(2003-08-28) -- The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) now believes that Saddam Hussein may have orchestrated a complicated web of lies and phony defectors in the months leading up to the war.

The Iraqi leader allegedly did it to give the impression that he was a despotic dictator who funded Palestinian terrorism, hated the United States and Israeli, and tortured and killed dissidents in Iraq. The world now knows nothing could be further from the truth.

Mr. Hussein even leaked information to Western spies to give the impression that his U.N.-verified weapons of mass destruction had not really vanished without a trace.

Experts say it's unclear whether Mr. Hussein intended to lure the United States into a Vietnam-style quagmire, or if he was concerned about the state of his nation and knew that being defeated by the U.S. is the best way to get a fast influx of cash.

In either case, experts expect President George Bush to issue an apology soon for "overthrowing this harmless, religious man of peace." The Iraqi Governing Council will then cede power back to the remnants of the Baath Party.