
Debriefing the President
The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein
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Narrated by:
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John Nixon
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By:
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John Nixon
About this listen
Debriefing the President presents an astounding, candid portrait of one of our era’s most notorious strongmen. John Nixon, the first man to conduct a prolonged interrogation of Hussein after his capture, offers expert insight into the history and mind of America’s most enigmatic enemy.
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.
After years of parsing Hussein's leadership from afar, Nixon faithfully recounts his debriefing sessions and subsequently strips away the mythology surrounding an equally brutal and complex man. His account is not an apology but a sobering examination of how preconceived ideas led Washington policymakers - and the Bush White House - astray. Unflinching and unprecedented, Debriefing the President exposes a fundamental misreading of one of the modern world's most central figures and presents a new narrative that boldly counters the received account.
©2016 John Nixon (P)2016 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"A damning indictment of the perversion of a major intelligence service by little minds inside and above it." (The Times of London)
“That a CIA officer should hold power to account in a memoir is unusual, and patriotic. John Nixon has done so with insight and style. Debriefing the President is a page turner of historical consequence - excellent news for the republic in treacherous times.” (Nick McDonell, author of Twelve and The End of Major Combat Operations)
"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, starred review)
Great story Very educational
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Great Story
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insightful, but very biased
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Good insights.. please read review
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This story is bound to leave each of its readers feeling regretful of the fate of the man!
Furthermore , THE MORE one is bound to feel pity for Saddam, after having read this personal account of conversations with the man, THE MORE ONE IS BOUND TO FEEL SHAME FOR THE FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS AND OUT-OF-THEIR-INTELLECTUAL-DEPTH depiction of what jerks G.W. BUSH and the NEOCONS (most of whom with considerable ties to Jewish and Israeli institutions, activists and contacts among those who were in charge of the USA at the time! Great read, perfect story!
I HOPE THE UNCLASSIFIED BITS WILL BE CONTINUOUSLY PUBLISHED WHEN CIA CENSORSHIP WILL CEASE TO STAY CLASSIFIED!
What a starý! WHAT A READ!
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I recommend this book to everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and learning from it.
Great Book
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This audiobook is a must listen for anyone interested in political science, Saddam Hussein, or just want some insight into what happened in Iraq.
Great Listen
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Not what I expected..
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Yes Saddam was evil, yet the Arab spring could have destroyed him or his successor. But whether then or earlier the best solution would have been for Iraq to overthrow him via another General after Saddam, or popular uprising. John Nixon was right in that even though we could have salvaged our fight in Iraq, we made no effort to save it out of Intellectual Laziness or crude ego over our pride (Our and We referring to Bush's Government) to have won the war.
I appreciated his honest approach in the book and explanation on how American leaders misunderstanding of the tools like the CIA and intelligence hurt our countries effort to be number one in the world (even gave dirt on Bill Clinton) which is a lesson I feel our Current Leader Donald Trump may repeat this mistake.
I highly recommend this book.
An Engaged look at 2003-2009 in Iraq and America
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