Saddam Hussein: I pretended to have WMD because I was scared of Iran
BySaddam Hussein violated numerous UN resolutions after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Why? If he did, in fact, destroy his stockpiles of WMD’s, why didn’t he allow UN inspectors to witness the destruction of the WMD ? If what he told interrogators prior to his hanging is to be believed, he was afraid of Iran and thought if Iran believed he was in possession of WMD it would be a deterrant to an invasion by the Iranian regime.
Hussein’s fear of Iran, which he said he considered a greater threat than the United States, featured prominently in the discussion about weapons of mass destruction. Iran and Iraq had fought a grinding eight-year war in the 1980s, and Hussein said he was convinced that Iran was trying to annex southern Iraq — which is largely Shiite. “Hussein viewed the other countries in the Middle East as weak and could not defend themselves or Iraq from an attack from Iran,” Piro recounted in his summary of a June 11, 2004, conversation.
“The threat from Iran was the major factor as to why he did not allow the return of UN inspectors,” [Agent George L.] Piro wrote. “Hussein stated he was more concerned about Iran discovering Iraq’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities than the repercussions of the United States for his refusal to allow UN inspectors back into Iraq.”
Hussein noted that Iran’s weapons capabilities had increased dramatically while Iraq’s weapons “had been eliminated by the UN sanctions,” and that eventually Iraq would have to reconstitute its weapons to deal with that threat It’s if it could not reach a security agreement with the United States.
Saddam Hussein was an evil man who got what he deserved. But if what he told the investigators was true, why didn’t he fess up before the US invasion? He had plenty of warning. If he considered asking the US for protection from Iran, why didn’t he come out and ask? Either way, he also said he would have reconstituted his weapons if he didn’t strike a deal with the US. Since there’s no indication that he even tried to strike a protection deal with the US, I take what he said with a grain of salt.
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Do you think, in the end, when he was about to be hung and American investigators said hey, why didn’t you just come clean instead of doing your damndest to convince us ALL that you had nuclear weapons—did he just say “My bad.”