#459 | Steve Coll: How Did the CIA Get Saddam Hussein and WMDs Wrong? - The Realignment Podcast

Steve Coll, author of The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq and Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, joins The Realignment. Marshall and Steve discuss America's decades-long relationship with Saddam Hussein before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the CIA's intelligence failures that led to radical misinterpretations of Saddam's ambitions after the Gulf War, the Iraq War's significance 20 years later, and how past mistakes can inform today's assessments of Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. Subscribe to The Realignment to access our exclusive Q&A episodes and support the show: https://realignment.supercast.com/ REALIGNMENT NEWSLETTER: https://therealignment.substack.com/ PURCHASE BOOKS AT OUR BOOKSHOP: https://bookshop.org/shop/therealignment Email Us: [email protected] Foundation for American Innovation: https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-... 0:00 - Introduction 1:47 - Iraq War 4:57 - Saddam & WMDs 18:44 - What did the CIA know? 21:17 - Why did Saddam want WMDs? 26:22 - Why did we invade Iraq? 32:21 - Alternate history 38:23 - The CIA’s role 45:10 - How to deal with modern day dictators 52:22 - Lessons from Saddam 55:28 - US involvement in the Middle East