They were good friends.
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I saw photo of Donnald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Husein back in the 80es...
Yugoslavia and USA were supporting Saddams regime in 80es against Iran...
Alliances are strage liasons...
"I saw photo of Donnald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Husein back in the 80es..."
Oh, please show me the picture! Is that the one with Rummy and Saddam for a 90 minute diplomatic chat?
What did they discuss at that 90 Minute Chit Chat and Grip and Grin Photo? I'm sure Rummy spent quarter of that time trying to pass through security before he shook hands with Saddam.
Meeting time: 65 minutes and 3 seconds to finally sit down and talk face to face.
Big deal! I'm sure Jacque Chirac has more minutes and photos built up with Saddam even with security clearing the meetings.
"Yugoslavia and USA were supporting Saddams regime in 80es against Iran..."
You mean Tito's Yugoslavia. I guess that means we supported Tito's Regime?
They were shaking hands especially after we profited from the sale of Biologicals and Chemical weapons......
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0908-08.htm
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/1213-02.htm
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/11/08/EDG6PKE1EG1.DTL
http://www.bowlingforcolumbine.com/library/wonderful/iraq.php
for example.......
More than simply helping Iraq unleash chemical and biological weapons against Iran, the US got even more involved, as William Blum wrote in 1998:
According to a 1994 Senate report, private American suppliers, licensed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, exported a witch's brew of biological and chemical materials to Iraq from 1985 through 1989. Among the biological materials, which often produce slow, agonizing death, were:
• Bacillus Anthracis, cause of anthrax.
• Clostridium Botulinum, a source of botulinum toxin.
• Histoplasma Capsulatam, cause of a disease attacking lungs, brain, spinal cord, and heart.
• Brucella Melitensis, a bacteria that can damage major organs.
• Clostridium Perfringens, a highly toxic bacteria causing systemic illness.
• Clostridium tetani, a highly toxigenic substance.
Also on the list: Escherichia coli (E. coli), genetic materials, human and bacterial DNA, and dozens of other pathogenic biological agents. "These biological materials were not attenuated or weakened and were capable of reproduction," the Senate report stated. "It was later learned that these microorganisms exported by the United States were identical to those the United Nations inspectors found and removed from the Iraqi biological warfare program."
The report noted further that U.S. exports to Iraq included the precursors to chemical-warfare agents, plans for chemical and biological warfare production facilities, and chemical-warhead filling equipment.
The exports continued to at least November 28, 1989, despite evidence that Iraq was engaging in chemical and biological warfare against Iranians and Kurds since as early as 1984.
Helping to arm a country engaged in a bloody war is fun, but getting your hands dirty yourself is even better. National Security Council staff member Teicher revealed that President Reagan and Vice President Bush did just this, directly involving themselves in the advising of Iraq.
For example, in 1986, President Reagan sent a secret message to Saddam Hussein telling him that Iraq should step up its air war and bombing of Iran. This message was delivered by Vice President Bush who communicated it to Egyptian President Mubarak, who in turn passed the message to Saddam Hussein. Similar strategic operational military advice was passed to Saddam Hussein through various meetings with European and Middle Eastern heads of state. I authored Bush's talking points for the 1986 meeting with Mubarak and personally attended numerous meetings with European and Middle East heads of state where the strategic operational advice was communicated.
While most of the arms and machinery America helped Saddam Hussein get his hands on came through intermediary countries, many others were direct from the US. Among them were more than 100 helicopters (some of which, the Los Angeles Times reported, were used in gassing the Kurds in 1988). William Blum also reports that: "U.S. companies sold Iraq more than $1 billion worth of the components needed to build nuclear weapons and diverse types of missiles, including the infamous Scud."
After the gassing of the Kurds came to light, the United States Senate unanimously passed sanctions against Iraq to cut off their line to US technology. The move was squashed by the White House, and among other internal reason given, declassified documents show that such sanctions would hinder American companies receiving "massive post-war reconstruction" contracts.
Indeed, the bulk of Iraq’s war machinery came from countries other than the United States, but they still came with the US seal of approval, and in many cases, direct US involvement. Teicher reported on this, too, in his ’95 affidavit:
"I personally attended meetings in which CIA Director Casey or CIA Deputy Director Gates noted the need for Iraq to have certain weapons such as cluster bombs and anti-armor penetrators in order to stave off the Iranian attacks. When I joined the NSC staff in early 1982, CIA Director Casey was adamant that cluster bombs were a perfect "force multiplier" that would allow the Iraqis to defend against the "human waves" of Iranian attackers. I recorded those comments in the minutes of National Security Planning Group ("NSPG") meetings in which Casey or Gates participated.
The CIA, including both CIA Director Casey and Deputy Director Gates, knew of, approved of, and assisted in the sale of non-U.S. origin military weapons, ammunition and vehicles to Iraq. My notes, memoranda and other documents in my NSC files show or tend to show that the CIA knew of, approved of, and assisted in the sale of non-U.S. origin military weapons, munitions and vehicles to Iraq."
In 1989, George H. W. Bush took office as President of the United States. His policy on Iraq, not surprisingly, followed directly in the steps of Reagan’s:
The Bush administration became a particular focus of criticism because it followed its predecessor in making strengthened U.S.-Iraq relations a key objective, despite the fact that the end of the Iran-Iraq war had eliminated a major rationale for this goal. A transition paper prepared for the new presidency outlined the conflicts that characterized U.S. policy toward Iraq. The paper recommended assigning high priority to U.S.-Iraq relations because of Saddam Hussein’s potential as a "major player," but reviewed persistent divisive issues, including Iraq’s chemical weapons use which "aroused great emotions" in the U.S., and its "abominable human rights record." These negative factors were contrasted with Iraq’s value as a market and its potential as a trading partner, and wit the fact that it shared an interest with the U.S. in containing Iran. The paper recommended that the new administration should begin with a high-level message calling for further development of political and economic relations.8
Secretary of State James Baker personally intervened to promote strong ties with Baghdad. A briefing paper prepared for a March 1989 meeting between Baker and Iraqi Foreign Ministry Under Secretary Nizar Hamdoon discussed Iraq’s active involvement in chemical and biological warfare and missile programs, and recommended stressing the sensitivity of Iraq’s chemical weapons use for U.S.-Iraq relations.9 Hamdoom and Baker discussed Iraq’s wish for medium-term Eximbank export credit guarantees, and Baker assured him that he would take a personal interest in the question. (The State Department later warned Baker that moving forward with the credits would be problematic, given strong congressional opposition to Iraq’s recent chemical weapons use.)10 In June, Baker wrote to Secretary of Agriculture Clayton Yeutter to ask him to increase the size of the CCC’s GSM-102 program by $1 billion, to solve a problem "that has consequences for both U.S. foreign policy and agricultural exports."11 Soon thereafter, the Agriculture Department informed the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Policies (NAC), an interagency group responsible for approving economic programs involving foreign countries, that Agriculture planned to offer Iraq $1 billion in export credit guarantees for FY 1990.
Eximbank guarantees were provided through the Atlanta branch of the Italian Banca Nazionale del Lavoro:
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, relying partially on U.S. taxpayer-guaranteed loans, funnelled $5 billion to Iraq from 1985 to 1989. Some government-backed loans were supposed to be for agricultural purposes, but were used to facilitate the purchase of stronger stuff than wheat. Federal Reserve and Agriculture department memos warned of suspected abuses by Iraq, which apparently took advantage of the loans to free up funds for munitions. U.S. taxpayers have been left holding the bag for what looks like $ 2 billion in defaulted loans to Iraq.