All Podcasts / The Rest Is Classified / 158. The Road to Iraq:  George Bush's Unstoppable War (Ep 6)
The Rest Is Classified
The Rest Is Classified

158. The Road to Iraq:  George Bush's Unstoppable War (Ep 6)

May 20, 2026 • 1h 0m

Summary

⏱️ 8 min read

Overview

This final episode of a six-part series examines the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the role of UN inspectors, and the fateful decision to go to war in 2003. Despite Saddam Hussein's attempts to convince the world he had no WMD, international inspectors found nothing, yet the war proceeded anyway. The episode explores the intelligence failures, political pressures, and lasting consequences of this decision, revealing how assumptions became judgments and how the entire international community was wrong about Iraq's weapons programs.

UN Inspectors Return to Iraq

In November 2002, UN Resolution 1441 sent weapons inspectors back into Iraq as part of Tony Blair's strategy to either find WMD or catch Saddam blocking inspections. The British and Americans believed this would either justify war or lead to disarmament. However, the inspectors began finding nothing at sites that intelligence had flagged as weapons facilities, creating a growing problem for the case for war.

  • UN Resolution 1441 adopted on November 8, 2002, sending inspectors back to Iraq
  • British strategy assumed Saddam would either refuse inspectors (justifying war) or let them in and they'd find weapons
  • Dick Cheney and hawks in Washington saw inspections as a mistake that would divert from war
  • Inspectors were finding nothing at suspected weapons sites, including what turned out to be an ice cream van covered in cobwebs
" spy agencies sometimes intoxicate each other "

Saddam's Secret Revelation: No WMD

In a shocking Revolutionary Command Council meeting at the end of 2002, Saddam Hussein told his top generals that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, leaving some of them stunned after suffering under sanctions for 15 years. Despite Iraqi attempts to declare everything and come clean, Western intelligence dismissed these declarations as deception, creating an impossible situation where Saddam could not prove a negative.

  • Saddam tells his Revolutionary Command Council there is no WMD, shocking some generals
  • Saddam orders any remaining materials destroyed and demands full declaration to UN
  • Iraqi nuclear scientist Jafar worked on declaration trying to own up to everything
  • London and Washington dismissed the December declaration as containing nothing new
" Why have we been suffering for almost 15 years under sanctions when we didn't have WMD? "

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