Maybe relevant: AI type (apparently the only one the server had been built with) is 'tex'.
The diplstate information in the savegame says (consistently both directions) that Nader and Saddam are currently in "Peace", but that the closest relation they have ever had is "Never Met"
While there seems to be number of issues in keeping max_state updated, it's probably not the root cause of the behavior seen in the original report.
make_contact() checks for current diplstate, not max_state, before handling "new contact". And what I gather from the code, that diplstate should never go back to DS_NO_CONTACT even when contact is lost (loss of contact just means contact turns counter having reached zero)
This is sort of waiting that someone sees that again, and can provide more info (added asserts and logging should provide that the next time this happens)
3.0.1 , ailevel hard or higher
My nation was in peace with Iraq, then contact was lost.
Later, the contact was established again, and the same agressive message as in first contact occured. But we are in peace, so this message is wrong.