What Saddam told John Nixon during the conversations he had with him after his capture in late 2003 and early 2004 was to make Washington policymakers very unhappy. He convincingly rebutted the justifications used by the Bush administration for going to war. Were people ready to listen to this information? Even if they listened, did they hear? At the start of the debriefings, Nixon felt he knew Saddam. But in the ensuing weeks, he learned that the West had vastly misunderstood both him and his role as a determined foe of radical currents in the Islamic world, including Sunni extremism. And this was to prove a very expensive mistake indeed.
Author Biography
John Nixon was a senior leadership analyst with the CIA from 1998 to 2011. He did several tours in Iraq and was recognized by a number of federal agencies for his contribution to the war effort. During his time with the CIA, Nixon regularly wrote for, and briefed, the most senior levels of the US government. He also taught leadership analysis to the new generation of analysts coming into the CIA at the Sherman Kent School, the Agency's in-house analytic training center. Since leaving the Agency in 2011, Nixon has worked as an international risk consultant in Abu Dhabi, UAE. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia. This is his first book.
