| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"stoney" |
| Date: |
20 Dec 2003 11:25:06 AM |
| Object: |
OT: Documents detail Rumsfeld's Iraq visit in 1984 |
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3754726/
Documents detail Rumsfeld's Iraq visit in 1984
Baghdad trip followed criticism of chemical weapons' use
By Dana Priest
Updated: 3:15 a.m. ET Dec. 20, 2003
Donald H. Rumsfeld went to Baghdad in March 1984 with instructions to
deliver a private message about weapons of mass destruction: that the
United States' public criticism of Iraq for using chemical weapons would
not derail Washington's attempts to forge a better relationship,
according to newly declassified documents.
Rumsfeld, then President Ronald Reagan's special Middle East envoy, was
urged to tell Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz that the U.S. statement
on chemical weapons, or CW, "was made strictly out of our strong
opposition to the use of lethal and incapacitating CW, wherever it
occurs," according to a cable to Rumsfeld from then-Secretary of State
George P. Shultz.
The statement, the cable said, was not intended to imply a shift in
policy, and the U.S. desire "to improve bilateral relations, at a pace
of Iraq's choosing," remained "undiminished." "This message bears
reinforcing during your discussions."
The documents, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the
nonprofit National Security Archive, provide new, behind-the-scenes
details of U.S. efforts to court Iraq as an ally even as it used
chemical weapons in its war with Iran.
Diplomatic effort
An earlier trip by Rumsfeld to Baghdad, in December 1983, has been
widely reported as having helped persuade Iraq to resume diplomatic ties
with the United States. An explicit purpose of Rumsfeld's return trip in
March 1984, the once-secret documents reveal for the first time, was to
ease the strain created by a U.S. condemnation of chemical weapons.
The documents do not show what Rumsfeld said in his meetings with Aziz,
only what he was instructed to say. It would be highly unusual for a
presidential envoy to have ignored direct instructions from Shultz.
When details of Rumsfeld's December trip came to light last year, the
defense secretary told CNN that he had "cautioned" Saddam Hussein about
the use of chemical weapons, an account that was at odds with the
declassified State Department notes of his 90-minute meeting, which did
not mention such a caution. Later, a Pentagon spokesman said Rumsfeld
raised the issue not with Hussein, but with Aziz.
Pentagon spokesman Larry Di Rita said yesterday that "the secretary said
what he said, and I would go with that. He has a recollection of how
that meeting went, and I can't imagine that some additional cable is
going to change how he recalls the meeting."
"I don't think it has to be inconsistent," Di Rita said. "You could make
a strong condemnation of the use of chemical weapons, or any kind of
lethal agents, and then say, with that in mind, 'Here's another set of
issues' " to be discussed.
Last year, the Bush administration cited its belief that Iraq had and
would use weapons of mass destruction -- including chemical, biological
and nuclear devices -- as the principal reason for going to war.
Important ally
But throughout 1980s, while Iraq was fighting a prolonged war with Iran,
the United States saw Hussein's government as an important ally and
bulwark against the militant Shiite extremism seen in the 1979
revolution in Iran. Washington worried that the Iranian example
threatened to destabilize friendly monarchies in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
and Jordan.
Publicly, the United States maintained neutrality during the eight-year
Iran-Iraq war, which began in 1980.
Privately, however, the administrations of Reagan and George H.W. Bush
sold military goods to Iraq, including poisonous chemicals and deadly
biological agents, worked to stop the flow of weapons to Iran, and
undertook discreet diplomatic initiatives, such as the two Rumsfeld
trips to Baghdad, to improve relations with Hussein.
Tom Blanton, executive director of the National Security Archives, a
Washington-based research center, said the secret support for Hussein
offers a lesson for U.S. foreign relations in the post-Sept. 11 world.
"The dark corners of diplomacy deserve some scrutiny, and people working
in places like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and Uzbekistan deserve this
kind of scrutiny, too, because the relations we're having with dictators
today will produce Saddams tomorrow."
Shultz, in his instructions to Rumsfeld, underscored the confusion that
the conflicting U.S. signals were creating for Iraq.
"Iraqi officials have professed to be at a loss to explain our actions
as measured against our stated objectives," he wrote. "As with our CW
statement, their temptation is to give up rational analysis and retreat
to the line that U.S. policies are basically anti-Arab and hostage to
the desires of Israel."
'Presentable young man'
The declassified documents also show the hope of another senior
diplomat, the British ambassador to Iraq, in working constructively with
Hussein.
Shortly after Hussein became deputy to the president in 1969,
then-British Ambassador H.G. Balfour Paul cabled back his impressions
after a first meeting: "I should judge him, young as he is, to be a
formidable, single-minded and hard-headed member of the Ba'athist
hierarchy, but one with whom, if only one could see more of him, it
would be possible to do business."
"A presentable young man" with "an engaging smile," Paul wrote.
"Initially regarded as a [Baath] Party extremist, but responsibility may
mellow him."
Staff writer Vernon Loeb contributed to this article.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
Stoney
"Designated Rascal and Rapscallion
and
SCAMPERMEISTER!"
When in doubt, SCAMPER about!
When things are fair, SCAMPER everywhere!
When things are rough, can't SCAMPER enough!
/end humour alert
alt.atheism military veteran #11
{so much for the 'no atheists in foxholes' rubbish}
.
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| User: "johac" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Documents detail Rumsfeld's Iraq visit in 1984 |
21 Dec 2003 03:14:28 AM |
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In article <2p09uvc6vqfj4a331gmentmpnevpp5tq07@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3754726/
Documents detail Rumsfeld's Iraq visit in 1984
Baghdad trip followed criticism of chemical weapons' use
By Dana Priest
Updated: 3:15 a.m. ET Dec. 20, 2003
Donald H. Rumsfeld went to Baghdad in March 1984 with instructions to
deliver a private message about weapons of mass destruction: that the
United States' public criticism of Iraq for using chemical weapons would
not derail Washington's attempts to forge a better relationship,
according to newly declassified documents.
Rumsfeld, then President Ronald Reagan's special Middle East envoy, was
urged to tell Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz that the U.S. statement
on chemical weapons, or CW, "was made strictly out of our strong
opposition to the use of lethal and incapacitating CW, wherever it
occurs," according to a cable to Rumsfeld from then-Secretary of State
George P. Shultz.
The statement, the cable said, was not intended to imply a shift in
policy, and the U.S. desire "to improve bilateral relations, at a pace
of Iraq's choosing," remained "undiminished." "This message bears
reinforcing during your discussions."
They left out the winks and the nudges.
--
John Hachmann, aa #1782
- Question authority. Now more than ever. -
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: OT: Documents detail Rumsfeld's Iraq visit in 1984 |
22 Dec 2003 09:02:14 AM |
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On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 01:14:28 -0800, johac <jhachm@remove.ixpres.com>,
Message ID: <jhachm-9113AA.01142821122003@news-central.ash.giganews.com>
wrote in alt.atheism;
In article <2p09uvc6vqfj4a331gmentmpnevpp5tq07@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3754726/
Documents detail Rumsfeld's Iraq visit in 1984
Baghdad trip followed criticism of chemical weapons' use
By Dana Priest
Updated: 3:15 a.m. ET Dec. 20, 2003
Donald H. Rumsfeld went to Baghdad in March 1984 with instructions to
deliver a private message about weapons of mass destruction: that the
United States' public criticism of Iraq for using chemical weapons would
not derail Washington's attempts to forge a better relationship,
according to newly declassified documents.
Rumsfeld, then President Ronald Reagan's special Middle East envoy, was
urged to tell Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz that the U.S. statement
on chemical weapons, or CW, "was made strictly out of our strong
opposition to the use of lethal and incapacitating CW, wherever it
occurs," according to a cable to Rumsfeld from then-Secretary of State
George P. Shultz.
The statement, the cable said, was not intended to imply a shift in
policy, and the U.S. desire "to improve bilateral relations, at a pace
of Iraq's choosing," remained "undiminished." "This message bears
reinforcing during your discussions."
They left out the winks and the nudges.
And the hearty backslaps and "atta boys."
Stoney
"Designated Rascal and Rapscallion
and
SCAMPERMEISTER!"
When in doubt, SCAMPER about!
When things are fair, SCAMPER everywhere!
When things are rough, can't SCAMPER enough!
/end humour alert
alt.atheism military veteran #11
{so much for the 'no atheists in foxholes' rubbish}
.
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