Who do you think ARMED Iraq to begin with?

[Octafish]

40. The enemy of my enemy is my customer

Like an old LP from Evil McEvil's playlist.

The enemy of my enemy is my customer:

Iraq and the Bush administrations

by Margie Burns
Online Journal, Sept. 5, 2002

Saddam Hussein received tremendous help from Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, and from US corporations, and continues to receive passive economic assistance from the current Bush administration. One article could hardly list everything the Reagan and Bush administrations have given Iraq, but even a quick overview suggests the picture.

Reagan official Howard Teicher was a staffer for the National Security Council from 1982 to 1987, where he had regular contact with CIA Director William Casey and traveled with Donald Rumsfeld to Iraq. In a 1995 affidavit for a civil lawsuit, Teicher describes Reagan's Iraq policy as one of consistent, unequivocal support for Saddam Hussein in the war against Iran, when Iran was perceived to be the greater threat (to Saudi Arabia).

"CIA Director Casey personally spearheaded the effort to ensure that Iraq had sufficient military weapons, ammunition and vehicles to avoid losing the Iran-Iraq war . . . the United States actively supported the Iraqi war effort by supplying the Iraqis with billions of dollars of credits, by providing US military intelligence and advice to the Iraqis, and by closely monitoring third country arms sales to Iraq to make sure Iraq had the military weaponry required. The United States also provide strategic operational advice to the Iraqis to better use their assets in combat. 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 . . . advice was passed to Saddam Hussein through various meetings with European and Middle Eastern heads of state," Teicher said.

"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 . . . ," Teicher noted.

Teicher's NSC files are in the Ronald Reagan presidential archives in Simi Valley, California. The affidavit can be found online under "Real History Archives."

Moving to direct military aid, in 1982 President Reagan legalized conventional military sales to Iraq. Resulting sales amounted to more than a billion dollars' worth of exports with military ends.

Along with intelligence--if you call it that--and money and arms, the United States also furnished Saddam with biological and chemical capabilities. The US Department of Commerce licensed 70 biological exports to Iraq between 1985 and 1989, including at least 21 batches of lethal strains of anthrax, sent by the American Type Culture Collection, then situated in Rockville and now in Virginia. (It shares one building with George Mason University.) Shipments continued beyond Reagan under President Bush, after the Iran-Iraq war ended in 1988. In other words, Saddam Hussein was still able to purchase biological products for at least four more years after the justification of US/administration worry about Iran was past.

Also between 1985 and 1989, Iraq's Atomic Energy Commission got 17 batches of "various toxins and bacteria." In 1985, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) shipped at least three samples of West Nile Fever virus to Basra University. Other lethal samples included botulins and E. coli.

In 1994, Senator Don Riegle (D-MI, 1976-94) reported a list of lethal bio-products sent to Iraq. Their presence was verified by UN inspectors in Iraq.

CONTINUED...

http://www.hermes-press.com/burns.htm

Robert Parry on the Teicher Affidavit:

The Teicher affidavit merited only a brief reference in a “defense & diplomacy” round-up in the Washington Post (2/4/95). The New York Times also published a cursory account of the new information (2/5/95); almost all other major newspapers ignored it. Indeed, among America’s major papers and networks, only the Miami Herald has given the trial regular coverage.

Beyond the Teledyne case itself, the affidavit raises questions about the credibility of leading Reagan/Bush figures. During the 1991 hearings to confirm Robert Gates as CIA director, Gates denied under oath that he had played a role in Cardoen cluster bomb sales to Iraq, as arms dealers had charged. Teicher’s affidavit provides new evidence that Gates misled the Senate.

Teicher’s affidavit also bolsters a New Yorker article (11/2/92) by reporters Murray Waas and Craig Unger, which asserted that Vice President George Bush in 1986 urged Saddam Hussein to intensify his air war against Iran–in order to increase Iran’s demand for U.S.- made anti-aircraft weapons. Appearing two weeks before the ’92 election, the New Yorker article was attacked in the conservative press. On the Wall Street Journal‘s editorial page (10/28/94), Steven Emerson mocked the article as a “Byzantine conspiracy theory.”

In one of those post-modern political moments, fictional reporters in the “Doonesbury” comic strip questioned Bush about the New Yorker story. But no real-life reporter covering the Bush campaign asked the president about his tactical air-war advice to Saddam. Now, however, Teicher has corroborated much of the Waas/Unger story.

Given the significance of the Teledyne trial and Teicher’s affidavit in judging the actions and integrity of the Reagan/Bush and Clinton administrations, why the near-total press blackout? -- Robert Parry

http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/iraqgate-confession-and-cover-up/

You are most welcome, malaise! Thank you for caring.