Comment Re:An intelligence officer? Well he MUST be expert (Score 2) 270
....What the chickenhawks were squawking about was satellite photographic proof that Saddam was making new weapons.
We don't know what the satellite photos showed. They were never made public. The irony is we got our best intelligence on Iraq's WMD program from Hans Blix and the UN weapons inspections. But we ended those when we started making ultimatums to Saddam Hussein... and in doing so, lost the best intelligence source we ever had on Iraq.
My personal theory is Saddam probably thought he had WMD, even if he didn't. Saddam Hussein wasn't exactly the kind of ruler you could say no to more than once. Mussolini's thought he had an air force on par with the German Luftwaffe or the RAF. The reality was the generals moved the few planes they actually had to whichever airbase Mussolini was visiting. The other theory is the Saudis were right; Saddam knew he had no WMD, but admitting it would have been a sign of weakness, especailly with Iran next door. Either way, our "career intelligence officers" and our political elite seemed to lack the street smarts to critically question the evidence. Maybe they didn't even want to. Donald Rumsfeld promised a 90-day holiday in the desert.