kakki wrote:
> For what it's worth (not much, I'm sure) here is an excerpt from the
> CR from 1992 where John McCain rants on at length about some of the same
> allegations that are being recycled now.
> http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/congress/1992/s921001-iraq.htm
This (really long) 'rant' by McCain blasts Gore and other Democrats
for fabricating the notion that the US gave Hussein significant military
and financial support, and points to Russia and various other nations
as major suppliers of Hussein's military might. I do not pretend to
have the knowledge neccesary to properly examine his assertations
point by point. To view his evidence of the US support of Iraq, one
would conclude that Gore's claim that Bush Sr. is responsible for
Hussein's rise to power is about as reliable as his claim of inventing
the internet. I wonder if there was a rebuttal in the Congressional
Record to McCain's speech.
However, the reason everything here looks good on paper is
apparently this: Bush and Reagan shoveled arms and money to
Iraq covertly. They call it Iraqgate. Howard Teicher was a staff
member of the NSC in the early eighties, and in a sworn affidavit
provides details about secret dealings between the State Dept
and Iraq, much of which he was present for and witnessed.
It is said that Iraqgate makes the Iran-Contra and Watergate
scandals look like kid's play. In any case, there is alot of material
that supports the claim that the US was directly strengthening
Iraq's military might.
Here is Teichers testimony:
http://www.webcom.com/~lpease/collections/hidden/teicher.htm
excerpt:
9. 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.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/02/12/13_iraq.html
Alan Friedman is a respected journalist for the Financial Times
who has won numerous awards for his correspondence. His
book entitled, "Spider's Web: How the White House Illegally
Armed Iraq" outlines the efforts of the Reagan and Bush
administrations to supply Hussein with he most sophisticated weaponry.
According to Friedman, President Reagan's special Middle
East envoy, Donald Rumsfeld flew to Baghdad bearing a
handwritten note to Saddam offering to renew diplomatic
relations and to expand military and business ties. On
November 26, 1984 diplomatic relations were restored.
When Bush became president, he signed a waiver which said
that prohibiting the sale of goods to Iraq were not in the best
interests of the United States. Later, Bush signed a classified secret
policy called National Security Directive 26 which encouraged
U.S. oil companies to do business with Iraq.
Friedman writes that "Bush was to provide strategic battlefield
advice to Saddam through intermediaries who were heads of
state." While touring the Middle East, supposedly to promote
peace talks, Bush discussed with the Egyptian president how
Iraq could most effectively bomb
Iranian troops. This information was to be relayed to the Iraqis
The Reagan/Bush administrations provided Saddam with satellite
photos of Iranian troop movements and later helped them create
their own system for downloading this information themselves.
Friedman's book outlines how the Reagan/Bush administrations
used criminal and corrupt banks such as the Atlanta Branch of the
Banca Nazionale de Lavoro (BNL) to use American taxpayer
dollars to assist Saddam and to export U.S. technology for "the
Iraqi dictator's most cherished and lethal weapons projects."
Money going for programs to arm Saddam were kept off the
books and hidden from auditors.
http://www.mike-warren.com/links/us-arming-of-iraq.html
``In 1982, Reagan "legalized" direct military assistance to Iraq.
This resulted in more than a billion dollars in military related exports.
According to Kenneth R. Timmerman (author of The Death Lobby:
How the West Armed Iraq) the US government under Reagan and
Bush sold Iraq 60 Hughes MD 500 "Defender" helicopters, eight
Bell Textron AB 212 military helicopters equipped for anti-submarine
warfare, 48 Bell Textron 214 ST utility helicopters (sold for
"recreational" purposes), and US military infra-red sensors
and thermal imaging scanners (sold illegally to Iraq through a
Dutch company). After the Gulf War, the International Atomic
Energy Agency found the following US equipment in Iraq:
spectrometers, oscilloscopes, neutron initiators,
[and most distubingly]
high-speed switches for nuclear detonation, and other tools used
to develop and manufacture nuclear weapons.''
`"One entire facility, a tungsten-carbide manufacturing plant that
was part of the Al Atheer complex," Timmerman told the Senate
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, "was blown
up by the IAEA in April 1992 because it lay at the heart of the Iraqi
clandestine nuclear weapons program, PC-3. Equipment for
this plant appears to have been supplied by the Latrobe,
Pennsylvania manufacturer, Kennametal, and by a large
number of other American companies, with financing provided
by the Atlanta branch of the BNL bank."''
http://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/1992/s92/s92.reviews.html
Timmerman describes in detail how U.S. government officials
looked the other way as Saddam Hussein's regime received U.S.
-designed helicopters, howitzers, and cluster bombs through third
parties such as Chilean arms dealer Carlos Cardoen and the South
African government; as hundreds of millions of dollars worth of
dual-use equipment, such as machine tools and advanced
computers, were put to use in Iraqi missile and bomb factories;
and as billions in U.S. government export credits helped Iraq
defray the cost of a healthy proportion of its weapons procurement
budget during the late 1980s.
http://www.cjr.org/year/93/2/iraqgate.asp
Columbia Journal Review Mar/April 1993
ABC News Nightline opened June 9 with words to make the
heart stop. "It is becoming increasingly clear," said a grave Ted
Koppel, "that George Bush, operating largely behind the scenes
thoughout the 1980s, initiated and supported much of the financing,
intelligence, and military help that built Saddam's Iraq into the
agressive power that the United States ultimately had to destroy"
