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In reply to the discussion: Charlie Hebdo suspect said Abu Ghraib torture pics drove him to enlist in Jihad against USA in 2008 [View all]KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)least to 1983, when Reagan was selling arms to the Iranians (the arms-for-hostages component of Iran-Contra) while AT THE EXACT SAME TIME dispatching RummyDummy to Baghdad as his 'secret' envoy to re-establish diplomatic relations with Iraq and provide her with military intel about Iranian troop deployments. Oh, yeah, and possibly ink a deal for chemical precursors for chemical weapons.
No biggie, you say, just American capitalism-imperialism at work. But to the people of the Middle East, it appears as if the U.S. was arming and assisting both sides in the brutal Iran-Iraq war. AT THE SAME FUCKING TIME. We may have short memories in this county but I assure you memories in the Middle East are far harder and of far greater duration.
If I, a stupid American, know this shit, you can bet it's common knowledge on the streets of every Middle Eastern capital.
Lest you think I'm imagining things or engaged in wild-eyed CT, here's a little photographic excursion down memory lane to help focus the mind: