Return to Transcripts main page

CNN LIVE SUNDAY

Interview With Simon Henderson

Aired December 14, 2003 - 15:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Now capture of Saddam Hussein raises many questions about the man himself as well as his fate. For example, there are reports that he was wearing a sidearm when captured but he never attempted to use it, as we just reported, perhaps even to kill himself. Despite his defiant words, was he resigned to his ultimate fate?
Biographer Simon Henderson can help us understand the man behind the myth. He wrote a book about him, Simon thank you very much for joining us today.

SIMON HENDERSON, SADDAM BIOGRAPHER: Hello.

LIN: I want to get your reaction, your immediate reaction when you saw that videotape of Saddam Hussein and how he appears today: bedragled, haggard, longhaired and a beard. What were your thoughts?

HENDERSON: Well, I was as amazed by the news as anybody, and frankly, as amazed by his appearance, as anyone. Although when I think about it, I don't find it too surprising. I'd always worked on the assumption that, although Saddam in power was a very proud, a very neat dresser, fastidious in his appearance, and I think being removed from power back in April must have been a tremendous shock to him and he must of gone into some great depression.

And frankly when I saw him today, you know, I thought I was perhaps right, this is a man whose' been on the run for the last, what is it, eight months, and it shows. And then the shock of capture. You've got an amazing picture of a very different man from what we know as the despot in power for nearly 30 years.

LIN: Now we hear from forces that Saddam Hussein is actually cooperating with U.S. coalition forces. Do you actually believe that to be true? I mean this is a man who once said that he would go down fighting. I mean, that this is a man who would rather commit suicide than be captured. Obviously not the case here and now, reports that he's cooperating?

HENDERSON: Well, yes, but there's a "but" there. I don't think he necessarily gave himself up intentionally. You know, he could have committed suicide. I suppose he could have died fighting as the American soldiers closed in on him.

LIN: So why don't you think he did? Why wouldn't he kill himself?

HENDERSON: Well, we don't know the circumstances of the actual capture. And I'd be curious to know the detail and I hope it comes out.

But if an American soldier and I came along a dark hole and I thought to myself, there's a high valued target potentially down there, I don't shout down the hole, "this is the American army. Come out with your hands up," because I might get shot at. What is far more likely is that you try a rouse, like getting an Arabic speaker to shout down the hole that "oh, master, you can come out now. We must hide in another place because the Yankees have gone." At which point Saddam sticks his head out, and is grabbed and yanked out of the hole. That might have explained why he looked so surprised.

LIN: So now that he's in custody, obviously U.S. forces want to know what he knows about weapons of mass destruction, where they are, what's being done with them? How likely is he to give up that information and under what circumstances?

HENDERSON: Well, this is a good question. I would imagine he's a very interesting person to interrogate. I wrote a biography of him. I never actually met him. I'd have loved to have met him, but I don't think I would have gotten away with it unharmed.

I think this is a man who was very proud of the way that he ran the country, and if you appeal to that sort of pride and sense of self-justification, I think he'll probably talk. And then it's a question, if you're a trained interrogator and there will be teams of interrogators, frankly who have just been waiting for this opportunity, then it will be a question of encouraging him and perhaps even tricking him into saying more and more.

LIN: Simon Henderson wouldn't that be interesting if Saddam Hussein's vanity played to the United States advantage. Thank you very much for joining us.

HENDERSON: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com