CNN: Declassified government docs show U.S. let Saddam gas Kurds for farm deal

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/20/sbm.overview/index.html

<snip>

1980s: Iraq

CNN found that intervention is often weighed against political and economic costs.

Declassified U.S. government documents show that while Saddam Hussein was gassing Iraqi Kurds, the U.S. opposed punishing Iraq with a trade embargo because it was cultivating Iraq as an ally against Iran and as a market for U.S. farm exports.

According to Peter Galbraith, then an idealistic Senate staffer determined to stop Hussein from committing genocide, the Reagan administration "got carried away with their own propaganda. They began to believe that Saddam Hussein could be a reliable partner."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/11/20/sbm.documents/index.html



(CNN) -- The U.S. diplomatic courtship with Iraq in the 1980s continued despite Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons. Click on the links to read once-classified documents from the Reagan administration.

Date: December 5, 1986
Subject: U.S.-Iraqi Relations: Picking Up the Pieces
Summary: After disclosures that the United States was secretly providing weapons to Iraq's enemy, Iran, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy recommends strengthening commercial ties with Saddam Hussein because "U.S.-Iraqi relations are in crisis." Read the document (pdf)

Date: March 3, 1988
Subject: Iraq's Foreign Policy: Deeper into the Mainstream
Summary: Anticipating an end to the Iran-Iraq war, a State Department official is optimistic that continued ties between the United States and Iraq will lead Saddam Hussein "deeper into the mainstream." The author concludes that "fears of Iraq's aggression seem exaggerated." Two weeks later, Iraqi forces attack Kurdish civilians in Halabja with poisonous gas. Read the document (pdf)

Date: December 29, 1988
Subject: Export-Import Financing for Iraq
Summary: In the closing days of the Reagan administration, the State Department's top human rights official argues that continued financial aid to Iraq "can simply not be squared with our worldwide human rights policy." However, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy counters that U.S. financial ties with Iraq have "far greater use with Baghdad as a carrot than as a stick." A year and a half later, Iraq invades Kuwait. Read the document (pdf)

[iamthebandfanman]

1. well well well

if it isnt pesky facts and documentation gettin in the way of all those right-wingers who said we were all conspiracy theorists when it came to our governments involvement in other nations affairs...specifically iraq in the 80s.

[lostnotforgotten]

2. More Importantly, Someone Knew The Truth And Did Not Tell All

eom

[BR_Parkway]

34. Here you go -

[blm]

46. Well, thank some powerful Dems who HELPED the coverup of IranContra, Iraqgate and BCCI

matters that were still active when Dems controlled all three branches of government in Jan1993.

Kerry worked for YEARS to uncover these matters - so did Henry Gonzalez. They were treated as conspiracy theorists and PESTS by many powerful Dems who SIDED with the criminal operations of GHWBush and his cronies. The coverups were constant throughout the 90s as Clinton protected the secrecy and privilege of GHWBush and many powerful others.

[Selatius]

3. The Republicans won't let facts get in the way of the narrative that America is a good guy here.

At best, they try to downplay it. At worst, they will ignore it and pretend the fact doesn't exist.

[SpiralHawk]

38. "Smirk." - BFEE

[northernlights]

4. where's the news?

hell, we supplied them with the effing gas. Yes, it was intended for gassing Iranians, not Kurds. But same neighborhood, so what diff does it make?

[Rambis]

18. At a conference

I had to sit and listen to a X Kurdish freedom fighter give a speech extolling the virtues of Poppi * and the current * and I was gob smacked!

[chelsea0011]

5. And there are people (many) who think Reagan was one of our greatest.

[Blarch]

35. Lets dig him up and send him to the Hague

[DutchLiberal]

47. Yes, the mythology is amazing...

Definitive proof George Orwell wasn't writing just fiction.

[SoCalDem]

6. and a lot of those "mass graves" Bush loved to talk about

were Largely "populated" by people that dear Old Dad sold out when he let Saddam mow them down from helicopters he allowed him to keep...after Poppy encouraged them to rise up against saddam:grr:

[soothsayer]

10. Or the soldiers we buried alive during Desert Storm

[acmavm]

37. That's what's always haunted me. We buried supposedly thousands

in the sand alive.

What a death.

[blm]

53. Iraqgate was another BushInc evil that was quickly disposed of after Bill took office.

And we're supposed to believe it's just 'coincidence' or just 'good politics' of moving on.

[MarkInCA]

7. Unfortunately the US has a long histrory

of looking the other way for their own gain.

[anigbrowl]

8. Isn't this really old news?

I recall reading about this in detail oh, ten years ago. I guess the documents are new but it just confirms what we already knew.

[JaneQPublic]

16. It's old news that very few people are aware of. (nt)

[Quantess]

32. I had not heard of this before.

I bet at least 98% of average Americans have not heard this news either.

[blm]

48. Whenever I list matters outstanding in the 90s that Bill Clinton protected GHWBush

these matters are part of that list - IranContra, IRAQGATE, BCCI and CIA drugrunning.

BCCI is the core operation that IranContra, Iraqgate and CIA drugrunning....heck, even S&L crisis....all just happen to touch.

[Boojatta]

9. Declassified government docs show U.S. let Japan attack China in WWII.

Actually, that's not true. The U.S. government imposed an oil embargo on Japan. Therefore, the U.S. government provoked the Japanese government into attacking Pearl Harbor. In any case, the U.S. government failed to prevent the attack on Pearl Harbor and therefore is responsible for the attack, just as the U.S. government failed to prevent Saddam Hussein from using poison gas against Kurds and therefore the U.S. government is responsible for the gassing of Kurds.

Presumably everyone agrees that the U.S. government has a duty to be policeman of the world?

[Alexander]

11. Um, Reagan was buddy-buddy with Saddam while this was going on.

Rumsfeld even shook Saddam's hand.

This had approval of the US Government.

Maybe you need a history lesson?

[Boojatta]

13. Obama has shaken GWB's hand.

Therefore...?

[Alexander]

17. Rumsfeld was sent as a diplomatic envoy.

I guess you forgot about the WMDs Reagan sold to Saddam Hussein.

Could you be any more vocal about your own ignorance?

[Boojatta]

20. I guess you forgot about the oil that Iran sold to the USA during the Reagan Administration.

Perhaps you think that Kurds weren't second-class citizens in Iran at that time? Could you be any more determined to whitewash the role of Iran in the gassing of Iraqi Kurds?

[Alexander]

25. I'm not arguing the Iranians were saints, despite your straw men.

I'm arguing that the US sold weapons of mass destruction to Iraq at the same time they knew of Saddam Hussein's gassing of Kurds, which these documents show.

In no way was I arguing that the Iranians were innocent through all this. Your statement makes no sense whatsoever.

Of course, since you don't have much of an argument, you need to create straw men and misrepresent what I said.

Nice try.

[lebkuchen]

42. When the US is attacked w/biochemicals, those chems will probably be US made

like they were during the anthrax attacks.

>>>>>>

Powell has been notably silent on issues of U.S. culpability, corporate profiteering or violations of international chemical, nuclear and biological treaties. Powell, for instance, neglected to mention that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta sent Iraq three shipments of West Nile virus for medical research in 1985.

Powell also failed to acknowledge that Iraq obtained some of its initial anthrax bacilli from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), a Maryland/Virginia–based nonprofit bio-resource center that supplies viruses and germs to governments, companies and academic institutions worldwide. Between 1985 and 1989, ATCC sent Iraq deadly shipments that included a variety of anthrax bacteria and germs that cause meningitis, influenza, botulism, lung failure and tetanus, according to media reports and U.N. records. ATCC did not respond to a request for an interview.

Thiodiglycol, a substance needed to manufacture deadly mustard gas, made its way to Iraq via Alcolac International, Inc., a Maryland company, since dissolved and reformed as Alcolac Inc., and Phillips, once a subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum and now part of ConocoPhillips, an American oil and energy company.


http://www.laweekly.com/2003-03-27/news/made-in-the-usa/

[Roland99]

54. I love this pic of ol' Rummy

[enki23]

21. now *there* is a serious red herring

we sure as fuck had the duty not to issue tacit approval to a government involved in an act of genocide. especially one we were directly, and overtly aiding before, during, and after that attack.

[iconicgnom]

55. "US ... has a duty to be policeman of the world?" Hell no...

The US is the world's arms dealer. It has a duty to start wars and keep them simmering for as long as possible. It has a duty to ensure that any "winners" use the newfound power over devastated economies to buy up US built weapons systems. It has a duty to sell Saddam poison gas, inflame an Iraq/Iran war, then make light of the carnage. It has a duty to continue building a war economy to the detriment of everything else, including the most elementary common sense.

That's what "duty" means when the chance of accountability is known beforehand to be zero.

[EFerrari]

12. We armed both sides.

And both Iraq AND Iran used chemical weapons.

[Boojatta]

15. The gov't of Iran deliberately used chemical weapons against Iranian citizens?

[KittyWampus]

26. We also provided satellite information and other intelligence to both. Massacre at Halabja

I believe the US set up Iraq in that particular instance.

[EFerrari]

31. Rumsfeld. n/t

[Bluebear]

14. So it's "We let him gas his own people!!111"

[d_b]

19. shocked

no, really.

[gratuitous]

22. Well done, CNN!

And just six years too late for it to matter a whole hell of a lot. While CNN snoozed, we lost thousands of troops, killed uncounted Iraqis, destroyed an entire country, and blew through hundreds of billions of dollars. Oh well. Sucks to be all those other people; CNN's brass is still alive and cashing their fat paychecks.

[Ichingcarpenter]

23. Criminals have been operating in the highest levels of government

since Ford pardoned Nixon.

[Boojatta]

24. If Ford was the first President to commit a crime, then was Nixon innocent?

[uppityperson]

45. Poor logic and poor reading or previous post

[digidigido]

51. Boojata is so into grammar and clarity, that he is willing to miss the point entirely

[malaise]

27. So where do you think Saddam got the chemicals

No surprise here - nice to know it's finally official.

[Ichingcarpenter]

28. I'm sure that the tracks have been covered up by now but

suspect it was connected to someone within the administration that
profited by it.

[Kansas Wyatt]

29. Now you know why Saddam was never tried for he did to the Kurds.

We couldn't have any connections coming back to the Good Ole' USA.

[samsingh]

30. i knew it.

[wroberts189]

33. Quoting Gomer Pyle: Suprise Suprise Suprise n/t

[Festivito]

36. I recall a CIA report saying the gas was not Saddam's.

The gas that killed the Iraqis for which Saddam is blamed turned out to show different symptoms, symptoms suggesting it was the gas we supplied to Iran, not Iraq.

Now, we have a report that says we allowed Saddam to use the gas. What does this prove?

Too many cooks stewing the history.

[okieinpain]

39. "They Hate us for our Freedoms". n/t.

[proReality]

41. Yeah, our freedom to sell death to all and profit by it. n/t

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

40. Remember, once we were in Iraq, Powell visited Halabja and laid a wreath..he was one of the

people that knew about the gassing at the time and went along with the rest of the Reagan Administration.

I felt like he was shitting on those graves...

[Tommy_Carcetti]

43. And yet, Ronald Reagan is revered as a hero by many.

The man was a POS, and will forever be a POS.

[blm]

49. It was always Poppy Bush's operation - and who do we have to thank for the revisionist history

of the Reagan and Bush years? The Dem president who sided with their policy decisions and protected their secrecy and privilege throughout the 90s instead of OUR right to open and accountable government.

[ksimons]

44. K&R!!

[mistertrickster]

50. HE GASSED HIS OWN PEOPLE IN HALABJA!!!! Remember when that was the rally cry for invasion?

If I had a nickle for every time WorstPresidentEver trotted out that line, I'd be richer than General Motors.

Nevermind that for several years after it happened, St. Ronald pretended like it never happened . . .

In fact, their position was that the IRANIANS gassed the Kurds in Halabja.

Until of course the CONs needed to use it as a pretext for their immoral and illegal invasion of a country that posed no threat to us . . .

[BuelahWitch]

52. I was going to post this

That's what the dipshits yelled from the rooftops after no WMD was found. "But Saddam was a BAD MAN! HE GASSED HIS OWN PEOPLE!!ZOMG!"
Our news media, complicit in thousands, maybe millions of deaths just so they could keep their 24 hour channels abuzz...

[blm]

56. Bush was so well-protected on the Iraq lies and he had all the cover needed due to coverups

carried on by a Bush-friendly Dem president throughout the 90s.

[Arctic Dave]

57. kick. This story should be coming from your mouth at every conversation.