So just suppose Saddam Hussein didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. Then why wouldn’t he have proved it to the world so that sanctions against Iraq would have been lifted? Here’s what Saddam’s former diplomats are saying:
Nobody at the [Iraqi mission to the United Nations] said they had any knowledge about the whereabouts of the weapons of mass destruction. It was from here that they had been telling the world so emphatically no such weapons existed. But their instructions, it seems, were also to make sure that no respectable weapons inspector could believe those denials. It was all a big ruse, said Mr. Ahmad, who now gets his salary from the American-led administration of occupied Iraq. More than anything, he said, Saddam was interested in leaving intact the international sanctions imposed on the country since the end of the 1991 Gulf War. “He wanted Iraqis to be poor so they can work all day to feed their families,” rather than thinking about rebellion, Mr. Said said. Poverty and constant wars were the regime’s way of keeping Iraqis down and the regime in power. [NY Sun]
[What empowered Saddam was that no one with power, until George W. Bush, opposed him.–Editor]