The National Security Archive obtained the FBI summaries through a Freedom of Information Act request and posted them on its Web site. The New York Daily News also wrote about the Hussein files last week after obtaining summaries of the interviews through a FOIA request.
Saddam also stated that the United States used the Sept. 11 terrorist attack as a justification to attack Iraq and said the U.S. had "lost sight of the cause of 9/11." He claimed that he denounced the attack in a series of editorials.
Piro had described the discussions with the Iraqi dictator in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" last year. Saddam told him he had "miscalculated" Bush's intentions and expected only a limited U.S. attack.
"Hussein stated Iraq could have absorbed another U.S. strike, for he viewed this as less of a threat than exposing themselves to Iran," according to a June 11, 2004, FBI interview report.
He also provided details about the run-up to the 1991 Gulf War following his invasion of Kuwait, reporting that former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III warned Saddam's then-Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz during a January meeting that if Iraq did not comply with American demands "we'll take you back to the pre-industrial stage."
And he took personal responsibility for ordering the launching of Scud missiles against Israeli targets during the 1991 Gulf War, saying he did it because he blamed Israel and its influence in the United States for all Arab problems.
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Associated Press writers Pamela Hess in Washington and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.
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