2003-03-31 | This is an accurate chronology of United
States' involvement in the arming of Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war. It is a
powerful indictment of the current Bush administration attempt to sell war as a
component of his war on terrorism. It reveals our ambitions in Iraq to be just
another chapter in the attempt to regain a foothold in the Mideast following the
fall of the Shah of Iran.
A crisis always has a history, and the current
crisis with Iraq is no exception. Below are some relevant
dates.
September 1980. Iraq invades Iran. The beginning of the Iraq-Iran
war. (8)
February 1982. Despite objections from Congress, President
Reagan removes Iraq from its list of known terrorist countries.
(1)
December 1982. Hughes Aircraft ships 60 Defender helicopters to Iraq.
(9)
1982-1988. Defense Intelligence Agency provides detailed information
for Iraq on Iranian deployments, tactical planning for battles, plans for air
strikes and bomb damage assessments. (4)
November 1983. A National
Security Directive states that the U.S would do "whatever was necessary and
legal" to prevent Iraq from losing its war with Iran. (1) (15)
November
1983. Banca Nazionale del Lavoro of Italy and its Branch in Atlanta begin to
funnel $5 billion in unreported loans to Iraq. Iraq, with the blessing and
official approval of the U.S. government, purchased computer controlled machine
tools, computers, scientific instruments, special alloy steel and aluminum,
chemicals, and other industrial goods for Iraq's missile, chemical,
biological and nuclear weapons programs. (14)
October 1983. The Reagan
Administration begins secretly allowing Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Egypt
to transfer United States weapons, including Howitzers, Huey helicopters, and
bombs to Iraq. These shipments violated the Arms Export Control Act.
(16)
November 1983. George Schultz, the Secretary of State, is given
intelligence reports showing that Iraqi troops are daily using chemical weapons
against the Iranians. (1)
December 20 1983. Donald Rumsfeld, then a
civilian and now Defense Secretary, meets with Saddam Hussein to assure him of
US friendship and materials support. (1) (15)
July 1984. CIA begins
giving Iraq intelligence necessary to calibrate its mustard gas attacks on
Iranian troops. (19)
January 14 1984. State Department memo acknowledges
United States shipment of "dual-use" export hardware and technology. Dual use
items are civilian items such as heavy trucks, armored ambulances and
communications gear as well as industrial technology that can have a military
application. (2)
March 1986. The United States with Great Britain block
all Security Council resolutions condemning Iraq's use of chemical weapons, and
on March 21 the U.S. becomes the only country refusing to sign a Security
Council statement condemning Iraq's use of these weapons. (10)
May 1986.
The U.S. Department of Commerce licenses 70 biological exports to Iraq between
May of 1985 and 1989, including at least 21 batches of lethal strains of
anthrax. (3)
May 1986. US Department of Commerce approves shipment of
weapons grade botulin poison to Iraq. (7)
March 1987. President Reagan
bows to the findings of the Tower Commission admitting the sale of arms to Iran
in exchange for hostages. Oliver North uses the profits from the sale to fund an
illegal war in Nicaragua. (17)
Late 1987. The Iraqi Air Force begins
using chemical agents against Kurdish resistance forces in northern Iraq.
(1)
February 1988. Saddam Hussein begins the "Anfal" campaign against the
Kurds of northern Iraq. The Iraq regime used chemical weapons against the Kurds
killing over 100,000 civilians and destroying over 1,200 Kurdish villages.
(8)
April 1988. US Department of Commerce approves shipment of chemicals
used in manufacture of mustard gas. (7)
August 1988. Four major battles
were fought from April to August 1988, in which the Iraqis massively and
effectively used chemical weapons to defeat the Iranians. Nerve gas and blister
agents such as mustard gas are used. By this time the U.S. Defense Intelligence
Agency is heavily involved with Saddam Hussein in battle plan assistance,
intelligence gathering and post battle debriefing. In the last major battle with
of the war, 65,000 Iranians are killed, many with poison gas. Use of chemical
weapons in war is in violation of the Geneva accords of 1925. (6)
(13)
August 1988. Iraq and Iran declare a cease fire. (8)
August
1988. Five days after the cease fire Saddam Hussein sends his planes and
helicopters to northern Iraq to begin massive chemical attacks against the
Kurds. (8)
September 1988. U.S. Department of Commerce approves shipment
of weapons grade anthrax and botulinum to Iraq. (7)
September 1988.
Richard Murphy, Assistant Secretary of State: "The US-Iraqi relationship is...
important to our long-term political and economic objectives."
(15)
December 1988. Dow chemical sells $1.5 million in pesticides to Iraq
despite knowledge that these would be used in chemical weapons. (1)
July
25, 1990. U.S. Ambassador to Baghdad meets with Hussein to assure him that
President Bush "wanted better and deeper relations." Many believe this visit was
a trap set for Hussein. A month later Hussein invaded Kuwait thinking the U.S.
would not respond. (12)
August 1990. Iraq invades Kuwait. The precursor
to the Gulf War. (8)
July 1991. The Financial Times of London reveals
that a Florida chemical company had produced and shipped cyanide to Iraq during
the 80's using a special CIA courier. Cyanide was used extensively against the
Iranians. (11)
August 1991. Christopher Droguol of Atlanta's branch of
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro is arrested for his role in supplying loans to Iraq
for the purchase of military supplies. He is charged with 347 counts of felony.
Droguol is found guilty, but U.S. officials plead innocent of any knowledge of
his crime. (14)
June 1992. Ted Koppel of ABC Nightline reports: "It is
becoming increasingly clear that George Bush, Sr., operating largely behind the
scenes throughout the 1980s, initiated and supported much of the financing,
intelligence, and military help that built Saddam's Iraq into [an aggressive
power]." (5)
July 1992. "The Bush administration deliberately, not
inadvertently, helped to arm Iraq by allowing U.S. technology to be shipped to
Iraqi military and to Iraqi defense factories... Throughout the course of the
Bush administration, U.S. and foreign firms were granted export licenses to ship
U.S. technology directly to Iraqi weapons facilities despite ample evidence
showing that these factories were producing weapons." Representative Henry
Gonzalez, Texas, testimony before the House. (18)
February 1994. Senator
Riegle from Michigan, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, testifies before
the senate revealing large U.S. shipments of dual-use biological and chemical
agents to Iraq that may have been used against U.S. troops in the Gulf War and
probably was the cause of the illness known as Gulf War Syndrome.
(7)
August 2002. "The use of gas [during the Iran-Iraq war] on the battle
field by the Iraqis was not a matter of deep strategic concern... We were
desperate to make sure that Iraq did not lose." Colonel Walter Lang, former
senior U.S. Defense Intelligence officer tells the New York Times.
(4)
This chronology of the United States' sordid involvement in the
arming of Iraq can be summarized in this way: the United States used methods
both legal and illegal to help build Saddam's army into the most powerful army
in the Mideast outside of Israel. The U.S. supplied chemical and biological
agents and technology to Iraq when it knew Iraq was using chemical weapons
against the Iranians. The U.S. supplied the materials and technology for these
weapons of mass destruction to Iraq at a time when it was known that Saddam was
using this technology to kill his Kurdish citizens. The United States supplied
intelligence and battle planning information to Iraq when those battle plans
included the use of cyanide, mustard gas and nerve agents. The United States
blocked U.N. censure of Iraq's use of chemical weapons. The United States did
not act alone in this effort. The Soviet Union was the largest weapons supplier,
but England, France and Germany were also involved in the shipment of arms and
technology.
So what do these events have to do with the current
conflict?
Just this: If we do go to war with Iraq, it is important to
know why! War will not really be about terrorism! Twenty years ago the United
States threw its support behind Saddam Hussein in a geopolitical bid for
enhanced access to oil. The trajectory given him by our support lead directly to
the Gulf War and to the current crises. War, after all, will be about a history
of misdeeds and miscalculations. And war will not be about morality. War will be
about cynicism, deceit and a thirst for oil that knows no
boundaries.
John King Long Prairie, MN, USA.
(ED. Note:
Although this article was written before the attack began, the analysis still
rings true.)
Sources
1. Washingtonpost.com. December 30,
2002 2. Jonathan Broder. Nuclear times, Winter 1990-91 3. Kurt Nimno.
AlterNet. September 23, 2002 4. Newyorktimes.com. August 29, 2002 5. ABC
Nightline. June 9, 1992 6. Counter Punch, October 10, 2002 7. Riegle
Report: Dual Use Exports. Senate Committee on Banking. May 25, 1994 8.
Timeline: A walk Through Iraq's History. U.S. Department of State 9. Doing
Business: The Arming of Iraq. Daniel Robichear 10. Glen Rangwala. Labor Left
Briefing, 16 September, 2002 11. Financial Times of London. July 3,
1991 12. Elson E. Boles. Counter Punch. October 10, 2002 13. Iran-Iraq
War, 1980-1988. Iranchamber.com 14. Columbia Journalism Review. March/April
1993. Iraqgate 15. Times Online. December 31, 2002. How U.S. Helped Iraq
Build Deadly Arsenal 16. Bush's Secret Mission. The New Yorker Magazine.
November 2, 1992 17. Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia: Iran-Contra
Affair 18. Congressional Record. July 27, 1992. Representative Henry B.
Gonzalez 19. Bob Woodward. CIA Aiding Iraq in Gulf War. Washington
Post. 15 December, 1986 20. WWW.gendercide.com http://www.gendercide.com http://www.gendercide.com http://www.gendercide.com/ Case Study: The Anfal
Campaign
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