Even as U.S. Invaded, Hussein Saw Iraqi Unrest as Top Threat - New York Times

I really can't wait for the full-length book to come out about the invasion of Iraq, because I'm fascinated by this stuff. Hussein was obviously paranoid as hell and trusted very few of his people, and why wouldn't he? He got to power by being ruthless in the first place, and the flip side of that is to trust no one and act as if you're always about to be overthrown. Trouble is, constant vigilance in this mindset is tantamount to delusional thinking, and that's what it shaded into when the U.S. troops arrived. Interesting to think that the battle for Baghdad could have been much bloodier and harder fought had Saddam actually let his armies fight properly.

Trust, or the lack of it, factored heavily in both sides of the battle. It seems very likely that the American people were gulled into "approving" a "war" that was based on faulty intelligence, because we were told to trust that those in power knew more than we did. Then, of course, the administration turned around and said "we based this war on the same intelligence that everyone else had access to." Huh? I've read Woodward's book - the comedy of "leadership" that led to these decisions will be picked apart for decades. Too much trust by the people in America's leadership led to war without basis. Too little trust by the Iraqi leader in the people led to a delusional leader making stupid military decisions and being run out of town.

Trust is, in part, the basis of an open democratic society, and it's what came under assault after September 11th because we no longer felt we could extend the level of trust to the people that we once had. Trust + regulation makes bureaucracies possible - you can't regulate (or monitor) all aspects of human behavior, so you have to create a system that trusts its components won't accept bribes, rig bids, gerrymander districts, or go around existing laws and then retroactively justify their behavior. These days I feel like Saddam must have all the time - I don't feel like I can trust anyone in my own government. The evidence suggests they're out to strip me of my rights and poison my environment. Can someone restore my trust, please?