Author (Andrew Cockburn): Behind the Rumsfeld - Saddam hand shake

[sabra]

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IC21Ak12.html

The man who would be king
Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall and Catastrophic Legacy by Andrew Cockburn

<snip>

Rumsfeld came back from the long (corporate) cold to be appointed Ronald Reagan's special envoy to the Middle East in 1983. He knew absolutely nothing about the Middle East (not that subsequently he became an expert). So the Middle East had to fit into his already pre-packaged answers. Cockburn is especially delighted to stress that in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Rumsfeld was praised as "a good listener" (p 76), also revealing, according to a former Iraqi intelligence officer, that behind that famous handshake photo that inundated the Web in early 2003, all Rumsfeld wanted to talk about with Saddam was business deals, such as an oil pipeline from Iraq to Aqaba, Jordan, in which Bechtel was tremendously interested.

When Rumsfeld went back to Baghdad in 1984, Saddam's army had already unleashed mustard gas on Iranian troops. But, as Cockburn writes (p 77), Rumsfeld "was apparently happy to reassure his hosts that they should not take objections to what would one day be called weapons of mass destruction personally. He was certainly enthusiastic in promoting business deals between Saddam and Israel."

[Roland99]

1. A War (and Execution) of Convenience.

For the American Military-Industrial Complex.


FEED THE BEAST!

[KansDem]

3. I "remind" people who chant the "...he gassed his own people!" mantra.

...that Saddam did so 14 years before Bush decided to go in to remove him. I ask them, "If this was such a crime against humanity...and it certainly was...then why wait 14 years to bring them to justice? Why didn't Reagan/Bush or Bush/Quayle go in a take him out? This usually shuts them up.

Oh, and the execution this morning of Saddam's vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan was for crimes against humanity committed in the early 1980s.

[Roland99]

4. Crimes committed BEFORE the US normalized diplomatic/trade relations with Saddam/Iraq.

but, Saddam was no longer convenient to The Beast.

The Beast was hungry.

The Beast was fed.

[SpiralHawk]

2. republicons love despots

witness Commander AWOL and his loving embrace of the Saudis, even though almost ALL the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi,
and not one -- NOT ONE -- was from Iraq.

And witness how Commander AWOL flew the entire frikking bin Laden clan out of America the day after 9/11 on First Class airplanes, even though all American citizens were grounded.

Why do the the republicons have such STRANGE relationships?


republicon Commander AWOL gets special lip service, as usual,
from his intimate cronies in the bin Laden clan

[passy]

5. It's also mentioned by Saddam himself in his autobiography.

You can find a nice article about it here: http://internationalpress.blogspot.com

[autorank]

7. Nice articles! K&R!!!

I love the Asia Times. They are consistently first rate.

Also this. Pretty wild stuff. Can you get me an autographed copy?

Friday, January 19, 2007
http://internationalpress.blogspot.com/
Saddam’s memoirs to be published by secretive Middle Eastern media tycoon.
August Riis
19 January 2007

The book to be released in the coming months will provide a rare glimpse into the mind of one of the world’s last dictators. Following the hanging of Iraq’s former dictator some fear that this book will elevate Saddam to the rank of political martyr.

Excerpts sent to International Press, which we have had translated, appear to be the writings of a collected man, this is clearly not an exercise in self-aggrandizement. This is a man looking upon his role in world history, with humility and objectiveness. Readers however will be shocked by some of the revelations which the book is said to cover. The publishers tell us that Saddam wrote in great details about the almost “mafia-like” ways of conducting world politics which the West used for decades when dealing with him.

He recounts the numerous meetings he had with American administration officials throughout the 70’s and 80’s; meetings which he recalls reminded him of being back at school as a child.

[autorank]

8. Is this what they were talking about???

http://article.wn.com/view/2007/02/26/Saddams_secrets_in_a_book/

[Tom Joad]

6. Read Dan Pipes (key bush advisor) article supporting arming Saddam

http://tomjoad.org/pipes.htm

Daniel Pipes was appointed by President Bush during the Summer Congressional recess in August 2003 (to avoid a problem with Congress, why should Bush's appointments be questioned by anyone?) to the the board of United States Institute of Peace, a Congressionally sponsored think tank dedicated to "the peaceful resolution of international conflicts." He served there until the end of 2004. There is more than a little irony in this. He sees no problem that cannot be solved by militarism. For example, in looking at the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, he has stated that "What war had achieved for Israel," Pipes explained at a Zionist conference in Washington DC, "diplomacy has undone." Nothing short of total military victory will do.

"Conditions of peace have, by and large, been created through military victory"-- Daniel Pipes

So it should really come as no surprise that Pipes, whose hatred of Arab and Muslim people is legendary, would give his backing for military aid to the Iraq regime of Saddam Hussein, back when the Iraqi President was "gassing his own people" (killing Iranians and Kurds). After all, it was a military option. And for Pipes, any military option must be attempted before any alternative is even considered. This is keeping with the Pipes motto of "Give War a Chance!".

So it is in the interest of our understanding of this man, and the thinking of President Bush Jr. and those, like American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the currently misnamed Anti-Defamation League, that support this extremist, that Pipes' article, which appeared in The New Republic on April 27, 1987 is presented.

It's Time for a U.S. Tilt
by Daniel Pipes and Laurie Mylroie
A pdf copy of the article is available at the above link.