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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lou Weed who wrote (133889)	5/22/2004 3:09:12 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Michael, there is nothing you have shown which substantiates that the US was Saddam's primary backer and supporter. After all, even if we played a role in blocking Kassem's approachment to the Soviets by promoting a Baathist coup, is it not the case that Saddam still formed such a relationship with Moscow and purchased tremendous quantities of Soviet arms and supplies? Listen... you can make the argument that the Saudis or the Shah were proxies of the US, but it's rather hard to blame the longevity of the Baathist regime upon the US. If anything, is a clear case of "blowback" and the fact that the US didn't have nearly the kind of power in the region that the Soviets did. The Baathists made a choice about who they would curry favor with and it was NOT the US. Why else would the Reagan administration feel compelled in attempting to re-establish ties to Iraq.. What you, and others, are trying to falsely assert is that the US ties to Saddam and the Baathists were ALWAYS THERE and that's simply not the truth. Saddam played the Soviets and Americans off between one another in order to get the "best deal". And I would say it makes a major statement that he always felt that his interests were best served by allying with the Soviets, and later, the French. But his interests are not the same as those of the Iraqi people, as the brutal history of his regime clearly demonstrate. Hawk