Hussein and Officials Lied leading up to Iraq war

[hjmick]

Saddam Hussein knowingly lied about having WMDs. There is no doubt about it, he admitted as much to his interrogator.

Perhaps this contributed to the decision to invade Iraq? Perhaps it contributed to the faulty intel? Perhaps it contributed to the decisions made not to trust the intel that turned out to be accurate? Or is that just too far fetched to believe? I know...it's all Bush's fault.

No need for replies. We all know that Saddam Hussein bears no responsibility whatsoever for the invasion.

Interrogator: Invasion Surprised Saddam
Tells 60 Minutes Former Dictator Bragged About Eluding Capture
Jan. 24, 2008

(CBS) Saddam Hussein initially didn't think the U.S. would invade Iraq to destroy weapons of mass destruction, so he kept the fact that he had none a secret to prevent an Iranian invasion he believed could happen. The Iraqi dictator revealed this thinking to George Piro, the FBI agent assigned to interrogate him after his capture.

...

Piro spent almost seven months debriefing Saddam...

"He told me he initially miscalculated... President Bush’s intentions. He thought the United States would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998...a four-day aerial attack," says Piro. "He survived that one and he was willing to accept that type of attack." "He didn't believe the U.S. would invade?" asks Pelley, "No, not initially," answers Piro.

Once the invasion was certain, says Piro, Saddam asked his generals if they could hold the invaders for two weeks. "And at that point, it would go into what he called the secret war," Piro tells Pelley. But Piro isn’t convinced that the insurgency was Saddam's plan. "Well, he would like to take credit for the insurgency," says Piro.

Saddam still wouldn't admit he had no weapons of mass destruction, even when it was obvious there would be military action against him because of the perception he did. Because, says Piro, "For him, it was critical that he was seen as still the strong, defiant Saddam. He thought that [faking having the weapons] would prevent the Iranians from reinvading Iraq," he tells Pelley.

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I guess Saddam miscalculated...