Rumsfeld Backed Saddam
Even After Chem Attacks
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
The
Independent - UK
12-24-03
- Fresh controversy about Donald Rumsfeld's personal
dealings with Saddam Hussein was provoked yesterday by new documents
that reveal he went to Iraq to show America's support for the regime
despite its use of chemical weapons.
-
- The formerly secret documents reveal the Defence
Secretary travelled to Baghdad 20 years ago to assure Iraq that
America's condemnation of its use of chemical weapons was made
"strictly" in principle.
-
- The criticism in no way changed Washington's wish to
support Iraq in its war against Iran and "to improve bi-lateral
relations ... at a pace of Iraq's choosing".
-
- Earlier this year, Mr Rumsfeld and other members of
the Bush administration regularly cited Saddam's willingness to use
chemical weapons against his own people as evidence of the threat
presented to the rest of the world.
-
- Senior officials presented the attacks against the
Kurds - particularly the notorious attack in Halabja in 1988 - as a
justification for the invasion and the ousting of Saddam.
-
- But the newly declassified documents reveal that 20
years ago America's position was different and that the administration
of President Ronald Reagan was concerned about maintaining good
relations with Iraq despite evidence of Saddam's "almost daily" use of
chemical weapons against Iranian troops and Kurdish rebels.
-
- In March 1984, under international pressure, America
condemned Iraq's use of such chemical weapons. But realising that
Baghdad had been upset, Secretary of State George Schultz asked Mr
Rumsfeld to travel to Iraq as a special envoy to meet Saddam's Foreign
Minister, Tariq Aziz, and smooth matters over.
-
- In a briefing memo to Mr Rumsfeld, Mr Shultz wrote
that he had met Iraqi officials in Washington to stress that America's
interests remained "in (1) preventing an Iranian victory and (2)
continuing to improve bilateral relations with Iraq".
-
- The memo adds: "This message bears reinforcing during
your discussions."
-
- Exactly what Mr Rumsfeld, who at the time did not hold
government office, told Mr Aziz on 26 March 1984, remains unclear and
minutes from the meeting remain classified. No one from Mr Rumsfeld's
office was available to comment yesterday.
-
- It was not Mr Rumsfeld's first visit to Iraq. Four
months earlier, in December 1983, he had visited Saddam and was
photographed shaking hands with the dictator. When news of this visit
was revealed last year, Mr Rumsfeld claimed he had "cautioned" Saddam to
stop using chemical weapons.
-
- When documents about the meeting disclosed he had said
no such thing, a spokesman for Mr Rumsfeld said he had raised the issue
with Mr Aziz.
-
- America's relationship with Iraq at a time when Saddam
was using chemical weapons is well-documented but rarely
reported.
-
- During the war with Iran, America provided combat
assistance to Iraq that included intelligence on Iranian deployments and
bomb-damage assessments. In 1987-88 American warships destroyed Iranian
oil platforms in the Gulf and broke the blockade of Iraqi shipping
lanes.
-
- Tom Blanton, the director of the National Security
Archive, a non-profit group that obtained the documents, told The New
York Times: "Saddam had chemical weapons in the 1980s and it didn't make
any difference to US policy. The embrace of Saddam and what it
emboldened him to do should caution us as Americans that we have to look
closely at all our murky alliances."
-
- Last night, Danny Muller, a spokesman for the anti-war
group Voices in the Wilderness, said the documents revealed America's
"blatant hypocrisy". He added: "This is not an isolated event.
Continuing administrations have said 'we will do business'. I am
surprised that Donald Rumsfeld does not resign right now."
-
- � 2003 Independent Digital (UK)
Ltd
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