Saddam's Last Stand.

Here is "a special, double-length article from the upcoming May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, presenting key excerpts from the recently declassified book-length report of the USJFCOM Iraqi Perspectives Project." It is described as this:

"For the first time since the end of World War II, American analysts did not have to guess what had happened on the other side of a conflict but could actually read the defeated enemy's documents and interrogate its leading figures. To make the most of this unique opportunity, the U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) commissioned a comprehensive study of the inner workings and behavior of Saddam Hussein's regime based on previously inaccessible primary sources. Drawing on interviews with dozens of captured senior Iraqi military and political leaders and hundreds of thousands of official Iraqi documents (hundreds of them fully translated), this two-year project has changed our understanding of the war from the ground up. The study was partially declassified in late February; its key findings are presented here."

It is fascinating. Saddam absolutely believed that France and Russia would never allow the U.S. to invade Iraq. Then during the invasion Saddam also believed that he was winning. He hid his air support in the belief that he would rather save them for securing regional power. Even more amusing (if it weren't so sad) is Saddam's cat and mouse game with WMD's. He was so determined that the Arab world think that he indeed had WMD's, that he sent memos that only increased suspicion by international intelligence. The whole regime seemed to be a plot from some ridiculous comedy. Over and over there are made up operations and reports. Take this for example:

"One senior Iraqi official alleged that the commission's leaders were so fearful of Saddam that when he ordered them to initiate weapons programs that they knew Iraq could not develop, they told him they could accomplish the projects with ease. Later, when Saddam asked for updates on the nonexistent projects, they simply faked plans and designs to show progress."

Why did they lie? Well, you would too. This excerpt explains:

"A 1982 incident vividly illustrated the danger of telling Saddam what he did not want to hear. At one low point during the Iran-Iraq War, Saddam asked his ministers for candid advice. With some temerity, the minister of health, Riyadh Ibrahim, suggested that Saddam temporarily step down and resume the presidency after peace was established. Saddam had him carted away immediately. The next day, pieces of the minister's chopped-up body were delivered to his wife."

As was obvious during the invasion, the Saddam army was not exactly a force to be reckoned with. In order for Saddam to inspire his troop leaders, he decides to invoke Allah:

"Saddam told his officers that Allah wanted to insult the United States by giving his strongest personal abilities to the materially weak Iraqis."

Although it was well known that Saddam was not a relgious man, he seemed more than willing to invoke Allah if it would garner loyalty to him. The thing that sticks out to me in this report is that Saddam was so delusional with trumped up power mainly based on fear, that it is a scary thing indeed to imagine him with any real access to obtaining more power in the region and hurting the United States.

The left will never admit it, but Al Queda would have happily given him what they could and he would have happily accepted it and ordered those so afraid of him to do even the unthinkable.

A power hungry man is a scary thing, but a delusional power hungry monstorous dictator is something that should never be allowed.