The reasons Mr. Hussein failed to clarify that he had no weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to 2003 are embedded in his tragic, decades-long conflict with Washington: his furtive, mistrustful collaboration with the C.I.A. during the 1980s; the Gulf War of 1990 and 1991; the U.N.-backed struggle over Iraqi disarmament that followed; and the climactic confrontation after Sept. 11. Shortly after the Gulf War, he secretly ordered the destruction of his chemical and biological arms, as Washington and the United Nations had demanded. He hoped this action would allow Iraq to pass disarmament inspections, but he covered up what he had done and lied repeatedly to inspectors. He did not tell the truth to his own generals, fearing that he might invite internal or external attacks. His decision to comply with international demands but to lie about it to U.N. inspectors defied Western logic. But Mr. Hussein would not submit to public humiliation, not least because he thought it wouldn’t work. “One of the mistakes some people make is that when the enemy has decided to hurt you, you believe there is a chance to decrease the harm by acting in a certain way,” he told a colleague. In fact, he said, “The harm won’t be less.” Mr. Hussein believed the C.I.A. was all but omniscient, and so, particularly after Sept. 11, when Mr. Bush accused him of hiding weapons of mass destruction, he assumed that the agency already knew that he had no dangerous weapons and that the accusations were just a pretense to invade. A C.I.A. capable of making an analytical mistake on the scale of its miss about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction was not part of his worldview.

--Steve Coll, "Why Authoritarians Like Saddam Hussein Confound U.S. Presidents," New York Times, Feb. 28, 2024.

Colle Headcannon design!

Closeup of the hammer

( ARE YOU IN THERE? )

fanart for "another chance at life" by @bullbobb on ao3!!! really good fic I recommend :333 This took so long OMGGG worth it tho

(fun detail. the bubble behind Colle is vaguely shaped like ahuman heart!!! )

!!!!

Colle!!!! (and Parrot)

The only thing I ignore when it comes to Steve legends/Rainbow quest canon is that Biome Steve’s Don’t go to the same after life as the chromatic Steve’s like-

C’MON JUST LET COLLE SEE HIS FRIENDS WHEN HE PASSES ON MAN, LET HIM SEE FOREST AGAIN 😭

They all go to the same afterlife, nobody can convince me otherwise

@mantarobin look who he's next to

@ender-niffler "Immediately flying in with the boi ✨COLLE✨ share your visions"

I HAVE WAITED FOR THIS MOMENT TO SHARE MY FAVOURITE RED STEVE HEADCANONS FOR DAYSSSSS /hj

• Colle usually is the artist among the Elite Trio, with him carrying his journal around and such. He sketches out various things he discovers while he explores, like the sweet berries he found in the forest in the first episode. I like to think that he sketches out the weapons he got and see, like the trident that the Ocean King gifted him.

•^ Along with this idea, I like to think that he would also sketch out the Steves or animals he met. Like while waiting for Forest Steve to get down from the tree, he sketched out the "red chicken" for fun and wrote down some notes about it. And after meeting the Forest Steve, he keeps looking out the window and sketches some of the Forest Steve's below near the center of the village. He keeps notes about what everyone can do so he can report it to Boss.

Colle and Seer. To me.

GUH so I'm going insane so hear me out right

So after seer became rainbow and as he was about to battle void right. I can only imagine colle, refusing to accept that this was a fight they probably wouldn't win but still had some confidence, asking seer to promise him that he'll be okay- and all seer can do is just tell him "I'll try my best" because he knows that this was a fight they weren't gonna win.

ESPECIALLY AFTER COLLE FINDS OUT THAT VOID IS SEER.

Imagine how colle felt watching someone he loved do the opposite thing he was fighting for unable to stop himself from hurting anyone and in the end only to be destroyed.

(I love the two of them they r in love and I love hurting them)

What if I Colle x Seer or Colle x Alex or Colle x Goggles or Colle x Forest Steve or

How to train your last inferno?!

Yet another school drawing, I have too much free time in my classes :p

I'm just taking a moment to let everyone know that Steve Coll's new book, THE ACHILLES TRAP: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO), is incredible and you should all read it. It's available now from Penguin Press.

Forest Steve: [leaps across a huge ravine]

Colle: Wow! I wish I could jump like that.

Beef: Wish granted! [picks Colle up and throws him across]

(rr s2 semi-finale spoilers) (the term love is used loosely here so interpret it how you want lol)

do you guys ever think how colle and seer doom eachother. their love dooms eachother. constantly. think about it like this; seer dies because of his love for colle. he dies because he doesn't want colle to die, because he tries to do everything he can to protect colle. void kills him because of that. meanwhile, colle dies for a similar reason. he held back for a bit because he knew seer was in there, he lost his focus because he watched seer die. their love for eachother is what dooms them because they prioritize eachother over themselves, over the WORLD, even. seer tried to hold back for colle and colle only, tried to keep himself composed for colle. even when he was the hero, he chose to protect colle. yet despite this, i really can't imagine that they'd ever choose not to love eachother, even if it's what kills them. i can't really imagine them choosing not to meet. it's willing choosing to try to love eachother, and dying for it okay the rest of this is rr which is like. yk. fanseries so take it with a grain of salt but im still insane so

again AGAIN seer caring about colle is what dooms him. yk. semi-finale where he calls out for colle. he leaves the fight with tse to go after him when he could've Easily killed him there. seer is supposed to be a hero, yet still chooses selfishly to go after colle. because he cares about him and a nd and i htae them they make me think too hard

omg ok ok ok ok

PLEEEASE give us some lee!winter steve (the one that helped colle) and ler!colle 🙏🙏 maybe colle is attacking him from behind and teasing him?? but honestly do whatever you want, i am so starved for fms tickle content as the fandom is pretty small

Here you go :D

Winter Steve is so fun to draw. He's so funny

Also I think Colle would tease by asking questions and making observations

Here’s an Aggie doodle I made yesterday while doodling with friends! And a small taste of some Headcanoned Red kingdom lore 👀