Is anyone who helped Hussein just as culpable for crimes against humanity?

[NNN0LHI]

Poll question: Is anyone who helped Hussein just as culpable for crimes against humanity?

Do not forget that this includes Reagan and Bush 1 and members of their administrations who knew exactly what Hussein was doing when they supplied him with WMD's, the means to deliver them, and the intelligence to target them when voting.

[AntiCoup2K4]

1. Actually, that's an excellent question.

I've heard that Iran is already building a case against Saddam for the war that took place in the 1980's. How can Iran possibly charge Saddam without involving those who armed him in the first place?

Of course they were arming Iran as well, but that's beside the point. Reagan's a vegetable so prosecuting him would be useless, but Poppy, North, Rummy, and the rest of them are fair game.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. Considering....

Considering that most of this administration should already be in jail, I think it's a pipe dream to think anything will ever actually happen to these criminals. But you know what? Clinton got a BJ and every Democrat should be ashamed of themselves for voting for such a horrible man. :eyes:

[LeahMira]

8. Someone should...

... write one of those "For Dummies" books that would explain what members of this administration are doing and have done in terms that everyone can understand.

I think everyone understands what President Clinton did... even ten year olds! But I remember during the S&L scandal that Neil Bush was involved with that I really did not understand what they did or how they did it. I did realize that the taxpayers were picking up the tab, but I don't think I had any idea how many dollars I personally would be forking over.

I think a big part of the problem is that people really don't quite "get" what's going on, and the cost to themselves.

[sistersofmercy]

10. The Iranian case if it gets legs will open a huge can of worms

Not only did the powers that be at the time arm Saddam but also suppied the Iranians with arms and intelligence during the Iran/Iraq war. Something people fail to question about the Kurdish village incident is, how did western repoters happen to be there after the smoke cleared? The reporters were slipped across the border from Iran which means the Iranians had foreknowledge of the event.

[DUreader]

2. DiD The US give Targetting and Damage Assessment in the I/I Wars?

I have read these allegations before

[Octafish]

11. NSDD 139

National Security Decision Directive (NSDD 139) from Ronald W. Reagan. "Measures to Improve U.S. Posture and Readiness to Respond to Developments in the Iran-Iraq War", April 5, 1984.

Reagan-Bush administrations did all they could to perpetuate this ghastly war that saw Iran 5-year-old children used to clear minefields. Ayatollah (and Reagan trading partner) Khomeini gave the kids a plastic key from a teething ring to wear around their necks, their key "to paradise."

Here's the PDF (a memory-worthy download):

http://www.gulfinvestigations.net/IMG/pdf/iraq53.pdf?PHPSESSID=19e0a0c2631955b632c432b30b5e3f2c

The BFEE: A public corporation since November 22, 1963.

[Octafish]

13. Sorry, DUReader...here's some more info in answer to your Q...

Missing U.S.-Iraq History

By Robert Parry
February 27, 2003

Before George W. Bush gives the final order to invade Iraq -- a nation that has not threatened the United States -- the American people might want a few facts about the real history of U.S.-Iraq relations. Missing chapters from 1980 to the present would be crucial in judging Bush’s case for war.

But Americans don’t have those facts because Bush and his predecessors in the White House have kept this history hidden from the American people. When parts of the story have emerged, administrations of both parties have taken steps to suppress or discredit the disclosures. So instead of knowing the truth, Americans have been fed a steady diet of distortions, simplifications and outright lies.

This missing history also is not just about minor details. It goes to the heart of the case against Saddam Hussein, including whether he is an especially “aggressive” and “unpredictable” dictator who must be removed from power even at the risk of America’s standing in the world and the chance that a war will lead to more terrorism against U.S. targets.

SNIP...

Leaving aside whether Bush’s formulation is Orwellian double-speak – aggression to discourage aggression – there is the historical question of whether Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush actually encouraged Saddam’s aggressions for geopolitical reasons or out of diplomatic incompetence.

CONTINUED...

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2003/022703a.html

Robert Parry is one of the great journalists of all-time. His site is chock-full of truth. My glazzies are fortunate indeed to viddy his words...

[Blue_Chill]

4. Wasn't France and Russia trading with Saddam?

They knew he was a killer and helped him anyway????? OMG I demand their elected officials be arrested at once.

:eyes:


We all know damn well that Western Nations, not limited to the US, have supported evil for their own goals. There is really no point in opening such a discussion unless you are willing to extend such things to inculde all of Europe as well.

[NNN0LHI]

5. I think everyone who is guilty should go to jail

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A52241-2002Dec29?language=printer

U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup

Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians, Kurds

By Michael Dobbs
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 30, 2002; Page A01


<snip>Among the people instrumental in tilting U.S. policy toward Baghdad during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war was Donald H. Rumsfeld, now defense secretary, whose December 1983 meeting with Hussein as a special presidential envoy paved the way for normalization of U.S.-Iraqi relations. Declassified documents show that Rumsfeld traveled to Baghdad at a time when Iraq was using chemical weapons on an "almost daily" basis in defiance of international conventions.

The story of U.S. involvement with Saddam Hussein in the years before his 1990 attack on Kuwait -- which included large-scale intelligence sharing, supply of cluster bombs through a Chilean front company, and facilitating Iraq's acquisition of chemical and biological precursors -- is a topical example of the underside of U.S. foreign policy. It is a world in which deals can be struck with dictators, human rights violations sometimes overlooked, and accommodations made with arms proliferators, all on the principle that the "enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Throughout the 1980s, Hussein's Iraq was the sworn enemy of Iran, then still in the throes of an Islamic revolution. U.S. officials saw Baghdad as a bulwark against militant Shiite extremism and the fall of pro-American states such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and even Jordan -- a Middle East version of the "domino theory" in Southeast Asia. That was enough to turn Hussein into a strategic partner and for U.S. diplomats in Baghdad to routinely refer to Iraqi forces as "the good guys," in contrast to the Iranians, who were depicted as "the bad guys."

A review of thousands of declassified government documents and interviews with former policymakers shows that U.S. intelligence and logistical support played a crucial role in shoring up Iraqi defenses against the "human wave" attacks by suicidal Iranian troops. The administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous items that had both military and civilian applications, including poisonous chemicals and deadly biological viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic plague.

more

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

6. Fine with me

Let's take down Europe too. I don't care what it takes to send Bush and Rumsfeld to jail.

[LeahMira]

7. Willing!

We all know damn well that Western Nations, not limited to the US, have supported evil for their own goals. There is really no point in opening such a discussion unless you are willing to extend such things to inculde all of Europe as well.


I think the U.S. needs to clean its own closet, but if some items in that closet are of European origin, so be it. There's a sickness in the world that justifies anything if the ones doing it are strong enough to pull it off and/or if it makes money. Imagine if the people knew the price they are paying and made choices that were actually informed.

Upon second-thinking, though, I wonder how many would choose to continue on with business as usual?

[Octafish]

9. Enemies of the State

Iraqgate: Confession and Cover-Up

By Robert Parry

While the O.J. Simpson trial gobbled up endless TV hours and countless news pages, a concurrent criminal trial in Miami went almost unnoticed by the national media, even though it called into question the judgment of three U.S. presidents.

President Clinton's Justice Department had put on trial Teledyne Industries, a major military contractor, and two of its mid-level employees, on charges of selling cluster-bomb parts to a Chilean arms manufacturer, Carlos Cardoen. Cardoen, in turn, allegedly shipped finished bombs to Iraq.

Defense attorneys for the Teledyne employees argued that the CIA, as part of a secret operation that has come to be known as "Iraqgate," had authorized the shipments--a claim that the Reagan/Bush administration had long denied. Since taking office in 1993, the Clinton team has continued that GOP position, stating as recently as Jan. 16 that the administration "did not find evidence that U.S. agencies or officials illegally armed Iraq."

But on Jan. 31, this bipartisan dike finally sprang a leak. Howard Teicher, who served on Reagan's National Security Council staff, offered an affidavit in the Teledyne case that declared that CIA director William J. Casey and his deputy, Robert M. Gates, "authorized, approved and assisted" delivery of cluster bombs to Iraq through Cardoen (In These Times, 3/6/95).

CONTINUED...

http://www.fair.org/extra/9505/iraqgate.html

[Hubert Flottz]

14. And Now We'll know, the rest of the story! $$$$(We Wish)$$$$

Keep in mind the Reagan Papers, which were by law due to be released almost 3 years ago! Bush has never turned them over! This KGB like Administration runs a secret government that is no longer accountable to the people! The Bushwhackers have the idea that they are above any of our laws and so far they are getting away with it 100%!

[Hubert Flottz]

12. No!

Today in real world USA, Republican Misleaders are above the law!

[reachout]

15. I'm glad Hussein was captured alive

I think his "trial" has big potential to air some dirty laundry in front of the world. If only we can get the American media to cover it.

As to the original question...if you tell me you are going to murder someone and I hand you a gun, I am as guilty of a crime as you are. Replace "gun" with "chemical and biolgical weapons" and you have your answer.

[mzmolly]

16. I sure hope so....

:smoke: