Documents

Saddam’s Paranoid Thoughts Revealed

Recovered during American invasion in 2003.

A massive trove of documents recovered during the American invasion of Iraq in 2003 give a highly unusual look into the most intimate thoughts of a foreign leader and his government. The documents, which include notes and recorded meetings, remain mostly classified, but the government has released a portion of the collection to outside researchers. Among the revelations: Saddam Hussein had a conspiratorial view of the Reagan administration, and believed the U.S. had sold arms to Iran in order to prolong the Iran-Iraq War in 1986. He badly misread a meeting with American diplomat April Glaspie, which led him to believe the U.S. would stand by when he invaded Kuwait in 1990.