Simplify the following text for a Grade 7 native English-speaking person.
Original: With war looming on 24 February 2003 , Saddam Hussein took part in an interview with CBS News reporter Dan Rather .
Simplified: As the war was looming on February 24 , 2003 , Saddam Hussein talked with CBS News anchor Dan Rather for more than three hoursâ '' his first interview with a U.S. reporter in over a decade .