The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America’s Invasion of Iraq by Steve Coll

Saddam Hussein liked keeping secrets. He rarely slept in the gaudy palaces he built across Iraq, keeping aides guessing by staying in farmhouses and the homes of his bodyguards. He avoided using phones or interacting in any way with government ministers outside of secure Cabinet meetings.

In the months leading up to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, in 1990, Saddam kept his plans concealed from all but the top generals in the Republican Guard. Steeped in the world of counter-intelligence, the dictator believed subterfuge was essential to maintaining his grip on power and thwarting his enemies, both real and perceived. “In his worldview,” writes Steve Coll in The Achilles Trap, “nothing was ever quite what it seemed.”