Virginia F. Raines wrote:
Jack, remember how we were promised that mass graves would prove Hussein's brutality? SEE BELOW.
The Kurds have been victimized in the Iran-Iraq war and the Gulf War between the US and Iraq, while being exploited as pawns in the continuing effort to remove Saddam Hussein from Iraq. They've been napalmed by the Turkish air force, slaughtered by the Iranian army, attacked and gassed by Iraq's Republican Guard, betrayed by the US and otherwise ignored by the international community.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
Jack, remember how we were promised that mass graves would prove Hussein's brutality? SEE BELOW.
The Kurds have been victimized in the Iran-Iraq war and the Gulf War between the US and Iraq, while being exploited as pawns in the continuing effort to remove Saddam Hussein from Iraq. They've been napalmed by the Turkish air force, slaughtered by the Iranian army, attacked and gassed by Iraq's Republican Guard, betrayed by the US and otherwise ignored by the international community.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
=============================================
Dear Ms. Virginia,
The website i.e. National Security Archive is not valid and vercious of Mr Jack Stone when it narrates the US Connivance with Saddam Hussain even when USA/Great Britain supplies Chemical and other weapons Saddam Hussain to fix Iran, Kurds and others who opposed Saddam. May I ask why these Declassified from the same websites are not acceptable for all and sundry?
Shaking Hands: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/
"QUOTE"
March 28, 1988 -- Uses chemical weapons against Kurdish town of Halabja, killing estimated 5,000 civilians.
From Iraq's first use of chemical weapons in 1983, the U.S. took a very restrained view. When the evidence of Iraqi use of these weapons could no longer be denied, the U.S. issued a mild condemnation, but made clear that this would have no effect on commercial or diplomatic relations between the United States and Iraq. Iran asked the Security Council to condemn Iraq's chemical weapons use, but the U.S. delegate to the U.N. was instructed to try to prevent a resolution from coming to a vote, or else to abstain. An Iraqi official told the U.S. that Iraq strongly preferred a Security Council presidential statement to a resolution and did not want any specific country identified as responsible for chemical weapons use. On March 30, 1984, the Security Council issued a presidential statement condemning the use of chemical weapons, without naming Iraq as the offending party.
President Reagan ordered the Defense Department and the CIA to supply Iraq's military with intelligence information, advice, and hardware for battle after being advised to do so by CIA Director William Casey. Former Reagan National Security official Howard Teicher said that Casey "personally spearheaded the effort to insure that Iraq had sufficient military weapons, ammunition and vehicles to avoid losing the Iran-Iraq war." The U.S. continued to provide thi type of intelligence to Iraq until 1988.
Iraq began using chemical weapons against Iran. By the end of the decade, some 100,000 people would die as a result the chemical warfare waged by the Iraqis . February 1982. The Reagan administration - despite stern objections from Congress- removed Iraq from the U.S. State Department's list of states sponsoring terrorism. This cleared the way for future U.S. military aid to that country. The U.S. State Department reported that Iraq's support of terrorist groups continued unabated. The Reagan administration approved the sale of 60 civilian Hughes helicopters to Iraq, in spite of the fact it was widely understood that the helicopters could be weaponized with little effort. Critics regarded the sale as military aid cloaked as civilian assistance. Secretary of Commerce George Baldridge and Secretary of State George Shultz successfully lobbied the National Security Council (NSC) advisor to approve the sale of 10 Bell helicopters to Iraq in spite of objections from the rest of the NSC. It was officially stated that the helicopters would be used for crop spraying. These same helicopters were later used in 1988 to deploy poison gas against Iranians and possibly the Kurds. Iraq's use of chemical weapons against Iran increased significantly. The U.S. was informed of Iraq's use of chemical weapons later that year. "Early 80s." Diplomats brought photographs to the United Nations and several national capitals showing the swollen, blistered and burned bodies of injured and dead Iranians who had been victims of Iraqi chemical attacks. Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt supplied Iraq with U.S. howitzers, helicopters, bombs and other weapons with the secret approval of the Reagan administration. President Reagan personally requested Italian Prime Minister Guilio Andreotti to funnel arms to Iraq. Iraq was using mustard gas.
It is not clear if the use of this weapon was known by the U.S. State Department and National Security Agency [Profile] at that time. [CIA Declassified Report ca. 1997] Late 1983. According to the memoirs of then Secretary of State George Shultz, U.S. intelligence began receiving reports that Iraq's use of chemical weapons against Iran had increased . U.S. State Department official Jonathan T. Howe told Secretary of State George P. Shultz that intelligence reports indicated that Saddam Hussein's troops were resorting to "almost daily use of CW [Chemical Weapons]" against their Iranian adversaries. By the end of 1983, 60 Hughes MD 500 "Defender" helicopters had been shipped to Iraq in spite of objections from four Republican Senators.
U.S. Special Envoy Donald Rumsfeld, who at the time was CEO of the pharmaceutical company, Searle, personally met with Saddam Hussein in an attempt to reestablish diplomatic relations with Iraq. Other issues that were discussed included plans for the construction of an Iraq-Jordan oil pipeline to be built by Bechtel and an Israeli offer to help Iraq in its war against Iran. According to a declassified State Department cable, Rumsfeld “conveyed the President’s greetings and expressed his pleasure at being in Baghdad.” Commenting on the meeting, Newsweek noted, "Like most foreign-policy insiders, Rumsfeld was aware that Saddam was a murderous thug who supported terrorists and was trying to build a nuclear weapon. (The Israelis had already bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor at Osirak.)" Declassified documents revealed that Rumsfeld's trip happened at a time when Iraq was using chemical weapons against Iran "almost daily" in defiance of international conventions. On September 19, 2002, almost two decades later, Rumsfeld was questioned in Congress about this visit. He stated, "I was, for a period in late '83 and early '84, asked by President Reagan to serve as Middle East envoy after the Marines--241 Marines were killed in Beirut. As part of my responsibilities I did visit Baghdad. I did meet with Mr. Tariq Aziz. And I did meet with Saddam Hussein and spent some time visiting with them about the war they were engaged in with Iran. At the time our concern, of course, was Syria and Syria's role in Lebanon and Lebanon's role in the Middle East and the terrorist acts that were taking place. As a private citizen I was assisting only for a period of months." In his testimony he also denied any knowledge of the role the U.S. would play in helping Iraq develop its biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons capabilities. [U.S. Congressional Record: September 20, 2002 (Senate) Page S8987-S8998] 1984.
The CIA secretly provided Iraqi intelligence with instructions on how to "calibrate" its mustard gas attacks on Iranian troops. The CIA established a direct intelligence link with Iraq. An Iraqi military spokesman warned Iran, "The invaders should know that for every harmful insect, there is an insecticide capable of annihilating it . . . and Iraq possesses this annihilation insecticide." February 1984. Western journalists reporting on the war between Iraq and Iran verified the use of chemical weapons. 4 p. 76] March 1984. The United Nations dispatched experts to the conflict zone on a mission that documented Iraq's use of chemical weapons. The U.S. State Department reported that "available evidence" indicated Iraq was using "lethal chemical weapons", specifically mustard gas, against Iran. U.S. State Department desk officer, Frank Riccuardone, urged the Export-Import Bank to provide Iraq with short-term loans "for foreign relations purposes." U.S. intelligence officials claimed to have "incontrovertible evidence that Iraq has used nerve gas in its war with Iran and has almost finished extensive sites for mass-producing the lethal chemical warfare agent" Iran accused Iraq of poisoning 600 of its soldiers with mustard gas and Tabun nerve gas. On that same day, the UPI wire service reported that a team of UN experts had concluded that "Mustard gas laced with a nerve agent has been used on Iranian soldiers. Meanwhile, Donald Rumsfeld held talks with foreign minister Tariq Aziz." In a memo to Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State George Shultz expressed concern that relations with Iraq had soured because of the State Department's March 6 report that Iraq was using chemical weapons. The Reagan administration sent Donald Rumsfeld to Baghdad again. While in Iraq, Rumsfeld discussed the proposed Iraq-Jordan pipeline that was to be built by Bechtel. That same day, a UN investigation reported on Iraq's use of chemical weapons against Iraq. "[C]hemical weapons in the form of aerial bombs have been used in the areas inspected in Iraq by the specialists," the report said. During a meeting in Jordan with Iraqi diplomat Kizam Hamdoon, U.S. diplomat James Pecke in Jordan asked that Iraq halt its purchasing of chemical weapons from U.S. suppliers so as not to "embarrass" the U.S. [Institute for Policy Studies, 3/24/03] November 26, 1984. The United States Government re-established full diplomatic ties with Baghdad even though it was fully aware that Iraq was using chemical weapons in its war against Iran. 1985. Christopher Drogoul of the Atlanta branch of the Italian Banca Nazionale del Lavoro began embezzling funds to Iraq.
The funds consisted of government backed loans meant for agricultural purposes as well as unreported loans that had been made in secret. While roughly half the funds were used by Saddam Hussein's government to purchase agricultural goods, the remainder was used to "supply Iraqi missile, chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs with industrial goods such as computer controlled machine tools, computers, scientific instruments, special alloy steel and aluminum, chemicals, and other industrial goods." Additionally, the money spent on agriculture allowed Saddam's regime to divert a significant portion of its own funds to the task of weapons development. Between 1985 and 1989 almost $5 billion made its way to Iraq from the U.S.. Memos obtained by reporters revealed that both the Federal Reserve and Department of Agriculture had suspected that Iraq was using these funds inappropriately. Iraq eventually defaulted on the government-backed loans, leaving U.S. taxpayers with $2 billion dollars in unpaid debts. U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz successfully convinced Rep. Howard Berman to drop a House bill that put Iraq back on the State Department's list of states that sponsor terrorism. Shultz argued that the United States was actively engaged in "diplomatic dialogue on this and other sensitive issues," and asserted that "Iraq has effectively distanced itself from international terrorism." The Secretary of State further claimed that if the U.S. discovered any evidence implicating Iraq in the support of terrorist groups, the U.S. Government "would promptly return Iraq to the list."
In addition to providing satellite photography to Iraq, which revealed the movements of the Iranian forces, the U.S. secretly deployed U.S. Air Force officers to Iraq to assist their counterparts in the Iraqi military as well as “more than 60 officers of the Defense Intelligence Agency" who secretly provided "detailed information on Iranian deployments, tactical planning for battles, plans for airstrikes and bomb-damage assessments for Iraq.” The U.S. also provided Iraq with intelligence gathered by Saudi-owned AWACS, which were being operated by the Pentagon. The information provided by the U.S. was considered essential to Iraq’s military planning as it resulted in Iraq's improved "accuracy in targeting, hitting Iran's bridges, factories, . . . power plants relentlessly, and . . . Iranian oil terminals in the Lower Gulf." The Central Intelligence Agency authored a then-classified report acknowledging that Iraq was using chemical weapons as an "integral part" of its military strategy and that it was a "regular and recurring tactic." “[T]wo batches of bacillus anthracis - the micro-organism that causes anthrax - were shipped . . . along with two batches of the bacterium clostridium botulinum - the agent that causes deadly botulism poisoning”- to the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education. U.S. intelligence learned that Iraq's "Saad 16" research center was attempting to develop ballistic missiles. This information was relayed by the Defense Department’s Under Secretary for Trade Security Policy, Stephen Bryen, to the Commerce Department’s (CD) Assistant Secretary for Trade Administration. In spite of this, the Commerce Department subsequently approved more than $1 million in computer sales to the Iraqi research center over the next four years. In 1991, The House Committee on Government Operations reported that 40% of the equipment at the "Saad 16" research center had come from the U.S. The United Nations dispatched experts to the conflict zone on a mission that documented Iraq's use of chemical weapons.
One batch each of salmonella and E coli was sent to the Iraqi State Company for Drug Industries with the approval of the U.S. Department of Commerce. U.S. provided Baghdad with $500 million in credits to buy American farm products.
"UNQUOTE"
References:
US-IRAQ RELATIONS
http://www.awostudycenter.com/History/Feb2004/Chronology_US_Iraqi.pdf.
"From Posterboy to Wanted Poster" By KURT NIMMO Going After Qaddafi (Again) 06/25/2004:Copyright (c) 2001-2005 AfricaSpeaks.com
Misconceptions dominate the oil debate By Bassam Fattouh Bassam Fattouh is a lecturer in financial studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Source: The Daily Star
Iran-contra affair, U.S. History AllRefer.com
Bush's Mideast Plan: Conquer and Divide By Eric Margolis December 8, 2002 Global Policy Forum./Toronto Sun.
The Iran-Contra Scandal in Perspective Malcolm Byrne Peter Kornbluh January 26, 1990
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv
International Crisis & Neutrality US Foreign Policy Toward the Iran/Iraq War by FRANCIS A. BOYLE
http://www.counterpunch.org/
Historical Background of the religion of Shiism
http://www.geocities.com/~abdulwahid/ahlibayt/history_of_shiism.html
The war on Iraq: Conceived in Israel By STEPHEN J. SNIEGOSKI
http://www.thornwalker.com/ditch/conc_toc.htm
THE UNITED STATES AND THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR STEPHEN R. SHALOM This is a footnoted version of the article "The United States and the Gulf War," which appeared in _Z_ magazine, Feb. 1990. A revised version appears in my _Imperial Alibis_ (Boston: South End Press, 1993).]
www.zmag.org
Latin America's Dilemma: Otto Reich's Propaganda is Reminiscent of the Third Reich by Tom Turnipseed April 18, 2002
www.zmag.org
Tom Turnipseed is an attorney, writer and civil rights activist in Columbia, South Carolina.
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