Iraq used chem weapons in the '80, Reagan knew, continued to assist Iraq

[redandguilty]

Iraq used chem weapons in the '80, Reagan knew, did nothing

I shouldn't have titled the thread "continued to assist Iraq". There was US assistance after we were aware of attacks though. Also, we kept our knowledge of the chemical attacks to ourselves.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articl...rove_america_helped_saddam_as_he_gassed_iran?

According to recently declassified CIA documents and interviews with former intelligence officials like Francona, the U.S. had firm evidence of Iraqi chemical attacks beginning in 1983. At the time, Iran was publicly alleging that illegal chemical attacks were carried out on its forces, and was building a case to present to the United Nations. But it lacked the evidence implicating Iraq, much of which was contained in top secret reports and memoranda sent to the most senior intelligence officials in the U.S. government. The CIA declined to comment for this story.

In contrast to today's wrenching debate over whether the United States should intervene to stop alleged chemical weapons attacks by the Syrian government, the United States applied a cold calculus three decades ago to Hussein's widespread use of chemical weapons against his enemies and his own people. The Reagan administration decided that it was better to let the attacks continue if they might turn the tide of the war. And even if they were discovered, the CIA wagered that international outrage and condemnation would be muted.

In the documents, the CIA said that Iran might not discover persuasive evidence of the weapons' use -- even though the agency possessed it. Also, the agency noted that the Soviet Union had previously used chemical agents in Afghanistan and suffered few repercussions.

 

[redandguilty]

Timeline of events described in the article:

In '83, the CIA knew Iraq was using mustard gas.
In '84, "evidence came to light", meaning the rest of the world knew.
In '86, the Dept of Defense wanted to share intel with Hussein, but the CIA resisted because they thought Hussein was a thug.
In '87, the CIA saw Iran prepping an attack that Iraq wasn't ready for (they thought Iran would with if not informed) and the US informed Iraq. Targets were described as "suitable for use by the Iraqi air force to destroy". Iraq then attacked with sarin gas.
In '88, CIA intel was freely flowing to Hussein. 2/3 of the chem weapons Iraq used were in the last 18 months of the war.

I'd have to read the actual documents to get an idea how much we were aware of in '87 and '88. I'm a little confused by the mention of an '88 discovery of evidence of chemical weapons; I'm not sure why that would be significant unless we thought they had quit using them.

 

[redandguilty]

I guess everyone helped too

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_a...uction#Western_help_with_Iraq.27s_WMD_program

 

[Michchamp]

yeah. we were at some restaurant over the weekend & they had Wolf Blitzer on interviewing "experts" on Syria.

wife was like "oh this is so terrible what's going on there" and I just said that I can't bring myself to care anymore. it's orwellian.

there's like 9% support for striking Syria or whatever, so the White House is trying to "involve" congress to shore things up - even though they publicly stated that any resolutions or measures passed by congress are non-binding. the whole thing is rotten. not sure why they even care... there's no real domestic opposition to anything they do. they went ahead and bombed Libya despite the congressional vote against any action there.

 

[redandguilty]

yeah. we were at some restaurant over the weekend & they had Wolf Blitzer on interviewing "experts" on Syria.

wife was like "oh this is so terrible what's going on there" and I just said that I can't bring myself to care anymore. it's orwellian.

there's like 9% support for striking Syria or whatever, so the White House is trying to "involve" congress to shore things up - even though they publicly stated that any resolutions or measures passed by congress are non-binding. the whole thing is rotten. not sure why they even care... there's no real domestic opposition to anything they do. they went ahead and bombed Libya despite the congressional vote against any action there.

In a better world, it would be enough for the US to make a case to the UN, get turned down, and then the blame for standing by while chemical weapons are used would be on Russia and China. Even with these documents coming to light (although the contents were known prior) I think the US still has a shred of moral footing on the issue seeing how Russia used chem weapons in Afghanistan.

We've stirred up a lot of shit. I think this is a clear-cut case where we shouldn't act unilaterally. Obama has a Peace Prize. Let's see a little aversion to war.

 

[Thumb]

The enemy of my enemy.....makes me look the other way.

 

[redandguilty]

not sure why they even care...

You ever get the suspicion the president gets briefed on his 1st day on the job by leaders of the military-industrial complex explaining that they're the only manufacturers in this country and the economy depends on a steady supply of wars?

 

[Michchamp]

You ever get the suspicion the president gets briefed on his 1st day on the job by leaders of the military-industrial complex explaining that they're the only manufacturers in this country and the economy depends on a steady supply of wars?

no. they get that briefing earlier in the process, during the primaries.

if they don't indicate they "get it" and will "play ball" they get zero media coverage, excluded from debates, and buried for all practical purposes... see, e.g. they way Ron Paul's candidacy became a non-issue in the last election cycle. you don't even get a chance to become president if you're not willing to rubber stamp these foreign policy decisions.

the twisted thing is... I can understand the argument that people privy to more information than we are may have to make decisions that we don't understand, but are at least in our best interests as a nation, but I don't really believe that's the case anymore.