After the Gulf War, he judged that by getting rid of prohibited weapons, he might pass U.N. inspection more quickly. Yet if he cooperated with the U.N. and destroyed his inventory as the world watched—if he acquiesced in a public spectacle of defeat, with inspectors from enemy nations recording his humiliation on clipboards—his rule at home might be undermined, and Iran and Israel might feel emboldened to attack him. Finally, Saddam doubted—not without reason—that he would ever be granted relief from sanctions if he admitted the truth about his historical weapons programs. He calculated that
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