When absorbing news about the Mueller investigation, I can't help thinking of Saddam Hussein. No, I'm not equating our president with the late Iraqi dictator. I'm thinking more about our assumptions regarding Saddam's guilt. In the run-up to the Iraq War, the whole world was asking whether Saddam had a secret program for weapons of mass destruction.
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But as we later learned, it was mostly a bluff. During interrogations in 2004, Saddam told the FBI that he had encouraged the world to believe he had WMDs so as to deter Iran. This isn't to say that Saddam's strategy was smart -- he invited a U.S. invasion that could have been avoided if he had come clean -- but it was a strategy. He was acting guilty for a reason other than being guilty.
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He acts guilty in so many ways. He lacked the judgment to keep his distance from dodgy characters such as Manafort, Page, and Roger Stone. But recalling Saddam, I'm open to the idea -- not convinced, but open -- that he isn't as guilty as he seems.
Mona Charon
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/a...uilty_or_does_he_just_look_guilty_136337.html
He might just be stupid, not guilty. We'll have to wait to find out.
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But as we later learned, it was mostly a bluff. During interrogations in 2004, Saddam told the FBI that he had encouraged the world to believe he had WMDs so as to deter Iran. This isn't to say that Saddam's strategy was smart -- he invited a U.S. invasion that could have been avoided if he had come clean -- but it was a strategy. He was acting guilty for a reason other than being guilty.
...
He acts guilty in so many ways. He lacked the judgment to keep his distance from dodgy characters such as Manafort, Page, and Roger Stone. But recalling Saddam, I'm open to the idea -- not convinced, but open -- that he isn't as guilty as he seems.
Mona Charon
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/a...uilty_or_does_he_just_look_guilty_136337.html
He might just be stupid, not guilty. We'll have to wait to find out.