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This is from the released transcript of an 2004 interview of Saddam with the FBI.
Saddam Hussein 'lied about WMDs to protect Iraq from Iran'
Saddam Hussein 'lied about WMDs to protect Iraq from Iran'
3 July [Teleraph] Saddam Hussein told the FBI that he misled the world into believing Iraq still possessed weapons of mass destruction because he feared revealing his weakness to Iran, according to declassified interview transcripts.
The late Iraqi dictator also told his interrogators that he regarded Osama in Laden as a "zealot" and had no contact with the al-Qaeda leader or his organisation.
Despite defeat in the Gulf War at the hands of the American-led coalition, Saddam still regarded Iran, with which Iraq fought a bloody war from 1980-88, as a greater threat than the US, the documents show.
"Hussein believed that Iraq could not appear weak to its enemies, especially Iran," FBI special agent George Piro wrote on notes of a conversation with Saddam in June 2004.
Mr Piro wrote: "Hussein stated Iraq could have absorbed another United States strike, for he viewed this as less of a threat than exposing themselves to Iran."
The transcripts, released under a freedom of information request, both undermined the Bush case for war, which was based on the threat of WMD and alleged Iraqi links to al-Qaeda, and underlined the absurd length of Saddam's desire to convince the world that he held WMD.
In the wake of the March 2003 invasion, no such weapons have ever found and before leaving office in January Mr Bush himself acknowledged that "most of the intelligence turned out to be wrong".
Saddam, identified as "High Value Detainee Number One," shared Mr Bush's hostility towards the "fanatic" Iranian mullahs, according to the records, which were requested by the National Security Archive, a non-governmental research institute.
He also stated that the United States used the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack as a justification to attack Iraq and said the US had "lost sight of the cause of 9/11".
He asserted that he had never met nor supported Osama bin Laden, though he said "yes" when Mr Piro mentioned two visits to Baghdad by an al-Qaeda ideologue, Abu Hafs al Mauritani, which included requests for "tens of millions of dollars". It was not clear if that was regarded as confirmation of the visit or acknowledgement of the Americans' belief they took place. ....
The late Iraqi dictator also told his interrogators that he regarded Osama in Laden as a "zealot" and had no contact with the al-Qaeda leader or his organisation.
Despite defeat in the Gulf War at the hands of the American-led coalition, Saddam still regarded Iran, with which Iraq fought a bloody war from 1980-88, as a greater threat than the US, the documents show.
"Hussein believed that Iraq could not appear weak to its enemies, especially Iran," FBI special agent George Piro wrote on notes of a conversation with Saddam in June 2004.
Mr Piro wrote: "Hussein stated Iraq could have absorbed another United States strike, for he viewed this as less of a threat than exposing themselves to Iran."
The transcripts, released under a freedom of information request, both undermined the Bush case for war, which was based on the threat of WMD and alleged Iraqi links to al-Qaeda, and underlined the absurd length of Saddam's desire to convince the world that he held WMD.
In the wake of the March 2003 invasion, no such weapons have ever found and before leaving office in January Mr Bush himself acknowledged that "most of the intelligence turned out to be wrong".
Saddam, identified as "High Value Detainee Number One," shared Mr Bush's hostility towards the "fanatic" Iranian mullahs, according to the records, which were requested by the National Security Archive, a non-governmental research institute.
He also stated that the United States used the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack as a justification to attack Iraq and said the US had "lost sight of the cause of 9/11".
He asserted that he had never met nor supported Osama bin Laden, though he said "yes" when Mr Piro mentioned two visits to Baghdad by an al-Qaeda ideologue, Abu Hafs al Mauritani, which included requests for "tens of millions of dollars". It was not clear if that was regarded as confirmation of the visit or acknowledgement of the Americans' belief they took place. ....
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