One of the most interesting questions for this thread is what Saddam Hussein thought the Bush Administration and its predecessors were really doing.

An interesting compilation of what he thought and how he bluffed (and why it backfired on him) can be found in this article in the LA Times.

It is possible that much of what I have thought of as sheer malice on the part of Bush and his administration is actually attributable to the sad fact that no-one with enough edge was around to help them figure out what the hell was really going on with this guy.

A