Sunday, 09 March 2003 CST
Battling demons of Republican failure
Saddam Hussein and Iraq represent the failure of foreign policy by three Republican administrations spanning four non-contiguous terms. But referring to the Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations as separate is more of a technical distinction than an actual one since many of the players have been involved in the Iraq adventure over the past 20 years.
Exposing the lie behind the myth that Republicans are good with foreign policy, the specific details of how the Reagan administration built up Saddam Hussein for short-term benefit are illuminating. George H. W. Bush was left to clean up the mess after the US essentially gave Saddam a green light to take Kuwait. Skillful diplomacy brought support around the world that led to a successful liberation of Kuwait by a multi-national effort.
We are now faced with George W. Bush insisting on an invasion and occupation of Iraq for murky reasons. This administration has floated numerous lines of argument as justification for this invasion, apparently trying to find a marketable message. This scattershot approach to selling of Bush's war has led to a huge credibility problem, confounded by the facts of how affairs got to the point they are at in the first place.
The Washington Post chronicles how the U.S. was key to arming Saddam Hussein with chemical weapons:
Declassified documents show that Rumsfeld traveled to Baghdad at a time when Iraq was using chemical weapons on an “almost daily” basis in defiance of international conventions.
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The administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous items that had both military and civilian applications, including poisonous chemicals and deadly biological viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic plague.
In What About Those Chemical Weapons? The Saddam in Rummy's Closet Jeremy Scahill exposes how closely Rumsfeld was working with Saddam Hussein:
Rumsfeld's December 19-20, 1983 visit to Baghdad made him the highest-ranking US official to visit Iraq in 6 years. He met Saddam and the two discussed “topics of mutual interest,” according to the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
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In response to the gassing [in 1988 of Kurdish civilians], sweeping sanctions were unanimously passed by the US Senate that would have denied Iraq access to most US technology. The measure was killed by the White House.
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In 1984, Donald Rumsfeld was in a position to draw the world's attention to Saddam's chemical threat. He was in Baghdad as the UN concluded that chemical weapons had been used against Iran. He was armed with a fresh communication from the State Department that it had “available evidence” Iraq was using chemical weapons. But Rumsfeld said nothing.
The Guardian Unlimited reported on how Rumsfeld &lsquo’offered help to Saddam':
On November 1 1983, the secretary of state, George Shultz, was passed intelligence reports of “almost daily use of CW [chemical weapons]” by Iraq.
However, 25 days later, Ronald Reagan signed a secret order instructing the administration to do “whatever was necessary and legal” to prevent Iraq losing the war.
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A 1994 congressional inquiry also found that dozens of biological agents, including various strains of anthrax, had been shipped to Iraq by US companies, under licence from the commerce department.
Furthermore, in 1988, the Dow Chemical company sold $1.5m-worth (£930,000) of pesticides to Iraq despite suspicions they would be used for chemical warfare.
