In December 1983, during the war Iran-Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld was a special envoy of President Reagan (whose Vice-President at the time was George Bush Senior) to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to re-establish diplomatic relations with Iraq. It was announced that a defeat if Iraq was "contrary to U.S. interests" and that the U.S. have in fact already taken several steps to prevent that defeat. On March 24, 1984, Donald Rumsfeld was back in Iraq to discuss diplomatic relations to Iraq. At the same time, U.N. forces reported the use of mustard gas laced with a nerve agent was used against Iranian forces. Prior to that, on March 5th, U.S. State Department released a statement stating exactly the same. Rumsfeld didn't mention these attacks at all during his visit.
Throughout all the time in which Rumsfeld was Reagan envoy to the Middle East, Iraq was buying hardware from U.S. companies. The sale of 60 Hughes, 10 twin-engine Bell "Huey" and 45 Bell 214ST helicopters was approved by the U.S. government. When the Senate unanimously passed sanctions which would have prevented Iraq from getting to U.S. technology, the White House vetoed those.
And these - indeed the same - people have the guts to tell the world that Iraq is evil, and France is evil because it blocks sanctions against Iraq? |
