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To: RMF who wrote (51013)	8/17/2013 1:55:21 PM
From: i-node	4 Recommendations Recommended By FJB jlallen Paul Smith Thehammer Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 85487

>> The Reagan Administration was SUPPORTING Saddam during that time. Of course. Iran was among our most bitter enemies at the time. But when Saddam decided he was going to take Kuwait we obviously could not support that. Your point -- that we first supported Saddam then we didn't -- is about as irrelevant as anything I can think of. I don't really care if Shiites and Sunni and can't get along and kill each other. But the problems there today are a result of Obama's intransigence about the Iraq War. We should have maintained a reasonable security force there for as long as necessary. Instead, Obama said, "I really don't give a shit, because the Iraq War was a bad idea to begin with." These deaths that are happening now are on him. While the decision on when to draw down was made and negotiated by Bush, there was never any expectation that the SOFA would have been adhered to literally. Obama was just looking for the first opportunity to bail out. Personally, I think we had a lot more to gain by being there than we do in Afghanistan right now. A stable Iraq, even if it meant a long term presence there, is in our interest, so long as we are dependent on external sources for oil. We could leave Afg today with the understanding that anything that threatens our interests will be interpreted as cause for us to deal with the problem however we deem appropriate. The Iraq War was essential to our interests and there are a number of reasons why. The Afg war has dragged out well beyond the interest we had there when it began. Obama essentially got the relative importance of the two backwards.

To: RMF who wrote (51013)

8/17/2013 3:53:42 PM

From: Brumar89

1 Recommendation

Recommended By
TimF

Respond to of 85487

American support of Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war consisted of what? Selling them wheat?

Saddam was armed by Russia, France, and China.

Imported weapons to Iraq (IRQ) in 1973-2002

Country	$MM USD 1990	% Total
USSR	25145	57.26
France	5595	12.74
China	5192	11.82
Czechoslovakia	2880	6.56
Poland	1681	3.83
Brazil	724	1.65
Egypt	568	1.29
Romania	524	1.19
Denmark	226	0.51
Libya	200	0.46
USA	200	0.46
South Africa	192	0.44
Austria	190	0.43
Switzerland	151	0.34
Yugoslavia	107	0.24
Germany (FRG)	84	0.19
Italy	84	0.19
UK	79	0.18
Hungary	30	0.07
Spain	29	0.07
East Germany (GDR)	25	0.06
Canada	7	0.02
Jordan	2	0.005
Total	43915	100.0

parapundit.com

Yes, tiny Denmark provided more arms to Saddam than we did.