George Piro, who told Kessler that he befriended Saddam to extract confessions, said, "When we were saying bye, he started to tear up."

Saddam also feared Iran, and told his American captors that he wanted Tehran to believe he possessed nuclear and biological weapons, according to Kessler.

"Saddam said that if America thought that he had WMD, then, of course, Iran would, and this would fulfill his goal of making sure that Iran did not want to attack Iraq," Kessler told NBC News.

The Arabic-speaking Piro won Saddam's confidence by convincing him that he was the fallen strongman's only contact with the outside world.