Debriefing the President - Hardcover

Nixon, John

3.79

2,274 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593077784 ISBN 13: 9780593077788

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2017

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In December 2003, after one of the largest, most aggressive manhunts in history, US military forces captured Iraqi president Saddam Hussein near his hometown of Tikrit. Beset by body-double rumors and false alarms during a nine-month search, the Bush administration needed positive identification of the prisoner before it could make the announcement that would rocket around the world.

At the time, John Nixon was a senior CIA leadership analyst who had spent years studying the Iraqi dictator. Called upon to make the official ID, Nixon looked for telltale scars and tribal tattoos and asked Hussein a list of questions only he could answer. The man was indeed Saddam Hussein, but as Nixon learned in the ensuing weeks, both he and America had greatly misunderstood just who Saddam Hussein really was.

Debriefing the President presents an astounding, candid portrait of one of our era’s most notorious strongmen. Nixon, the first man to conduct a prolonged interrogation of Hussein after his capture, offers expert insight into the history and mind of the West’s most enigmatic enemy. Nixon faithfully recounts his debriefing sessions and subsequently strips away the mythology surrounding this brutal and complex man. His account is not an apology, but a sobering examination of how preconceived ideas led Washington policymakers—as well as Tony Blair and the Bush White House—astray, with terrible consequences for the world.

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About the Author:

After completing an MSc in welding technology at Cranfield Institute of Technology, John Nixon joined the Underwater Welding Group at Cranfield in 1975. He is currently Principal Research Officer at the Marine Technology Centre at Cranfield University. His main responsibility is the design and construction of specialized research welding and experimental systems for underwater welding. His other research interests include robotic welding, welding parameter logging and analysis for underwater systems. He is a Chartered Engineer and a SenMWeldl.

Review:

"Excellent" -- John Simpson New Statesman "Refreshingly candid... [Mr. Nixon] reveals gobsmacking facts about that deposed Iraqi leader that raise new questions about why the United States bothered to invade Iraq to oust him from power" The New York Times "A damning indictment of the perversion of a major intelligence service by little minds inside and above it" -- Michael Burleigh The Times "Gripping...Nixon's book, Debriefing the President, gives more ammunition to the skeptics; indeed, some of its contents can only be described as sensational" The New Yorker "The gripping behind-the-scenes story of Saddam Hussein's downfall" Soldier "A fascinating glimpse of the "tough, shrewd, manipulative" leader and his views on the U.S. invasion, Iraqi history, and his own role in the Middle East...An intelligent and readable postscript to the Iraq War that will be valuable for future historians." Kirkus

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