Book: Saddam faked WMD arsenal to trick Iran

[Real World]

4+ years later, it seems Saddam knew he didn't have WMD's, but didn't think the US would actually invade.


November 13, 2007

BOOK: SADDAM FAKED HAVING WMD ARSENAL TO TRICK IRAN

Living in a hush-hush prison cell inside Baghdad International Airport after his capture in a Tikrit spider hole, ex-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was a study in megalomania for the FBI agents tasked to interrogate the despot. He was obsessive about cleanliness, constantly washing his hands with baby wipes - just like most American G.I.s - and even used them to polish the fruit his military captors delivered. Though jailed and facing certain execution, he believed, Saddam still thought he would be viewed as one of the region's great leaders in a thousand years, he told his FBI interrogator.


Saddam Hussein: Cried when FBI interrogator went home

This fascinating story of Saddam's last days unfolds in journalist Ronald Kessler's new book, "The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack," which we report on exclusively in today's Daily News. The chapter on the FBI interrogation of Saddam reveals essential insights that are certain to raise new questions about how the U.S. became mired in Iraq.
Saddam told the FBI that before the 9/11 attacks - the impact of which he misjudged as badly as he misjudged President Bush, he admitted - he had anticipated that UN sanctions would be lifted and he could resume making a nuclear weapon. But he also admitted to not having any WMDs before the 2003 U.S. invasion. His deceptions were intended as a ruse to convince Iran that he was a threat to them, he said.

"What better way to do that than have the Americans think he had WMDs?" Kessler told me last week. If true, that was as big a miscalculation by Saddam as the decision by the U.S. to invade Iraq. It's also worth asking why the Bush White House and U.S. intelligence community never seriously considered that scenario to explain his actions.

The book reveals that Saddam had little affection or trust for his two maniac sons Uday and Qusay, who were slain in a firefight with American troops. When an FBI agent pressed him about his relationship with them, Saddam snapped back: "Leave me alone. You don't get to pick your kids. You're stuck with what you're given."

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/...ing_wmd_a.html

[Stokes]

That's really interesting, I'm definitely going to have to pick that book up. If true, man, how dumb can you be? "Hey let's see now, this Bush guy is a total cowboy, he wants me gone, but hey, I'm going to guess he doesn't have the stones to invade, so I'll just continue flipping him the bird with both hands." That Saddam is some piece of work. Oops, I mean WAS a piece of work, sorry about that one Saddam!

[Patters]

Originally Posted by Real World

"Leave me alone. You don't get to pick your kids. You're stuck with what you're given."

It could have been worse. He could have had Ronnie, Jr and Patti.

[PressCoverage]

this has been speculated for years.... and what WMD skeptics pointed to from day 1....

he had to keep Iran guessing throughout the 90s, especially after the U.S. devastaed his military in the Gulf War... there's a reason Saddam was a "brutal dictator"...

[Real World]

Originally Posted by Patters

It could have been worse. He could have had Ronnie, Jr and Patti.

Are you talking about Reagans kids, and saying that they were worse than Uday and Qusay Hussien?

[Real World]

Originally Posted by PressCoverage

this has been speculated for years.... and what WMD skeptics pointed to from day 1....

he had to keep Iran guessing throughout the 90s, especially after the U.S. devastaed his military in the Gulf War... there's a reason Saddam was a "brutal dictator"...

He should have come clean. It's interesting to see how he thought the UN was going to lift sanctions, and how he was going to start his nuke research up. Imagine a Saddam controlled nuclear Iraq, next to an Amenejhad controlled nuclear Iran? Like that dude said in Lord of War "sometimes you don't want either side to win". <--------(Green Smiley people)

[Patters]

Originally Posted by Real World

Are you talking about Reagans kids, and saying that they were worse than Uday and Qusay Hussien?

It's a joke, but maybe you were too young. Many Republicans were somewhat embarrassed by the antics of Ronnie, Jr. and Patti.

[Harry Boy]

Who gassed all those little kids and their mothers that we saw pictures of?

[Real World]

Originally Posted by NEM

And then, I continued to post that in many other locations, long before anyone ever thought about it. Anyone with any common sense could have pieced together the time line, studied what Saddam had done, and what he used in his long time battles with Iran in the past, and with his use of Chem. weapons against the Kurds, and then with all the reports coming out of Iraq by Weapons Inspectors, etc...it was very obvious that he was using the specter of WMDs to bluff his surrounding neighbors.

Common sense and common logic.

Sure NEM.

"Iraq appears not to have come to a genuine acceptance -- not even today -- of the disarmament, which was demanded of it and which it needs to carry out to win the confidence of the world and to live in peace."

Dr. Hans Blix, Chief UN Weapons Inspector
Addressing the UN Security Council
January 27, 2003
http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusn...wsID=354&sID=6
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/27/spr...ranscript.blix



"The nerve agent VX is one of the most toxic ever developed.

13,000 chemical bombs were dropped by the Iraqi Air Force between 1983 and 1988, while Iraq has declared that 19,500 bombs were consumed during this period. Thus, there is a discrepancy of 6,500 bombs. The amount of chemical agent in these bombs would be in the order of about 1,000 tonnes."

Dr. Hans Blix, Chief UN Weapons Inspector
Addressing the UN Security Council
January 27, 2003
http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusn...wsID=354&sID=6
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/27/spr...ranscript.blix



"I have mentioned the issue of anthrax to the Council on previous occasions and I come back to it as it is an important one.

Iraq has declared that it produced about 8,500 litres of this biological warfare agent, which it states it unilaterally destroyed in the summer of 1991. Iraq has provided little evidence for this production and no convincing evidence for its destruction.

There are strong indications that Iraq produced more anthrax than it declared, and that at least some of this was retained after the declared destruction date. It might still exist. Either it should be found and be destroyed under UNMOVIC supervision or else convincing evidence should be produced to show that it was, indeed, destroyed in 1991."

Dr. Hans Blix, Chief UN Weapons Inspector
Addressing the UN Security Council
January 27, 2003
http://www.un.org/apps/news/infocusn...wsID=354&sID=6
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/01/27/spr...ranscript.blix

[PressCoverage]

it's bitter sweet seeing one new layer of their fraudulent talking points the past 5 years evaporate seemingly each week.

at this point, the Reich's rationale for war has retreated to little more than: "but, but, .... he gassed the Kurds 18 years ago!!!!"