Saddam remained convinced that an ambiguous stance about the status of Iraq's weapons programs would deter an American attack.


"He repeatedly told me: 'These foreigners, they only respect strength, they must be made to believe we are strong,'" the aide said


Saddam's aide suggested the brinkmanship ultimately backfired because U.S. policy switched in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, from containing the Iraqi leader, to going after those who could supply terrorists with deadly weapons.

He described Saddam as almost "totally ignorant" of how Western democracies functioned and attributed his failure to grasp the impact of Sept. 11 to the fact that he increasingly surrounded himself with yes-men and loyalists who were not qualified to give him expert advice on economic, military or foreign policy matters.

Yahoo! News - Aide: Saddam Did Get Rid of Iraq WMD: "The strategy, which turned out to be a serious miscalculation, was designed to make the Iraqi dictator look strong in the eyes of the Arab world"