Originally posted by Gank
Really? afaik Iraqi weapons were homemade, US only supplied technology relating to their construction, technical diagrams and the like. What weapons did they sell?
As for the 80s, bit young to be worring about this sort of stuff back then, do remember all the fuss about who armed Iraq during the first gulf war though.
We gave them chemical and biological weapons in direct violation of certain treaties we were party to at the time. I think someone thought it would be a good way to 'dispose' of them and get use of them at the same time. When you consider that the Reagan/**** administration (though they aren't the first) considered Ayatollah Khomeni a huge threat to US (and British) interests in the reason (remember, he took over from the Shah, who the British--or was it the US, I can't recall--installed in place of the "dangerous" socialist--though democratically elected--government of Iran), its not surprising that the Reagan/**** administration handed Hussein the weaponry, training and intelligence. If they hadn't, Iraq would have lost the Iran/Iraq war, and we'd have had to deal with larger Islamic fundamentalist theocracy.
All in all, I think we would have done better to let the Ayatollah stomp Iraq. The Iranians have mellowed over the years and are actually more progressive than our "friends" the Saudis and the like. Besides, had we not interfered in Iraq (over and over and over), we'd likely have a hell of a lot more good will in the region.
