Apr 19
Michael MorisyUncategorized FBI, Federal Government, Interviews
An anonymous tipster sent along an interesting bit: The FBI has released a portion of the written interview summaries of Saddam Hussein by Special Agent Piro.
The 132-page document includes:
- Saddam’s thoughts on his greatest accomplishment: “The social programs for the citizens of Iraq and improvements in other sectors of the economy including enhancements to education, the health care system, industry, agriculture, and other areas that generally enhanced the way of life for Iraqis.”
- When asked about his own mistakes, he told the interviewer that “All humans make mistakes, and only God is free of error.” But that he would not identify mistakes to an enemy, and the American system of government was his enemy.
- Saddam wishes that both America and Iraq advance in all areas, “financial, religious, etc.”.
- Pages and pages of details about coups, the Ba’ath uprising, the early days of the Iraqi revolution, and more.
The document release is 132 pages, but unfortunately is not searchable until somebody takes some OCR software to it. You can download it directly from the FBI (warning: PDF).
Mar 29
Michael MorisyUncategorized FBI, Federal Government, Special File Room
What, you thought the warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Ark was some George Lucas fantasy? Ok, maybe it is, but the Boston Globe’s Bryan Bender takes us someplace almost as secret, the FBI’s “secret file room”:
It is where the government has hidden the most secret information: plans to relocate Congress if Washington were attacked, dossiers on double agents, case files about high-profile mob figures and their politician friends, and a disturbing number of reports about the possible smuggling of atomic bombs into the United States.
It is also where the bureau stowed documents considered more embarrassing than classified, including its history of illegal spying on domestic political organizations and surveillance of nascent gay rights groups.
The FBI recently released memos detailing what the special file room contains and why those documents were placed there rather than the FBI’s normal filing system. The memos cover the time from the 1950s through the 1980s, and include information about international espionage, domestic threats and a rather heightened interest in gay activist groups and “allegations of homosexuality of some very prominent individuals.’’
Our friends at GovernmentAttic.org are hosting the memos (Warning: Link to 17.1 MB PDF), which run over 470 pages.
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An anonymous tipster sent along an interesting bit: The FBI has released a portion of the written interview summaries of Saddam Hussein by Special Agent Piro.