SEND HIM TO ABU GHRAIB:

Hussein, in Jail, Reportedly Said Little of Value: Saddam Hussein revealed little about his weapons programs or the insurgency in postwar Iraq, but he occasionally provided startling observations. (NEIL A. LEWIS and DAVID JOHNSTON, 7/02/04, NY Times)

Mr. Hussein told his interrogator on one occasion that a principal reason for invading was his belief that he needed to keep his army occupied.

One senior intelligence official familiar with that interview said Mr. Hussein seemed to suggest that he distrusted what his restive officer corps might do if they were not otherwise distracted.

Has there ever been a totalitarian leader for whom this wasn't true?

Meanwhile, he certainly understood the West better than it understood him (until George W. Bush and Tony Blair came along):

One official said that Mr. Hussein had implied that ambiguity over whether his government possessed illegal weapons "would keep the neighbors at bay, while the U.S. would be hung up in interminable debate at the U.N."

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 2, 2004 9:20 AM