Saddam was the fatal victim of a labor-management dispute

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http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A215533

JANUARY 10, 2007
Sympathy For The Devil
The fatal hazing of a dictator

NEW YORK--Take note, dictators considering an alliance with the United States: We'll throw you to the wolves as soon as you cease to be useful.

Saddam Hussein's order to execute 148 men and boys in Dujail, in northern Iraq, in 1982 was his nominal casus morti. Actually, he was the fatal victim of a labor-management dispute.

Anyone who works for a difficult boss can sympathize with Saddam. After unsuccessfully attempting to reach President George H.W. Bush and other top officials (who were on vacation) to ask for permission to invade Kuwait, he finally touched base with Bush's ambassador to Iraq on July 25, 1990. At the time, Hussein was a close American ally, receiving billions of dollars in arms shipments and subsidies. Baath Party-ruled Iraq, a U.S. client state, had waged the 1980-88 war against Iran largely at Washington's behest.

Then, as now, human rights were not a consideration of U.S. foreign policy.