Debriefing the President

The Interrogation of Saddam Hussein

De: John Nixon

Narrado por: John Nixon

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.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"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


"Nixon captures the psychological give-and-take of these exchanges [with Saddam Hussein] with gripping readability...and he describes the resultant verbal sparring with a sharp ear for nuance." – Steve Donoghue, The Christian Science Monitor

"Mr. Nixon, the first C.I.A. officer to interrogate Hussein after his capture in December 2003, reveals gobsmacking facts about that deposed Iraqi leader that raise new questions about why the United States bothered to invade Iraq to oust him from power. These details will likely appall Americans who have watched their nation’s blood and treasure wasted in Iraq ever since…. More broadly, Mr. Nixon offers a stinging indictment of the C.I.A. and what he sees as the agency’s dysfunctional process for providing intelligence to the president and other policy makers…. Mr. Nixon’s book comes at an extraordinary moment, when President-elect Donald J. Trump is already at war with the C.I.A….“Debriefing the President” will add fuel to the fire of the Trump-led criticism. It will also send a chilling warning to anyone counting on the C.I.A. to stand up to Mr. Trump once he is in office.” – James Risen, The New York Times

“Gripping…Nixon’s book, Debriefing the President, gives more ammunition to the skeptics; indeed, some of its contents can only be described as sensational.” – John Cassidy, The New Yorker

"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

Enjoyed listening to a historical event told by someone with firsthand knowledge, learned a lot about Iraq Sadam & our players in this mess

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.

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.

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.

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.