Baghdad
Back in the 1990s, Saddam Hussein told aides that the U.S. could be hit by a terrorist attack using weapons of mass destruction. The comment was included in 12 hours of tapes of the former Iraqi dictator’s conversations with his ministers. The CIA discovered the tapes in Iraq after the U.S. invasion in 2003. Bill Tierney, a former U.N. inspector who translated the tapes for the FBI, provided them to ABC News last week. “Terrorism is coming. I told the Americans,” Saddam is heard saying. “In the future, what would prevent a booby-trapped car causing a nuclear explosion in Washington, or a germ or a chemical one?” ABC’s translation indicated that Saddam was warning the U.S. about terrorism from other sources, not Iraq. But Tierney said Saddam was brainstorming on how to attack the U.S. using terrorist proxies.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
A beginner's guide to exploring the AmazonThe Week Recommends Trek carefully — and respectfully — in the world's largest rainforest
-
What is the future of the International Space Station?In the Spotlight A fiery retirement, launching the era of private space stations
-
What are the rules of a no-buy vs. low-buy year?The Explainer These two revised approaches to purchasing could help you save big
