🚀 go-pugleaf

On 2007-06-30 13:58:53 -0400, "ChairMan" <why4@fu.com> said:

> In news:1183224532.446187.198580@w5g2000hsg.googlegroups.com,
> LarryG@Yahuu.com <larryg_uu@yahoo.com>spewed forth:
>> On Jun 30, 6:52 am, Mike Smith <m...@wt.net> wrote:
>>> On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 23:58:34 -0700, "Lar...@Yahuu.com"
>>> 
>>> <larryg...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>> On Jun 29, 11:23 pm, Zeno <Z...@home.kom> wrote:
>>>>> (2:20 in) Proponents of radical Islam (islamofasicsts) believe that
>>>>> the west is engaged in a *conspiracy* to subjugate Islam.
>>> 
>>>>> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6331994107023396223&q=obsess...
>>> 
>>>> [Yawn]  Kind of lame for a conspiracy theory.  This is the same
>>>> old fear mongering perpetuated by the real masters of public
>>>> opinion manipulation.  Consider their other greatest hits:
>>> 
>>>> - Saddaam has Weapons of Mass Destruction
>>> 
>>> You meant "had" WMDs. Everyone and their dog knew that.
>> 
>> No evidence (outside of administration propaganda) was ever
>> presented to show WMD's existed.  Perhaps Santa and the Easter
>> Bunny conspired with Saddaam to hide them in Never-Never Land.
>> 
>> Yes, folks.  Mike Smith is really that gullible.
> 
> 
> BULLSHIT
> 
> http://editors.sipri.se/pubs/Factsheet/unscom.html

From YOUR cite:

1921                   Iraq is created under King Faisal I of the 
Hashemite family
1958    14 July    Hashemite monarchy is overthrown
1968    17 July    Ba'ath Party seizes control of Iraq
1979    16 July    Saddam Hussein becomes president
1980    22 Sep.    Iraq attacks Iran
1984    26 Mar.    A UN document, S/16433, cites the use of CW for the 
first time, referring to an event in 1983
1988    16 Mar.    Saddam attacks Halabja with CW

------------------------------------

RAYGUN AND RUMMSEY GAVE SADDAM THE CW!!!

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/rumsfeld-saddam.jpg

------------------------------------

The Saddam in Rumsfeld’s Closet
by Jeremy Scahill

“Man and the turtle are very much alike. Neither makes any progress 
without sticking his neck out.”
—Donald Rumsfeld

Five years before Saddam Hussein’s now infamous 1988 gassing of the 
Kurds, a key meeting took place in Baghdad that would play a 
significant role in forging close ties between Saddam Hussein and 
Washington. It happened at a time when Saddam was first alleged to have 
used chemical weapons. The meeting in late December 1983 paved the way 
for an official restoration of relations between Iraq and the US, which 
had been severed since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

With the Iran-Iraq war escalating, President Ronald Reagan dispatched 
his Middle East envoy, a former secretary of defense, to Baghdad with a 
hand-written letter to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and a message 
that Washington was willing at any moment to resume diplomatic 
relations.

That envoy was Donald Rumsfeld.

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. “[Saddam] made it clear that Iraq was not interested 
in making mischief in the world,” Rumsfeld later told The New York 
Times. “It struck us as useful to have a relationship, given that we 
were interested in solving the Mideast problems.”

Just 12 days after the meeting, on January 1, 1984, The Washington Post 
reported that the United States “in a shift in policy, has informed 
friendly Persian Gulf nations that the defeat of Iraq in the 3-year-old 
war with Iran would be ‘contrary to U.S. interests’ and has made 
several moves to prevent that result.”

In March of 1984, with the Iran-Iraq war growing more brutal by the 
day, Rumsfeld was back in Baghdad for meetings with then-Iraqi Foreign 
Minister Tariq Aziz. On the day of his visit, March 24th, UPI reported 
from the United Nations: “Mustard gas laced with a nerve agent has been 
used on Iranian soldiers in the 43-month Persian Gulf War between Iran 
and Iraq, a team of U.N. experts has concluded... Meanwhile, in the 
Iraqi capital of Baghdad, U.S. presidential envoy Donald Rumsfeld held 
talks with Foreign Minister Tarek Aziz (sic) on the Gulf war before 
leaving for an unspecified destination.”

The day before, the Iranian news agency alleged that Iraq launched 
another chemical weapons assault on the southern battlefront, injuring 
600 Iranian soldiers. “Chemical weapons in the form of aerial bombs 
have been used in the areas inspected in Iran by the specialists,” the 
U.N. report said. “The types of chemical agents used were 
bis-(2-chlorethyl)-sulfide, also known as mustard gas, and ethyl N, 
N-dimethylphosphoroamidocyanidate, a nerve agent known as Tabun.”

Prior to the release of the UN report, the US State Department on March 
5th had issued a statement saying “available evidence indicates that 
Iraq has used lethal chemical weapons.”

Commenting on the UN report, US Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick was 
quoted by The New York Times as saying, “We think that the use of 
chemical weapons is a very serious matter. We've made that clear in 
general and particular.”

Compared with the rhetoric emanating from the current administration, 
based on speculations about what Saddam might have, Kirkpatrick’s 
reaction was hardly a call to action.

Most glaring is that Donald Rumsfeld was in Iraq as the 1984 UN report 
was issued and said nothing about the allegations of chemical weapons 
use, despite State Department “evidence.” On the contrary, The New York 
Times reported from Baghdad on March 29, 1984, “American diplomats 
pronounce themselves satisfied with relations between Iraq and the 
United States and suggest that normal diplomatic ties have been 
restored in all but name.”

A month and a half later, in May 1984, Donald Rumsfeld resigned. In 
November of that year, full diplomatic relations between Iraq and the 
US were fully restored. Two years later, in an article about Rumsfeld’s 
aspirations to run for the 1988 Republican Presidential nomination, the 
Chicago Tribune Magazine listed among Rumsfeld’s achievements helping 
to “reopen U.S. relations with Iraq.” The Tribune failed to mention 
that this help came at a time when, according to the US State 
Department, Iraq was actively using chemical weapons.

Throughout the period that Rumsfeld was Reagan’s Middle East envoy, 
Iraq was frantically purchasing hardware from American firms, empowered 
by the White House to sell. The buying frenzy began immediately after 
Iraq was removed from the list of alleged sponsors of terrorism in 
1982. According to a February 13, 1991 Los Angeles Times article:

“First on Hussein's shopping list was helicopters -- he bought 60 
Hughes helicopters and trainers with little notice. However, a second 
order of 10 twin-engine Bell "Huey" helicopters, like those used to 
carry combat troops in Vietnam, prompted congressional opposition in 
August, 1983... Nonetheless, the sale was approved.”

In 1984, according to The LA Times, the State Department—in the name of 
“increased American penetration of the extremely competitive civilian 
aircraft market”—pushed through the sale of 45 Bell 214ST helicopters 
to Iraq. The helicopters, worth some $200 million, were originally 
designed for military purposes. The New York Times later reported that 
Saddam “transferred many, if not all [of these helicopters] to his 
military.”

In 1988, Saddam’s forces attacked Kurdish civilians with poisonous gas 
from Iraqi helicopters and planes. U.S. intelligence sources told The 
LA Times in 1991, they “believe that the American-built helicopters 
were among those dropping the deadly bombs.”

In response to the gassing, 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.

Senior officials later told reporters they did not press for punishment 
of Iraq at the time because they wanted to shore up Iraq's ability to 
pursue the war with Iran. Extensive research uncovered no public 
statements by Donald Rumsfeld publicly expressing even remote concern 
about Iraq’s use or possession of chemical weapons until the week Iraq 
invaded Kuwait in August 1990, when he appeared on an ABC news special.

Eight years later, Donald Rumsfeld signed on to an “open letter” to 
President Clinton, calling on him to eliminate “the threat posed by 
Saddam.” It urged Clinton to “provide the leadership necessary to save 
ourselves and the world from the scourge of Saddam and the weapons of 
mass destruction that he refuses to relinquish.”

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.

Washington now speaks of Saddam’s threat and the consequences of a 
failure to act. Despite the fact that the administration has failed to 
provide even a shred of concrete proof that Iraq has links to Al Qaeda 
or has resumed production of chemical or biological agents, Rumsfeld 
insists that “the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”

But there is evidence of the absence of Donald Rumsfeld’s voice at the 
very moment when Iraq’s alleged threat to international security first 
emerged. And in this case, the evidence of absence is indeed evidence.

Jeremy Scahill is an independent journalist. He reports frequently for 
Free Speech Radio News and Democracy Now! In May and June 2002, he 
reported from Iraq. He can be reached at jeremybgd@yahoo.com.


-- 
"Naturally the common people don't want war: Neither in Russia, nor in 
England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after 
all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it 
is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a 
democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist 
dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to 
the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL 
THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of 
patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY 
COUNTRY."
 
--Goering at the Nuremberg Trials