Saddam feared Iran

[biostud]

link

DANIEL SNEIDER: SADDAM FEARED IRAN, NOT UNITED STATES

The most incredible revelation in the new CIA report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction is not that there were no biological, chemical or nuclear weapons in Iraq. We knew that.

It is that Saddam Hussein deliberately deceived the world -- even members of his own regime -- into believing he still had WMDs in order to deter Iran.

Saddam emerged from the nearly decadelong war with Iran in the 1980s believing that only the use of chemical weapons and ballistic missiles had staved off an Iranian conquest. His decision to accelerate the Iraqi nuclear program in the late 1980s was driven by concerns about Iran's nuclear program. As his intelligence service came back with reports on Iran's progress toward the bomb in the 1990s, Saddam concluded he had to create the deception that Iraq still had WMDs to hold off the Iranian threat.

Those insights come from extensive interviews with Saddam and his captured inner circle, along with documents and tape recordings of their deliberations. The detailed account of the regime's "Strategic Intent" that opens the huge report issued last week by Charles Duelfer is in sharp contrast to the cartoon images drawn for the American people.

"Saddam did not consider the United States a natural adversary, as he did Iran and Israel, and he hoped that Iraq might again enjoy improved relations with the United States," the report found. In fact, Saddam made repeated overtures during the 1990s, including through Duelfer personally, to improve ties with the United States.

The nuclear and chemical weapons, along with the missiles, were destroyed in 1991 under the supervision of United Nations inspectors. Saddam tried to hide his bioweapons, but after the defection in 1995 of his son-in-law, who had run the WMD programs, that program also was destroyed.

Increasingly, Saddam was desperate to lift the effective international sanctions that brought Iraq's economy to ruin.

"This led to a difficult balancing act between the need to disarm to achieve sanctions relief while at the same time retaining a strategic deterrent," the CIA report said. "The regime never resolved the contradiction inherent in this approach."

Saddam bears the chief responsibility for his grandiose ambitions and the consequences of his tragic bluff. It is also evident that the Bush administration, and the Clinton administration before it, had a dangerous lack of understanding of this foe.

Read this report and think of North Korea, whose leader is also portrayed as a caricature but who also clearly shares Saddam's belief that WMDs, or the claim to have them, are needed to deter a real threat.

And think, too, of the radical Islamic regime in Iran, moving steadily (as Saddam feared) toward nuclear status, now emboldened by the American removal of its foe.

 

[Todd33]

Didn't Iran ask us to invade Iraq to secure the region? That's right, no one in the region feared Iraq's third world, decimated military and non-existent WMDs, only the US half a world away with the strongest military on the planet did. Makes sense...

 

[CycloWizard]

Originally posted by: Todd33
Didn't Iran ask us to invade Iraq to secure the region? That's right, no one in the region feared Iraq's third world, decimated military and non-existent WMDs, only the US half a world away with the strongest military on the planet did. Makes sense...

Iran feared their WMDs, which is why they stopped the war with Iraq the first time around. The threat of WMDs from Iraq is likely what kept them at bay for the next 15-20 years.

 

[maddogchen]

Saddam has always been fearful of neighboring Iran. Thats why he put down the shiite rebellion so brutally. Because the Shiite majority has close ties to neighboring Shiite Iran. While Saddam was part of the Sunni minority.

Saddam didn't fear the US as much because up till the first bombs were dropped he was led by bad intelligence from the French/Russians and from his own advisors that the US was never going to attack.

 

[conjur]

Originally posted by: CycloWizard

Originally posted by: Todd33
Didn't Iran ask us to invade Iraq to secure the region? That's right, no one in the region feared Iraq's third world, decimated military and non-existent WMDs, only the US half a world away with the strongest military on the planet did. Makes sense...

Iran feared their WMDs, which is why they stopped the war with Iraq the first time around. The threat of WMDs from Iraq is likely what kept them at bay for the next 15-20 years.

Who has the WMDs now, though?


The Bush who cried wolf will not be taken seriously by the rest of world should any other "threats" emerge.

 

[ReiAyanami]

We took out Iraq because it was the right thing to do. So when do we take out Iran and North Korea? What is the timetable for them? or do they not have enough oil

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
We took out Iraq because it was the right thing to do. So when do we take out Iran and North Korea? What is the timetable for them? or do they not have enough oil

Iran is in the top 5 in the world for oil reserves(around 90 billion barrels) and, I believe, number 2 for natural gas reserves.

As far as the right thing to do, well, I do believe Saddam is a terrible person and was a ruthless dictator, but let's not forget, so are a lot of people.(just throw a dart at a map of Africa or Southern Asia and you can find one)

 

[maddogchen]

Originally posted by: ReiAyanami
We took out Iraq because it was the right thing to do. So when do we take out Iran and North Korea? What is the timetable for them? or do they not have enough oil

First you must re-elect Bush. One step at a time please. No planning needed. small steps. planning takes hard work, its hard work, hard. hard work.

 

[biostud]

It makes it even more unbelievable that Iraq had anything to do with international terrorism. If Saddam feared Iran, then he would have absolutely no reason to fund terrorism as it would weaken his position towards the west (even though it was close to zero).

 

[0marTheZealot]

Iran is #2 or #3 in oil reserves, depending on whose numbers you use for Iraq, UAE and Iran.

 

[Strk]

Originally posted by: 0marTheZealot
Iran is #2 or #3 in oil reserves, depending on whose numbers you use for Iraq, UAE and Iran.

You forgot those wacky Saudis 😉

The numbers are something like: Saudi Arabia - 260 billion barrels, Iraq 114 billion barrels(with large amounts of potential for more) and then the UAE and Iran with mid 90s.