The Saddam Tapes: The Inner Workings of a Tyrant's Regime, 1978-2001
The Saddam Tapes: The Inner Workings of a Tyrant's Regime, 1978-2001
By Kevin M. Woods, David D. Palkki, Mark E. Stout
During the 2003 war that ended Saddam Hussein's regime, coalition forces captured thousands of hours of secret recordings of meetings, phone calls, and conferences. Originally prepared by the Institute for Defense Analyses for the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, this study presents annotated transcripts of Iraqi audio recordings of meetings between Saddam Hussein and his inner circle.
The Saddam Tapes, along with the much larger digital collection of captured records at the National Defense University's Conflict Records Research Center, will provide researchers with important insights into the inner workings of the regime and, it is hoped, the nature of authoritarian regimes more generally. The collection has implications for a range of historical questions.
- How did Saddam react to the pressures of his wars?
- How did he manage the Machiavellian world he created?
- How did he react to the signals and actions of the international community on matters of war and peace?
- Was there a difference between the public and the private Saddam on critical matters of state?
A close examination of this material in the context of events and other available evidence will address these and other questions.
Advance Praise for "The Saddam Tapes:"
"The word 'unique' is overused, but it applies here. Not only have we previously never had records about Saddam Hussein that bring us this close to him, but we don't have records that compare to these for any authoritarian leader. These tapes give us unparalleled insights into how Saddam thought and regime worked. They will be of great interest to students of Iraq, the Arab world, and our recent past." - Robert Jervis, Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Politics , Columbia University
"Step into Saddam's world. See the universe the way it looked to him-and learn a lot about your own assumptions. "One thing we did right after invading Iraq was to collect as much information about the Saddam Hussein regime as possible. Rarely in history have we had such an opportunity to study the internal workings of such a regime. This volume is the public's first chance to see the world through Saddam's eyes. Here we have Saddam in his own words among his own people. "Prior to the war, political leaders had an abysmal understanding of the Saddam. They saw only a deadly cartoonish figure and made costly miscalculations based on ignorance. Saddam was a tyrant, but also a complex human controlling a complex society. He built as well as destroyed. Why? He had a massive misperception of Washington and made massive miscalculations. Why? Getting into his head is a strange experience, but this volume provides a window. Future leaders must learn from this experience. This volume can help save us from future disasters." - Charles Duelfer, Former Head of Iraq Survey Group and author of Hide and Seek: The Search for Truth in Iraq
David D. Palkki is the Deputy Director of the Conflict Records Research Center.
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