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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: PartyTime who wrote (13853)2/28/2003 4:30:34 AM
From: stockman_scott  Respond to of 25898
 
Message 18639455



To: PartyTime who wrote (13853)2/28/2003 9:16:52 AM
From: Thomas M.  Respond to of 25898
 
Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 82

Edited by Joyce Battle

February 25, 2003

<<< Conclusion: The current Bush administration discusses Iraq in starkly moralistic terms to further its goal of persuading a skeptical world that a preemptive and premeditated attack on Iraq could and should be supported as a "just war." The documents included in this briefing book reflect the realpolitik that determined this country's policies during the years when Iraq was actually employing chemical weapons. Actual rather than rhetorical opposition to such use was evidently not perceived to serve U.S. interests; instead, the Reagan administration did not deviate from its determination that Iraq was to serve as the instrument to prevent an Iranian victory. Chemical warfare was viewed as a potentially embarrassing public relations problem that complicated efforts to provide assistance. The Iraqi government's repressive internal policies, though well known to the U.S. government at the time, did not figure at all in the presidential directives that established U.S. policy toward the Iran-Iraq war. The U.S. was concerned with its ability to project military force in the Middle East, and to keep the oil flowing. >>>

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