Saddam feared own army as US invaded
`Saddam Hussein’s fear of internal rebellion led him to distrust his military commanders even after U.S. forces began their invasion in 2003, crippling the country’s defenses, the New York Times reported in Sunday editions.
Citing a classified U.S. military report as well other documents and interviews, the Times also said that top Iraqi commanders were shocked when Saddam told them three months before the war that he had no weapons of mass destruction. [..]
The report also said that Saddam put a general considered to be an incompetent drunk in charge of the elite Republican Guard because he considered him to be loyal. It said commanders were in some cases banned from communicating with other units and were unable to get maps of areas near the airport because those would have disclosed the locations of Saddam’s palaces.’
