Ex-FBI interrogator reveals Saddam Hussein used to mock Bin Laden

Saddam Hussein used to mock Osama Bin Laden, it has been revealed.

Former FBI agent George Piro interrogated the dictator for seven months for hours a day when he was found hiding in a bunker in Iraq and speaking to CNN, he explained what was that like, revealing Hussein mocked Bin Laden about his beard.

Piro revealed that the deposed tyrant "didn't like Osama Bin Laden" and used to joke about him, saying: "You really can't trust anybody with a beard like that."

Hussein was executed by hanging in 2006 after being convicted of crimes against humanity. His regime was linked to human rights abuses and and an estimated 250,000 murders.

Elsewhere in the interview, Piro said he found it "terrifying" that he'd been tasked with "interrogating somebody that was on the world stage for so many years".

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He said: "At my first meeting with Saddam, within 30 seconds, he knew two things about me. I told him my name was George Piro and that I was in charge, and he immediately said 'You're Lebanese'.

"I told him my parents were Lebanese, and then he said, 'You’re Christian'. I asked him if that was a problem, and he said absolutely not. He loved the Lebanese people. Lebanese people loved him.

"And I was like, 'Well, great. We’re going to get along wonderfully'."

He also revealed that on the dictator's 67th birthday, Piro brought him tea and cookies his mother had made and Hussein was "depressed" to learn that Iraqis were happy that they weren't being forced to celebrate his birthday.

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