuchadnezzar (II), and Saddam Hussein. According to him, that’s a chronological order, not in greatness,” Piro said.

Hussein told Piro how he took power in 1979. “He walked into the president’s office and assumed the presidency. At the same time, he became the prime minister, premier, and Secretary General of the Revolutionary Guard. All the most powerful positions in Iraq,” Piro said. 

The elaborate interrogation plan included manipulating time, shared love of their mothers and Arab heritage in creating a bond between them. Prisoners often find God. Muslims pray five times per day so Hussein needed to know the time. “I had the only watch in the facility. If he wanted to know the time, he had to come to me. I was the only one who he had regular contact with for seven months. That was all about me taking control,” he said. “He often complained about the world’s greatest military had only one person with a watch.”

Piro also discovered a close bond between Hussein and his mother. “We shared stories, and most Arabic men’s closest bond is with their mother,” he said.

Hussein eventually asked for a photo of Piro’s mother living in California. He declined. Instead Piro had another approach using his mother. April 28 is Hussein’s birthday. While he was dictator, Iraqis were required to celebrate his birth. Hussein would visit homes throughout Iraq each April 28 to witness birthday observations. “He actually video recorded his visits. We’ve seen the videos, and you could see the horror in people’s faces,” Piro said.

Hussein was jailed in seclusion, so there was no contact with the outside world or any media access. Piro made an exception for Hussein’s birthday. “Iraqis were celebrating they no longer had to celebrate his birthday. The news coverage showed him how much they despised him which was a major blow to his ego,” Piro said.

A few weeks earlier, Piro requested a care package from home which included his mother’s Lebanese cookies. He gave them to Hussein on the dictator’s birthday. “That proved to be a turning point in our relationship,” Piro said.

After five months of interrogations, Hussein’s constant stomach problems worsened requiring more extensive medical attention. The FBI flew Hussein to a hospital 30 minutes away, but there were two major hurdles. Baghdad was in the middle of a war zone and Hussein was afraid to fly. “He didn’t tell us until we were in the helicopter, and I could tell he was scared. I held him in my arms for the entire flight,” Piro said.

After a series of exams, doctors needed to perform one where Hussein drank a“chauky” liquid so a scan could identify stomach problems. “Well, he already had really bad diarrhea. As you know, this type of drink creates more diarrhea. I never heard my name screamed so loud as when he ran to the bathroom with me carrying his IV (intravenous) bag,” Piro said. 

In the seventh month of interrogation, Piro knew he was close to a breakthrough. He began questioning Hussein about the weapons of mass destruction WMD. The former dictator admitted Iraq never had the weapons cache it boasted. “It was a plan to deter his No. 1 enemy, Iran. The two had fought a bloody battle for eight years in the 1980s and two Persian Gulf Wars left his country weak and extremely vulnerable. So, Hussein bragged about his WMDs to keep Iran from invading and defeating him,” Piro said.

After the admission, Piro had one final question. He asked Hussein why he confessed about the WMDs. Hussein’s answer had to do with the hospital visit. “You told me, you would never leave me, and, you never did,” Hussein said. 

Piro remained in Iraq for a few months assisting with Iraqis’ prosecution preparation of their former leader. On Nov. 6, 2006, an Iraqi jury sentenced Hussein to death by hanging. He was charged with killing 148 Shiites in retaliation for an 1982 assassination attempt. Hussein died Dec. 30, 2006.