Reply #17: Why does a cat raise the hair on his back

[LevChernyi]

Saddam had a complicated game to play. He feared (very rightly so) that if it was clear just how defenseless he was he was inviting attack and possibly not just from the United States.

On the one hand he didn't want to hand Washington and London an excuse they had clearly been chomping at the bit for and on the other if there could be some doubt he could still use it for a bluff deterence.

This isn't to shoot down the idea of false-flag operations, that is quite a credible explanation also but the idea that it wouldn't make one bit of sense for the Iraqi's to issue false orders on his own to at bare minimum make sure that our troops were in hot ass, visibility restricting MOPP suits and scared to death doesn't hold up. It's what any competant commander would have done.