SADDAM Hussein told American interrogators he let the world believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he worried about the need to deter an attack from Iran, newly declassified FBI documents show.
He made the statement in an extraordinary series of more than 20 interviews conducted with him by the FBI which give a rare insight into the mind of the former dictator.
In the interviews, after his capture by US forces following the 2003 Iraq in
vasion, Saddam said he had no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons – but wanted Tehran to think he had.
"Hussein believed Iraq could not appear weak to its enemies, especially Iran," FBI special agent George Piro wrote in a report.
In fact, Saddam, identified as "High Value Detainee #1", shared President George Bush's hostility towards the "fanatic" Iranian mullahs, the records show.
It led to a disastrous series of events in which Saddam denied co-operation to UN inspectors, fearing they would reveal Iraq's weakness if it was known he had no such weapons.
"In his opinion, the UN inspectors would have directly identified to the Iranians where to inflict maximum damage to Iraq," according to the documents obtained and released by the US National Security Archive, a research institute.
Saddam's reported possession of these weapons was the reason given by the US and Britain to justify invasion, but no such weapons were ever found.
"By God, if I had such weapons I would have used them in the fight against the United States," he told Mr Piro.
Saddam also rubbished reports by the former Bush administration of his alleged ties with al-Qaeda. "Hussein stated that Osama bin Laden's ideology was no different to the many zealots that came before him," the FBI papers said.
He denied making common cause with al-Qaeda against the United States, with Mr Piro reporting: "If he had wanted to cooperate with enemies of the US Hussein would have with North Korea … or China."
The release of the transcripts comes at a sensitive time on both sides of the Atlantic, with Gordon Brown facing calls for full transparency in the planned inquiry into the Iraq war.
Saddam's admission that he had no weapons of mass destruction will raise questions about the intelligence London and Washington relied on to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The Obama administration is meanwhile resisting calls for investigations and possible criminal actions against senior Bush officials over the invasion.
Saddam ruled Iraq as president from 1979, executing thousands of officials and political opponents, and his interviews show signs of the paranoia that governed much of his rule.
He told the agent that, in the interests of secrecy, he gave all his orders by courier, and could recall using a phone only twice since 1990.
"He was very aware of the United States' significant technological capabilities," the agent noted after one interview.
But he denied using a "body double" for visits across Iraq because of fears of assassination.
The interviews paint a picture of a former tyrant verging on megalomania.
"Hussein stated it is not only important what people say or think about him now but what they think 500 or 1,000 years from now," wrote Mr Piro.
