U.S. officials say that this account of Saddam’s misunderstanding of American intentions–he was surrounded by sycophants–could explain the haphazard way in which the regime defended itself and fell apart early in the American onslaught. It might also shed light on why Saddam’s Information Minister “Baghdad Bob” continued to deny the regime was in peril even as U.S. forces entered Baghdad.
U.S. analysts are also taking more seriously stories detained Iraqi leaders are telling about what happened to Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. U.S. sources say that captured Iraqis insist Saddam’s top strategic objective was to persuade the United Nations to relax sanctions on his regime. So, after Saddam’s son-in-law Hussein Kamel, head of his unconventional weapons programs, defected to Jordan in 1995, Saddam ordered intensified efforts to hide or destroy blueprints, “dual use” technology and any remaining germs or chemicals. Not only was material stashed or obliterated, but records showing what had been destroyed were also pulped. Some U.S. and British intel officials still say stockpiles of chemical or biological agents will turn up. But U.S. Defense analysts are paying more attention to a “working hypothesis,” based on stories told by Iraqi captives, that no live WMD may ever be found. Some U.S. officials even think Iraqi defectors who surfaced before the war saying Saddam was still making WMD were double agents dispatched by Saddam to spread disinformation to deter his enemies. Others say this would have undermined his effort to have U.N. sanctions lifted.
