US snookered by Hussein?

[Rokenn]

U.S. Suspects It Received False Iraq Arms Tips
Intelligence officials are reexamining data used in justifying the war. They say Hussein's regime may have sent bogus defectors.

By Bob Drogin, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Frustrated at the failure to find Saddam Hussein's suspected stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, U.S. and allied intelligence agencies have launched a major effort to determine if they were victims of bogus Iraqi defectors who planted disinformation to mislead the West before the war. The goal, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official, "is to see if false information was put out there and got into legitimate channels and we were totally duped on it." He added, "We're reinterviewing all our sources of information on this. This is the entire intelligence community, not just the U.S." ... Hussein's motives for such a deliberate disinformation scheme may have been to bluff his enemies abroad, from Washington to Tehran, by sending false signals of his military might. Experts also say the dictator's defiance of the West, and its fear of his purported weapons of mass destruction, boosted his prestige at home and was a critical part of his power base in the Arab world.

So where we snookered or is the Administration trying to scape-goat the intelligence sources?

[johnny]

Exactly what would Saddam gain by spreading false information ? That would be quite suicidle imo. Surely he couldn't be happy with the current situation ? He's stripped of his powers, stripped of his wealth, and lost his sons in the process.

Doesn't sound like rational thinking to me.

[Animal]

Originally posted by johnny: Exactly what would Saddam gain by spreading false information ? That would be quite suicidle imo. Surely he couldn't be happy with the current situation ? He's stripped of his powers, stripped of his wealth, and lost his sons in the process. Doesn't sound like rational thinking to me.

Hussein was going to get his ass kicked one way or another by the US, WoMD or not. All the US has accomplished is entrenching themselves in a gueralla war, generate sympathy for Iraq and make themselves look somewhat foolish in the eyes of the international community.

Then again it may just be a US ploy to relieve themselves of the "Where are the weapons?" questions.

[johnny]

What you say makes sense Animal, but trying to gain sympathy in the rest of the world ? Come on... you know better than that. The guy didn't have any sympathy to begin with, not even from radical groups like Al Qaeda, since Saddam wasn't much of a true Muslim. He tried to act like one, by building one glamorous mosque after another, but true muslims didn't buy any of it.

Let's say this is true, then i say he only signed his own death warrant. It only quickened his downfall. That's why i don't believe it's true, he is too much in love with power to take risks like a US invasion.

[Animal]

He may not have had much sympathy before, but he's got more than he had.

Here's my take on the situation:

Saddam knew his number was up the minute Bush was elected, 9/11 just cemented the deal. The worst thing you can do to a power hungry dictator is to take away their power, and Hussein knew his days were numbered. His human rights atrocities, and track record certainly weren't helping matters.

So Saddam knows he's done, so he leaks bad information, kinda like dangling red in front of a bull, or kicking sand in the umpire's face. The US takes the bait and goes in, BUT doesn't have international support.

Now, fast forward to today. Still no WoMD, scandals hitting the news almost daily regarding the motives for the war, and Iraq no better off now than when they were under Hussein. Now, the US is in has invaded 2 Middle Eastern countries, and shows no signs of stopping.Okay so who looks like the bad guy now? Egypt, Iran, Syria they're all starting to wonder if they're next, so maybe this isn't such a good idea after all. It's standard political and PR tactics. To make yourself look better, make the other guy look worse.

Of course, that's just my opinion, and the truth...well I don't think we'll ever really know that.

[johnny]

But wouldn't it have been much easier to suck up during the weapons inspections ? Try to play as fair as possible ? Not sure, but that could have prevented an invasion all together. When the invasion started, a lot of countries were in favor of it, because he couldn't resist being a tough guy from time to time. If he would have presented himself as a victim of foreign aggression, and sticked to that, things might have been different. Now he lost everything.

[Animal]

Originally posted by johnny: But wouldn't it have been much easier to suck up during the weapons inspections ? Try to play as fair as possible ? Not sure, but that could have prevented an invasion all together. When the invasion started, a lot of countries were in favor of it, because he couldn't resist being a tough guy from time to time. If he would have presented himself as a victim of foreign aggression, and sticked to that, things might have been different. Now he lost everything.

Nothing was going to prevent an invasion it was enivitable, but he could at least attempt to look like the victom. Granted he invaded Kuwait, he gassed the Kurds, but that wasn't recent news, people have forgetton about that so he hadn't done anything wrong (recently at least.) The majority of the worlds compassionate humans just see the US and UK laying a beatdown for no reason, ergo they look like the bad guy not Hussein.

Spark up the whole Palestinian issue one more time, and you have compounded on religous paranioa in the region, an us vs the west ideal. I'm willing to bet that the majority of the Middle East is against the US, but is too damn afraid to say so they publicly support them, whilst supplying weapons and arms to the guerilla movements.

The longer this drags out, the worse it looks for those who initiated it and the better it looks for Hussein.

[Skunk]

What you say makes sense Animal, but trying to gain sympathy in the rest of the world ? Come on... you know better than that. The guy didn't have any sympathy to begin with, not even from radical groups like Al Qaeda, since Saddam wasn't much of a true Muslim. He tried to act like one, by building one glamorous mosque after another, but true muslims didn't buy any of it.

Oh but he *did* get sympathy and support from Muslims all over the world - *not* because he was an outright dictator of the worst sort; not because he pretended to be a muslim - but because he played the part of the small kid in the playground that stood up to the 'bully'. It won him a lot of admirers and, as you can see from the numbers that crossed into Iraq to fight the US, that support was strong.

[johnny]

I don't think that's because out of sympathy for Saddam. These guys that went to Iraq to fight the invaders would present themselves whenever there's an opportunity to kill Americans. Kinda like a band of mercenaries if you will.

[Timber Loftis]

Pasting this in from another thread:

There have been lengthy articles -- some posted in the old war forum -- as to why Saddam would create falsehoods about WoMD. Why play coy with the US/UK/UN rather than drag out some bombs and cut 'em up? Simple. In Muslim countries, succumbing to the western powers would be viewed as weakness. Weak leaders in Muslim countries tend to get removed quicker than prom dresses. Saddam wasn't just balancing the fact western countries would go to war with him. He was also balancing his image and station in the Muslim world. He had multiple conflicting goals and requirements to fulfill.