>>It's still possible that he played it all. Because, look - who'd be interested in learning the truth? Israel, probably the country with the best espionage in the region, certainly would, but it'd be in their best interest not to pass it on, specially not to USA.
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>Why would you say that? Don't you think that crossing another potential enemy off the list would benefit Israel?
Exactly. It's off the list now, isn't it?
> Remember, Israel was bombed in '91 as part of Saddam's attempts to bring more Arab countries into the Gulf War. Seems like if they knew Saddam was toothless, they'd want to spend less time worrying about false issues and more on the real ones they face daily.
Exactly. Now Iraq is anybody else's worry, not theirs.
>>The surrounding Arab countries probably knew some of it, but then they wouldn't readily hand it to the West, for two kinds of reasons: first, they have a lot to complain about and little reason to help, and second, while the eyes of the West are on Iraq, they can breathe a little easier.
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>But then again, when we invade, on whose territory do we set up camp and military bases? We're not exactly welcome in most of those bordering countries... why wouldn't they want Iraq off our map? Or are you suggesting that all of them are knee deep in WMD themselves and so if our eyes are diverted, they can move forward with their own nefarious plots?
All sides are plotting, I presume. To me it would make sense that they'd all prefer that CIA et al be occupied with the Iraq mystery instead of diverting resources to their territories. Not that they would be expecting a real war, probably not.
>>So I wouldn't put it past him to have played the whole espionage community, just knowing their game and playing them against each other. With the power he had, it was far from impossible to do.
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>OK... I agree... it's possible, but I'll still believe the simpler explanation. What you're proposing gives Saddam way too much credit to play the world as fools in my opinion.
To me this is the simpler solution - requires fewer resources, and there's not much of a secret to keep: only the fact that there are no significant weapons. For the rest, just hint there's something they shouldn't know. Their imagination and wish to impress the bosses will do the rest. Headology, as Terry Pratchett would say.
