We had our own weapons inspector in Iraq who was insisting that Saddam didn’t have squat after Gulf War I. Saddam was putting on a good show for his next door neighbors. He wanted to be the Big Arab on the Block and figured he could scare them by bragging about his big weapons. The getting invaded by the US part wasn’t part of his plan.
I agree, you’re dead on the money. All Saddam would have had to do was say “wait” let’s talk, but being the Arab he was didn’t allow him to do it. I really don’t think he believed we’d do it though.
What Saddam did have was a country overflowing with small arms and ammunition dumps. Troops patrolling Sadr City would search an ordinary house and find six or seven weapons in it. Probably more weapons than in private hands in the United States.