The whole argument doesn’t stand up over time. Lots of countries have WMD. 20/20 hindsight and a lot of beloved Americans gone and clearly the war was a mistake.
Saddam thought he had WMDs; he paid a ton for their procurement and manufacture. And tons of Iraqis and Europeans made a lot of money off it.
what argument? the fruits of bush and the best efforts of gopes in iraq speak for themselves. contrast that with say the fruits of a far more desparate and dark time during and after wwII.
make sure, yaelle, that we don’t confuse theory with facts. nobody can prove or know what sadam thought. if there was a mass deception going on by his underlings, i think a careful study of the iraqi sources and documents recovered would expose it. i haven’t seen or heard anything of that via my network, which is pretty well informed.
but, that said, i think your theory is at least plausible. and might be a factor in the intelligence snafu surrounding iraq.