You may be on to something
In that article Don posted downpage, A brief, bitter war for Iraqi officers, there's some material about exactly that sort of deception, and self-deception, right up the chain of command to Saddam Hussein. Saddam seemed to consider his WMD a trump card, sort of a sick ornament to his power, so subordinates very likely did have an incentive to inflate their extent and quality.
You should stay up late more often.
--Robert