"He Gassed Hizzown People" "He Tried To Kill Mah Daddy" "No Dictator Can Gas Hundreds of Children"

[Igel]

11. You probably did.

But it's not so.

The US sold Saddam a lot of precursor chemicals that Saddam used to make the gas.

There were individual countries in Europe that sold Saddam far more of the necessary chemicals. We "liked" those governments--they were in favor of strong social programs and such--and we didn't like Reagan. So when it comes to assigning blame, we overlook the countries that sold most of the chemicals and equipment to Saddam and focus on those we love to hate--Reagan and his ilk.

In the same way we ignore that many of the chemicals that "we" sold Saddam in the 1980s to such post-hoc opprobrium were the same chemicals that we condemned Bush II for not selling to Saddam in the early 2000s. And which we condemn Britain for selling to Assad in 2012.

Same stuff--whether it's good to sell the dual-use chemicals depends on who's doing the selling and how we feel about the purchaser, not their possible uses. Don't sell NaF to the Kurd-killer extraordinaire and you're responsible for killing babies because their drinking water isn't purified properly. Sell NaF to Assad and you're responsible for killing babies because some of it might have been used to make sarin. No need for cause and effect. No need for proof. We know who to condemn before we get any facts; we just need facts that can support our beliefs.