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)
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- Paul Nitze, George Kennan, and the History of the Cold War
- By: Nicholas Thompson
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Only two Americans held positions of great influence throughout the Cold War; ironically, they were the chief advocates for the opposing strategies for winning---and surviving---that harrowing conflict. Both men came to power during World War II, reached their professional peaks during the Cold War's most frightening moments, and fought epic political battles that spanned decades.
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Two outstanding people in the US Government
- By Nina Donnard on 11-05-09
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The Good Spy
- The Life and Death of Robert Ames
- By: Kai Bird
- Narrated by: René Ruiz
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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The Good Spy is Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Kai Bird’s compelling portrait of the remarkable life and death of one of the most important operatives in CIA history - a man who, had he lived, might have helped heal the rift between Arabs and the West. On April 18, 1983, a bomb exploded outside the American Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people. The attack was a geopolitical turning point. It marked the beginning of Hezbollah as a political force, but even more important, it eliminated America’s most influential and effective intelligence officer in the Middle East - CIA operative Robert Ames.
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Biased but interesting
- By Peggy on 05-09-18
By: Kai Bird
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Plan of Attack
- By: Bob Woodward
- Narrated by: Boyd Gaines
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Abridged
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Plan of Attack is the definitive account of how and why President George W. Bush, his war council, and allies launched a preemptive attack to topple Saddam Hussein and occupy Iraq. Bob Woodward's latest landmark account of Washington decision making provides an original, authoritative narrative of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, examining the causes and consequences of the most controversial war since Vietnam.
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Rorschach Test
- By Michael on 05-03-04
By: Bob Woodward
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Good Hunting
- An American Spymaster's Story
- By: Jack Devine
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story is the spellbinding memoir of Devine's time in the CIA, where he served for more than 30 years, rising to become the acting deputy director of operations, responsible for all of the agency's spying operations. This is a story of intrigue and high-stakes maneuvering - all the more gripping when the fate of our geopolitical order hangs in the balance. But this audiobook also sounds a warning to our nation's decision makers.
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Fascinating, An education on spying
- By Anthony on 12-13-15
By: Jack Devine
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The Art of Betrayal
- The Secret History of MI6 - Life and Death in the British Secret Service
- By: Gordon Corera
- Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm
- Length: 17 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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From Berlin to the Congo, from Moscow to the back streets of London, these are the stories of the agents on the front lines of British intelligence. And the truth is often more remarkable than fiction.
MI6 has been cloaked in secrecy and shrouded in myth since it was created a hundred years ago. Our understanding of what it is to be a spy has been largely defined by the fictional worlds of Ian Fleming and John le Carré. Gordon Corera provides a unique and unprecedented insight into this secret world and the reality that lies behind the fiction.
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Good details but lacks thorough research
- By Unapologetic on 09-06-17
By: Gordon Corera
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Spymaster
- Startling Cold War Revelations of a Soviet KGB Chief
- By: Tennent H. Bagley
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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From the dark days of World War II through the Cold War, Sergey A. Kondrashev was a major player in Russia’s notorious KGB espionage apparatus. Rising through its ranks through hard work and keen understanding of how the spy and political games are played, he “handled” American and British defectors, recruited Western operatives as double agents, served as a ranking officer at the East Berlin and Vienna KGB bureaus, and tackled special assignments from the Kremlin.
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An brilliant personal Cold War perspective
- By Iamnotaspy on 01-09-15
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Charlie Wilson's War
- The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History
- By: George Crile
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 20 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Charlie Wilson's War is the untold story behind the last battle of the Cold War and how it fueled the rise of militant Islam. George Crile tells how Charlie Wilson, a maverick congressman from east Texas, conspired with a rogue CIA operative to launch the biggest, meanest, and most successful covert operation in the agency's history.
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The REAL Story of the Middle East and the CIA
- By Dale on 08-24-04
By: George Crile
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Death of a Dissident
- The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB
- By: Alex Goldfarb, Marina Litvinenko
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins
- Abridged
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The November 2006 assassination of former Russian intelligence officer Alexander "Sasha" Litvinenko, who was poisoned by the rare radioactive element polonium, caused an international sensation. Within a few short weeks, the fit 43-year-old lay gaunt, bald, and dying in a hospital, the victim of a "tiny nuclear bomb". Suspicions swirled around Russia's FSB, the successor to the KGB, and the Putin regime.
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Very interesting and scary...
- By A. M. on 03-21-15
By: Alex Goldfarb, and others
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Confront and Conceal
- Obama's Secret Wars and Surprising Use of American Power
- By: David E. Sanger
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Three and a half years ago, David Sanger’s book The Inheritance: The World Obama Confronts and the Challenges to American Power described how a new American president came to office with the world on fire. Now, just as the 2012 presidential election battle begins, Sanger follows up with an eye-opening, news-packed account of how Obama has dealt with those challenges, relying on innovative weapons and reconfigured tools of American power to try to manage a series of new threats.
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Sobering reminder on what the presidency requires
- By Marilyn on 09-03-12
By: David E. Sanger
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88 Days to Kandahar
- A CIA Diary
- By: Robert L. Grenier
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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In his gripping narrative, we meet General Tommy Franks, who bridles at CIA control of "his" war; General "Jafar Amin", a gruff Pakistani intelligence officer who saves Grenier from committing career suicide; Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's brilliant ambassador to the US, who tries to warn her government of the al-Qaeda threat; "Mark", the CIA operator who guides GulAgha Shirzai to bloody victory over the Taliban.
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Honest conclusion based on practical realities.
- By rehman on 03-30-15
What listeners say about Debriefing the President
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kuldip S Tiwana
- 06-04-23
Great story Very educational
Enjoyed listening to a historical event told by someone with firsthand knowledge, learned a lot about Iraq Sadam & our players in this mess
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- nateallred
- 04-13-20
Great Story
I really enjoyed the book, but I wish it hadn't been so heavily redacted by the CIA. You still follow the basics of the story, but it would be much richer with the details that have been cut out to protect secrets.
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- Chris S
- 01-25-17
insightful, but very biased
The writer clearly knows a lot about Saddam, and it really shows through in this book. unfortunately, he also clearly has a grudge the CIA and political leadership. I understand his frustration, and it's good to point out the political and beaurocrat problems. But it consumes large swaths of an otherwise short book, and smacks of complaining without any road to resolution.
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- Lutfi Dawas
- 01-31-17
Good insights.. please read review
This production reflected... [ The following 16 lines has been redacted by the reviewer ] .. and that's the core value attained.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 10-28-18
Following phrase has been redacted
If you take out “the following phrase has been redacted by the CIA publication review board” then you would have a much more enjoyable book. However, it seems that the author is making a passive aggressive stab his old organization Bilo leaving this unseemly, clunky, disruption throughout the book rather than simply re-riding those passages and a way that would make sense to the reader And still satisfy the Secret obsessed bureaucratic overlords of the CIA. This disruption we’re not so great in the flow of the book, it would definitely be a five star very worthwhile enjoyable listen with Jean in size worth serious consideration by An expert on the subject.
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- Eusebio Llupi
- 03-15-22
What a starý! WHAT A READ!
The image of through-mainstream-media-pitched Saddam Hussein has been given a realistic mundane and real world, much more day-to-day side of the man by the author of this mind boggling read!
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!
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- G Cleft
- 06-10-18
Great Book
The author demonstrates a very incisive intelligence. He has first-hand knowledge of the events that he is writing about. This is not an opinion book.
I recommend this book to everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and learning from it.
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- Candido Pinto Jr.
- 10-31-18
Great Listen
Huge insight into the Bush administration and more so into Saddam Hussein. There's a lot that went on in the Iraq war that was clearly not covered by the American media, press, or intelligence regarding who Saddam was or why he did what he did. It also remains as a cautionary tale for future administrations of the presidency and why it is so important to have a president that can both deal with domestic issues as well as foreign issues as well and for the last three administrations, it's hard to see why the rest of the world disliked the United States so much, given our level of irresponsibility.
This audiobook is a must listen for anyone interested in political science, Saddam Hussein, or just want some insight into what happened in Iraq.
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-08-17
Fantastic new look at the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
If you remember 9/11 and the Bush administration's response in Iraq, you'll love this first person recount of the debriefing of Saddam, and later of Bush and Cheney.
Of course there's two sides to every story, but this is one of the most thoughtful accounts of what US leadership had wrong about Saddam before, during and after the invasion of Iraq.
Also hits on how the Clinton and Obama administrations didn't fare any better.
Very entertaining and goes by quickly.
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- JustBill
- 06-18-20
One Lie Took Us To War
Excellent read, but American KIA invading Iraq prevented me giving the interview 5 Stars. Saddam was doing everything we asked of him, and listen to this folks. We knew there were no chemical or biological weapons before we sent our best to war, and now we have a CIC that is the complete opposite. This book is rock solid true, If you enjoy the truth then this is your book, and you will once again see the professionalism coming out in CIA Officers. That's the only refreshing part about this book, and no consequences for those who sent our men to war.
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