The Achilles Trap: Steve Coll on how the US fatally failed to read Saddam

The reporter’s new book considers the dark comedy of errors – and a dictator’s literary ambition – that led America to war

By the time the US and UK were preparing to invade Iraq, Saddam Hussein was spending much of his time hidden away writing novels and obsessing over Arabic grammar, according to a new book based on previously unpublished transcripts and documents from his regime.

Very much like Richard Nixon, Saddam taped many conversations with his officials. The tapes were seized by US forces after the 2003 invasion, shipped to Washington to be transcribed and translated, but not made public.