http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8131478.stm

- Very interesting, especially about viewing Iran as the biggest threat, right up until the US invasion.

It is interesting - I wonder how reliable any of it is?

What do you mean reliable? They are transcripts of an audio tapes recorded during the various interviews I'd imagine.
So yes, he said all that. Whether he was lying or not is a different story of course.

That's what I meant - how reliable was what he said.

He didn't have much to gain or lose by dishonesty, and knew he was likely bound for execution well in advance given the political climate. Given many his statements generally jive with things we have collaborating evidence for, interview looks pretty reliable.

Except to save face - "Oh no, I wasn't evil, just worried about defending my beloved homeland from the nasty Iran. Maybe my strategy needed some work, but look, remember me as a hero!"

I believe if you look back before we invaded Saddam had publicly stated there were no WMD's and that he was saying there was WMD's as a way to keep Iran in check.

Hindsight pretty much proves he was telling the truth and the Iran thing is pretty plausible given that war thing back in the 80's. Lets also not forget that we were a major driving force in Iraq invading Iran and we at one point even sold weapons to Iran so they could defend themselves from the Iraqis that we pushed to invade them and we used the money to fund right wing rebels in Nicaragua who ended up losing in the long run because when it came down to a vote the people wanted the guy in that we wanted out.

WOW...all that so our politicians could make huge corporate interests happy and retire rich. How do senators and congressman always become multi-millionares on a salary of less than 200k a year and a job that requires them to pay most of their expenses themselves like maintaining two homes.