Just as “confirmation bias” misled America, it caused Saddam to misread Washington’s claims about his WMD. He assumed that an all-powerful C.I.A. already knew that he had no nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. A C.I.A. capable of getting such a big question dead wrong on the facts was not consistent with Saddam’s bedrock assumptions. Since America knew the truth but nonetheless faked claims that he was still hiding illicit arms, he reasoned, what did this imply? It meant that the Zionists and spies lined up against him were using the WMD issue cynically to advance their conspiracy to
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