Saddam was so self-destructively reckless: on Dec. 7, 2002, the day he was supposedly complying with UNSCR 1441 that demanded he come clean at last on the WMD, he made a speech calling for "the mujahideen" in Kuwait to join his "jihad" against the infidels news.bbc.co.uk/hi/arabic/news…
Incidentally, the speech was framed by Saddam as an apology to Kuwait (at last) for ransacking and massacring the country in 1990-91, but the Kuwaiti government correctly saw it as incitement to terrorism, against them and against the Coalition troops.
https://twitter.com/KyleWOrton/status/1581366916270067712
In the days after 9/11, when even Col. Qaddafi and the mullahs in Iran made a public show of sending condolences to America, Saddam overtly, repeatedly taunted the US:
1. edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/eur…
2. edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/mea…
1. edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/eur…
2. edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/mea…
#Saddam just never understood how much danger he was in from the #US, and in some ways this is understandable: the Americans had repeatedly huffed and puffed, and then let him off the hook. His focus was always on #Iran.
https://twitter.com/KyleWOrton/status/1574342333063172097
Rereading Fouad Ajami and thought this was about right: #Saddam maintained his "swagger", as if he had WMD, even as the Coalition built up on his borders and demanded he show he had disarmed. "He would not step out of harm's way".
["The Foreigner's Gift", p. 54]
["The Foreigner's Gift", p. 54]
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
