Declassified Secrets from the U.S.-Iraq Relationship

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http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/special/iraq/index.htm

Saddam a "presentable young man" with "engaging smile,"
Let's "do business," said British Embassy in 1969.

Rumsfeld met Saddam in 1984 with instructions to improve relations,
Despite chemical weapons use and sanctuary for terrorists.

U.S. construction giant Bechtel planned to evade 1988 CW sanctions,
Now has biggest AID contract for reconstructing Iraq.

New declassified documents reveal secret U.S.-British-Iraq history;
Saddam Hussein Sourcebook published by National Security Archive.

Washington D.C., 18 December 2003 - Newly declassified documents posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive show the British Embassy in Baghdad recommending Saddam Hussein to London in 1969 as a "presentable young man" with an "engaging smile," "with whom, if only one could see more of him, it would be possible to do business."

U.S. documents published in today's Saddam Hussein Sourcebook quote Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1975 telling the Iraqi foreign minister "we do not think there is a basic clash of national interests between Iraq and the United States" (the Iraqi disagreed), and that Israeli influence on U.S. policy would diminish given "our new electoral law" which means "the influence of some who financed the elections before isn't so great."

The newly declassified briefing notes for special envoy Donald Rumsfeld's second trip to Baghdad in March 1984 reveal Rumsfeld's instructions to reinforce the message of U.S. interest in improved relations "at a pace of Iraq's own choosing," and to emphasize that U.S. criticism of Saddam's chemical weapons use versus Iran was not meant as a pro-Iranian or anti-Iraq gesture. Saturday, December 20, marks the 20th anniversary of Rumsfeld's famous handshake meeting with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.

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1. Thanks for the Memories - Video for this

Erich Blume has a brilliant video that goes hand in hand with your post. I find it haunting and can never listen to this song the same way ever again. It's a thank you to Saddaam for the memories.

http://www.ericblumrich.com/thanks.html

Thanks for the memory
Of things I can’t forget
Journeys on a jet
Our wond’rous week in martinique
And vegas and roulette
How lucky I was

And thanks for the memory
Of summers by the sea
Dawn in waikiki
We had a pad in london
But we didn’t stop for tea
How cozy it was

Now since our breakup I wake up
Alone on a gray morning-after
I long for the sound of your laughter
And then I see the laugh’s on me

But thanks for the memory
Of every touch a thrill
I’ve been through the mill
I’ve lived a lot and learned a lot
You loved me not and still
I miss you so much

Thanks for the memory
Of how we used to jog
Even in a fog
That barbecue in malibu
Away from all the smog
How rainy it was

Thanks for the memory
Of letters I destroyed
Books that we enjoyed
Tonight the way things look
I need a book by sigmund freud
How brainy he was

Gone are those evenings on broadway
Together we’d go to a great show
But now I begin with the late show
And wish that you
Were watching, too

I know it’s a fallacy
That grown men never cry
Baby, that’s a lie
We had our bed of roses
But forgot that roses die
And thank you so much