Actually, this too is a lie from the left. As strange as it might seem, we backed our "enemy" Iran, not Iraq. Reagan sold Iran TOW ATGMs, HAWK SAMs, and spare parts for the systems sold to the earlier Shah regime, in order for Iran to be able to effectively resist Iraq. The only time we ever gave any "backing" to Iraq was a single instance in which the state department gave them strategic intelligence in order to prevent an Iranian incursion into Basra.