Rumsfeld Made Iraq Overture in '84 Despite Chemical Raids

[nadinbrzezinski]

Rumsfeld Made Iraq Overture in '84 Despite Chemical Raids
By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS

Published: December 23, 2003


ASHINGTON, Dec. 22 — As a special envoy for the Reagan administration in 1984, Donald H. Rumsfeld, now the defense secretary, traveled to Iraq to persuade officials there that the United States was eager to improve ties with President Saddam Hussein despite his use of chemical weapons, newly declassified documents show.

Mr. Rumsfeld, who ran a pharmaceutical company at the time, was tapped by Secretary of State George P. Shultz to reinforce a message that a recent move to condemn Iraq's use of chemical weapons was strictly in principle and that America's priority was to prevent an Iranian victory in the Iran-Iraq war and to improve bilateral ties.

During that war, the United States secretly provided Iraq with combat planning assistance, even after Mr. Hussein's use of chemical weapons was widely known. The highly classified program involved more than 60 officers of the Defense Intelligence Agency, who shared intelligence on Iranian deployments, bomb-damage assessments and other crucial information with Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/23/international/middleeast/23RUMS.html

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Iran Contra

we played BOTH SIDES

Oh and by the way, that makes us COMPLICIT in the crimes of Sadamn Hussein

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NNN0LHI]

4. Oooh. Someone didn't like the truth in this post. Wonder why? n/t

[Senryu Sid]

5. Shocking...

This is why Bush wants to keep everything secret.
Rumsfeld et al have been guilty of crimes going back
decades. But will anybody care?

Greg Jungheim
Chicago



www.senryusid.com/

[salin]

6. Senryu Sid,

I was wondering about you the other day (there was a political haiku thread)... hope all is well with you... :hi:

[BonjourUSA]

7. Recall

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=953161

[GRClarkesq]

8. Was anything supplied other than intel?

My understanding is that the US wanted to keep Iraq from losing but never give him enought to win either. Hurt the Iranians and keep Saddam from get bigger ambitions.

[Barrett808]

9. Ari Ben-Menashe claims CIA funnelled chemical weapons via Cardoen

But the huge chemical weapons complex at Samarra was largely built by the Germans -- some were later shown to be unreconstructed Nazis.

[bobthedrummer]

10. Shaking hands with Saddam

When Rumsfeld and Saddam were on the same page after war crimes.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/index.htm

Teicher Document
http://www.webcom.com/~lpease/collections/hidden/teicher.htm

Unfinished business in Iraq
http://www.populist.com/02.17.burns.html

Rumsfeld's "Message to the People of Iraq" transcript
http://www.dod.gov/transcripts/2003/tr20030430-secdef0138.html

[NNN0LHI]

11. U.S. And Iraq Go Way Back

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/31/world/main534798.shtml

(CBS) Newly released documents show that U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, played a leading role in building up Iraq's military in the 1980s when Iraq was using chemical weapons, a newspaper reports.

It was Rumsfeld, now defense secretary and then a special presidential envoy, whose December 1983 meeting with Saddam Hussein led to the normalization of ties between Washington and Baghdad, according to the Washington Post.

The cozy relationship was an effort to build a regional bulwark against America's enemies in Iran.

The newspaper says a review of a large tranche of government documents reveals that the administrations of President Reagan and the first President Bush both authorized providing Iraq with intelligence and logistical support, and okayed the sale of dual use items — those with military and civilian applications — that included chemicals and germs, even anthrax and bubonic plague.

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