He knew how to get Saddam Hussein talking, and it paid off
As the 20-year anniversary of the war in Iraq approaches (March 19), it’s worth recalling that the FBI interrogator who got deposed dictator Saddam Hussein to spill the beans was one of us.
CNN’s brilliant, in-depth interview Tuesday with the interrogator, George Piro, leaves out the fact that Piro came to Turlock as a child, became a police officer in Ceres (1989) and was an investigator with the Stanislaus County DA’s office (1997) in Modesto before joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1999). We’ll forgive the oversight, as Piro’s tales of chatting up Saddam over seven months in 2004 are simply riveting.
Some Modesto Bee readers will remember that former columnist Jeff Jardine back in 2008 introduced us to Piro, who was born in Lebanon in 1967 and immigrated here with his family at 12. He had been an FBI agent only five years when, because of fluency in Arabic, Piro was selected to lead the agency’s interrogation of Saddam shortly after he was pulled from a small, rat-infested hole in north Iraq.
Jardine explained how Piro finessed Saddam, over months, into talking about the weapons of mass destruction he no longer had, as well as his plan to build them up again if he had remained in power.
The same photo that Piro shared with Jardine in 2008 — standing with fellow agent Todd Irinaga by a sign at the Baghdad airport, where the interrogations took place in a converted cell — was used by CNN as well these 15 years later. Irinaga, by the way, now is senior director of security at Modesto’s E.&J. Gallo Winery.
“You can’t minimize the significance of this,” Piro had told Jardine. “I’m very proud of what we accomplished.”
The scope of the accomplishment is more evident in Piro’s compelling interview with Peter Bergen, CNN national security analyst, who called the feat “what some consider the most successful interrogation in FBI history.” Piro’s success in confirming that the United States mistakenly believed that Iraq was lousy with weapons of mass destruction — and that Saddam had nothing to do with Osama bin Laden, who was behind the 9/11 attacks — is the two-pronged takeaway.
America’s sin
“The dictator’s discussions with Piro confirmed that the Iraq War was America’s original sin during the dawn of the 21st century — a war fought under false assumptions, a conflict that killed thousands of American troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis,” Bergen concludes.
Although Piro’s tie to Stanislaus County doesn’t merit a mention in the CNN report, it’s still a captivating read.
For instance, as they chatted about history, art, sports and politics, Piro learned of Saddam’s tolerance for Christians; many were members of his palace staff. Piro’s almost-touching recounting of sharing home-baked cookies with Saddam on his birthday is tempered by Piro’s assessment of the Butcher of Baghdad as “a terrible human being” and “one of the most murderous men” of his time, who killed his own people. And much of the evidence used in his trial by the new Iraqi government came from his talks with Piro, leading to Saddam’s execution by hanging in 2006.
Years after those fateful months in Iraq, Piro found himself leading FBI counterterrorism in Miami, where he retired in July. He now heads his own consulting firm and is writing a book for Simon & Schuster on his discussions with Saddam.
My guess is he will include some references to Turlock, Ceres and Modesto. He may not live here anymore, but everyone owes some of what they’ve become to teen and young adult influences.
