Mukhabarat Agent: No WMDs here!

Concern that Saddam had actively concealed deadly weapons of mass destruction served as one of primary reasons' for the Coalition forces' invasion of Iraq in March. "In 1991 we were very close to developing a nuclear weapon, but had nothing at the time of the [March 2003] war, after so many years of [UNSCOM] inspections," said the agent, adding, "they destroyed everything."

It will come as little surprise to people who read this blog and others, but this is just one more little stone added to the mountain of evidence that the White House lied about/misused/screwed up whatever intelligence it was getting about WMD programs in Iraq. But, and this fits in with everything I encountered in Iraq and from my own research and readings, Saddam was also fooled -- by "maniacally sycophantic commanders and bodyguards who deceived him into believing that Iraq" stood a chance again the United States' military. I also believe Saddam felt he could bluff the West by claiming to have no WMDs, which is what everyone thought he would say, while acting like he did. By behaving like he had a royal flush when all he had was a measly pair of sixes, he could buck up his standing in the Arab world as the only leader to stand up to the United States, maintain his grip on his subjects who well remembered the gas attacks on the Kurdish north from 1984-1988 and keep his hold on power. But America called his bluff and now the world is what it is. I imagine the White House is feeling a bit like it won a huge pot of Monopoly money. Two leaders lying, for their own purposes rather than for the good of their people. And such a mess of it all now. Today, Juan Cole reports, "three U.S. soldiers have been wounded in Kirkuk and Mosul":http://www.juancole.com/2003_12_01_juancole_archive.html#107173487313180742; pro-Saddam demonstrations continue in Mosul, where police shot four students and protesters attacked Turkmen offices in the city; roadside bombs were exploded in Humairah and Baghdad; a senior member of the "Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution":http://www.back-to-iraq.com/archives/000451.php#000451 from the al-Hakim family has been killed; and a former Ba'ath official was literally torn limb from limb by a mob in Najaf.