“Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the next Attack” (RWC)

Ron Kessler, who I quoted in my item about Fran Townsend’s resignation, has an interesting new book out.   

It’s called “Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the next Attack” and, uh, when he says “attack” he means here in the homeland.   

In his book, Kessler offers a detailed account of an FBI Special agent and the eight months the man spent, day in and day out, with Saddam Hussein.   

The agent’s name is George Piro.  He was 36 at the time.  He worked daily  trying to get confessions from Hussein in his cell at Baghdad’s airport. He had some success.   

Hussein confessed to ordering huge masses of Kurdish civilians gassed, and told  Piro that he ordered the slaughter of thousands more and had them dumped in bull-dozer created mass graves.   

Over cups of Folger’s coffee, Hussein told Piro, who speaks Arabic, that he had no love for his two sons, Uday and Qusay, both killed before his capture and both monstrous, cruel creations of a father who didn’t regret their deaths.   S

addam also admitted that he thought UN sanctions would ultimately dissipate and that he had intended then to make a nuclear bomb. 

He said his prewar weapons of mass destruction deceptions were just that, mostly a ruse, to convince Iran and the world, that he had an arsenal of heavy weapons.   

In more human moments, Piro said Saddam made a pass at a good looking American nurse who treated him and, Piro said, had a weakness for whisky and Cohiba cigars.   

Piro saw Hussein one last time before he was hanged. He said Hussein cried when he said goodbye. A big baby after all.