From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Mon Dec 30 2002 - 17:41:04 MST
U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup
Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians, Kurds
By Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 30, 2002; Page A01
High on the Bush administration's list of justifications for war against
Iraq are President Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons, nuclear and
biological programs, and his contacts with international terrorists.
What U.S. officials rarely acknowledge is that these offenses date back
to a period when Hussein was seen in Washington as a valued ally.
Among the people instrumental in tilting U.S. policy toward Baghdad
during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war was Donald H. Rumsfeld, now defense
secretary, whose December 1983 meeting with Hussein as a special
presidential envoy paved the way for normalization of U.S.-Iraqi
relations. Declassified documents show that Rumsfeld traveled to Baghdad
at a time when Iraq was using chemical weapons on an "almost daily"
basis in defiance of international conventions.
For the rest of this article see
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A52241-2002Dec29?language=print
er
Comment:
Notice the section stating that the "administrations of Ronald Reagan
and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous items that
had both military and civilian applications, including poisonous
chemicals and deadly biological viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic
plague." If this is true, then should not also the people behind these
transfers be punished for putting America in danger? What do you think?
-- Dan
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