Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein
Tuesday 25 March 2003 (2001 PST) By Paul Harris
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During the spring of 1984, the US reconsidered its policy of selling
nuclear-related equipment and knowledge to Iraq.
The documents reveal the U.S. was certain that even after the conflict
with Iran was ended, Iraq would continue to develop its nuclear program
up to the point of possessing nuclear weapons.
Although Iraq resides in a dangerous part of the world, no one had
blinked when Israel stockpiled a large cache of nuclear weaponry
because proliferation was not a priority for Reagan's administration.
Throughout the earlier part of the 1980s, the Reagan White House had
downplayed Pakistan's nuclear program in order to avoid congressionally
mandated sanctions against Pakistan.
This was to ensure that the U.S. could continue to provide massive
military assistance to Pakistan in return for its support of the Afghanis
who were fighting the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
What makes this whole matter so perverted is that the current U.S.
administration uses against Iraq exactly what a former US administration
gave to Iraq.
Bush and Rumsfeld describe Iraq in stark, moralistic terms to persuade
a skeptical world that a premeditated and pre-emptive attack on Iraq is
just.
They claim that this all arises because Saddam has nasty weapons, although
the U.S. administration, partly with the assistance of Rumsfeld, looked the
other way during the time that Saddam may actually have been using those
nasty weapons.
In Reagan's days in office, chemical warfare conducted by a country
with which the U.S. wanted to be friendly was a potential embarrassment
but they found a way around that obstacle.
Now, a past history of chemical warfare is enough reason for the Bush
government to wipe away the former position of the United States that
the "objective of eliminating the legitimate government of neighboring Iraq
(is)inconsistent with the accepted norms of behavior among nations."
At least now we can all see clearly that the morals of the United States
are only those of convenience.
More ( and picture) :
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