On August 1, 2002, on assignment as a branch chief in the Counterterrorist Center’s Osama bin Laden unit, CIA Agent John Kiriakou was told by an unidentified director, after signing multiple secrecy agreements: ” ‘We’re going to invade Iraq next spring. We’re going to overthrow Saddam Hussein. We’re going to establish the largest air force base in the world, and we’re going to transfer everybody from Saudi Arabia to Iraq. That way, al-Qaeda won’t have that hanging over us, that we’re polluting the land of the two holy cities.’ ”
– John Kiriakou with Michael Ruby, The Reluctant Spy, Page 147