Rumsfeld and his 'old friend' Saddam

[Donutboy 0]

..... It was presumably realpolitik that also persuaded Rumsfeld not to bring up Iraq's use of chemical weapons with Saddam in their first meeting of December 20, 1983, even though the administration knew about it. (After long insisting that he did raise the issue with Saddam, the recent release of State Department memoranda obtained by the National Security Archive has forced Rumsfeld to change his story. He did mention the issue, among many others, when he met with then-foreign minister Tariq Aziz separately.)

For the next five years, Washington would quietly ensure that Saddam received all the military equipment he needed to stave off defeat, even precursor chemicals that could be used against Iranian soldiers and Kurdish civilians. Not that Washington supported the use of chemical weapons, particularly against civilians. It was more that the Reagan administration was very reluctant to condemn their use by Iraq back then.

How much more of this intimate relationship Saddam will recall when he gets a public forum is undoubtedly a concern of many current and past administration figures. ......

Rumsfeld and his 'old friend' Saddam

For more on the story, check this link as well...

The Republicans may wish they'd gone ahead and shot Saddam. His testimony could prove to be very embarrassing.

[CCTAU 3,350]

OLD!

[Tigermike 3,057]

Donut, you never quit trying do you? If any of you would like to know more about Jim Lobe, who wrote this left wing propaganda check out the links below. He has never written anything but anti-American & anti-Bush.

From the "Taliban Comeback" to "Killing Civilians" he has spewed anti American BS for years.

http://www.ipsnews.net/focus/neo-cons/index.asp

http://www.lewrockwell.com/ips/lobe-arch.html

[Donutboy 0]

OLD!

What? You're not going to try and deny it? Here's more..... BTW, click on the link and it has a ton of links of companies that supplied chemicals to Iraq during the eighties and government links showing the details of this information. THIS link is well-documented by the governments own records.

Made in the USA, Part III: The Dishonor Roll

America’s corporate merchants of death in Iraq

by Jim Crogan

Made in the USA, Part III: The Dishonor Roll

Saddam Hussein’s regime was crushed by the combined military might of American and British forces in a lightning-quick, three-week war. But there’s still more work to be done, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told reporters at the Pentagon this month.

"We still need to find and secure Iraq’s weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities," said Rumsfeld. "We still must find out everything we can about how the Iraqi regime acquired its capabilities, and the proliferation that took place by countries in the industrialized world."

A glance at his datebook would provide some of the answers. In 1983, Rumsfeld, then a private citizen, traveled to Baghdad to meet with the Iraqi dictator. Rumsfeld delivered President Ronald Reagan’s personal message of support to Hussein, who was already three years into his eventual eight-year war with Iran. The American envoy also discussed a proposed joint-venture oil pipeline with the Iraqi leader. That project, also championed by the San Francisco–based Bechtel Group, never materialized, but Rumsfeld’s mission underscored the reality that for more than 30 years the economic interests of American industry were firmly embedded into the geopolitical goals of U.S. policymakers.

Throughout the 1980s, the U.S. Commerce Department approved at least $1.5 billion in exports with possible military applications from U.S. companies to Iraq, and the Agriculture Department administered a U.S.-goverment-guaranteed loan program that provided billions to Iraq. Thanks largely to the first George Bush, American taxpayers unwittingly co-signed for much of the loan money, and the government had to make good on these loans when Iraq later defaulted. Almost all of the transactions were legal under U.S. and international law at the time, even when the transactions either had direct military or dual-use (civilian and military) applications. Over and over again, the deals were encouraged and even abetted by the U.S. government, even after American officials had proof that Iraq was using chemical weapons to kill Iranian troops and subdue Kurdish uprisings. In fact, the Reagan administration and the first Bush administration even provided Hussein’s regime with military intelligence during his bloody eight-year war with Iran.

American officials tolerated Hussein’s despotism because they viewed his regime as a secular bulwark against the Islamic fundamentalist revolution spawned by the Iranian revolution. That is, until Iraq invaded oil-rich Kuwait in 1990. Most, though not all, of Iraq’s commerce with American companies ended after the first Gulf War in 1991.

Now the business cycle is starting all over again. Last week, the Bechtel corporation received a U.S. Agency for International Development contract to rebuild Iraq’s infrastructure. The contract, initially worth $34.6 million, could eventually total nearly $700 million over the next 18 months. Perhaps Bechtel’s institutional knowledge was a plus, given its status as a major player in Hussein’s Iraq — during the time when doing business with Hussein was endorsed by U.S. policy. At the very least, Bechtel’s ties to the old regime are not being held against it.

[CCTAU 3,350]

Hey no-nut boy. As with all your posts...same s***.... different day.

Just because that idiot Dean gives us "NEW", hear that, "NEW" ammunition to blast him with EVERY day, does not mean that you have to keep regurgitating all the old crusty crap you have been saying since you joined. People here don't mind the truth, if only you had any to dispense!

Sorry. Just getting tired of the merry-go-round.

[Ranger12 46]

Hey no-nut boy. As with all your posts...same s***.... different day.

Just because that idiot Dean gives us "NEW", hear that, "NEW" ammunition to blast him with EVERY day, does not mean that you have to keep regurgitating all the old crusty crap you have been saying since you joined. People here don't mind the truth, if only you had any to dispense!

Sorry. Just getting tired of the merry-go-round.

Ditto that!!!

[AUBoggs 0]

Somebody wake me when there is some new BS to read...