International, Military, Politics, Society

Report: U.S. Knew Of Saddam Hussein’s Use Of Chemical Weapons And Supplied Intelligence Used In Attack

300px-Chemical_weapons_Halabja_Iraq_March_1988The Obama Administration is publicly moving toward possible military strikes in Syria, a major escalation in yet another war for the United States. The reason is the likely use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government against rebel controlled areas. In the meantime, documents have been released that show that the United States has been hypocritical on the use of such weapons. According to Foreign Policy magazine (a highly respected publication), the documents show that the Reagan Administration not only knew of the use of chemical weapons by the Iraqi Regime in the Iran-Iraq war but supplied the intelligence and satellite imagery used in the attacks. The CIA then sat on evidence of the attacks while Iraq denied their use.


The Reagan Administration was concerned that Iran would win the war in 1988 and discovered build ups of Iranian forces near weak points in Iraqi lines. The United States supplied Iraq with detailed maps and images and intelligence on the location of the forces, their air support and other intelligence. A former official is quoted as saying that they knew Saddam Hussein was going to use chemical weapons and that the United States had evidence of the use of mustard gas and sarin prior to four major offensives in early 1988. The U.S. then assured the public that it had no knowledge about the attacks or acquiesce to the use of chemical weapons.

220px-Iranian_Soldiers_in_Trench_Warfare245px-Official_Portrait_of_President_Reagan_1981Of course, the great irony is that we later cited the use of chemical weapons in the war to justify our actions against Iraq in the second Iraq war — insisting that any maniac who would use them in 1988 would use them again. The government never told the American people that the earlier use of chemical weapons was done with our knowledge and tacit support.

Now, the Obama Administration is publicly moving military assets closer to Syria and is preparing for “all contingencies” after the Syrians “crossed the red line” set out by President Obama. Obama has been suggesting that the United States would attack if chemical weapons were used. He has already intervened in the supply and training of rebel forces in the country.

The recent release of documents, again, show a shocking degree of duplicity and dishonesty in our foreign policy on such issues. Notably, the Reagan Administration debated whether Iran could prove the attacks and advised that the international response was likely to be muted. Indeed, the biggest use of the attacks would come later . . . when we cited it in support of our second Iraqi war under George W. Bush.

Source: Foreign Policy

89 thoughts on “Report: U.S. Knew Of Saddam Hussein’s Use Of Chemical Weapons And Supplied Intelligence Used In Attack”

  1. bill,

    No one is currently in moderation. You’re free to say all the ridiculous crap you like so long as you abide by the very few rules we do have here. Conversely, everyone and anyone is free to point out its ridiculous crap. If you loose a comment, it’s the ongoing WordPress filter problem which is affecting everyone (GBs included).

  3. I didn’t know there are so many conspiracy theorists here. Next, they’ll be
    citing evidence that 9/11 was a false-flag operation and Sandy Hoax was
    inside job like the unpleasantness in Boston.

    Thanks for not censoring this comment, Mr. H.

  4. I get these tentheads mixed up. Which Pirate Territory did this Saddam guy rule over with a poison pen?

  5. Courtesy of Guns N Roses, and the United States of America

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr8-E8may2Y

    Welcome to the jungle
    We’ve got fun n’ games
    We got everything you want
    Honey, we know the names
    We are the people that can find
    Whatever you may need
    If you got the money, honey
    We got your disease

    Welcome to the jungle
    It gets worse here everyday
    Ya learn ta live like an animal
    In the jungle where we play
    If you got a hunger for what you see
    You’ll take it eventually
    You can have anything you want
    But you better not take it from me

    You know where you are
    You’re in the jungle baby
    You’re gonna die
    In the jungle
    Welcome to the jungle
    Watch it bring you to your
    knees, knees
    In the jungle

  6. The cognitive disconnect employed by the US government and the pliably supine lickspittles that comprise the US media is remarkable. The US government still wages chemical and radiological warfare across the globe.

    The US government has used and to this day still uses various chemicals which are/were known carcinogens as defoliants/herbicides. Some examples are the use of Agent Orange/Purple in Southeast Asia. The use of Roundup (glyphosate) in Latin/Central/South America. Not only are these chemicals hazardous when they are first sprayed they also take decades to break down and become inert.

    Additionally the US government uses depleted uranium (DU) munitions on many a battlefield the world over (Yugoslavia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya to name a few locales) creating toxic and radiological health hazards with a half-life of over 4 billion years.

    Last but not least the US government is the only entity on Earth to have used nuclear weapons in anger in destroying two cities and hundreds of thousands of human-being in seconds.

  8. I forced myself to listen to NPR on Syria. Here again they laid out a crucial difference between Bush and Obama. Bush made a great show of “legally” justifying his actions. Obama, he isn’t even pretending. He’s just doing a regime change, with NPR’s lackeys all agreeing. “We need someone in there friendly to US interests.” That is called a war of aggression. It isn’t even bothering to put a “lawful” veneer on things.

    It’s repulsive and scary. I do not understand how an obvious war of aggression is greeted with open arms by so many.

  14. Of course, the great irony is that we later cited the use of chemical weapons in the war to justify our actions against Iraq in the second Iraq war — insisting that any maniac who would use them in 1988 would use them again. The government never told the American people that the earlier use of chemical weapons was done with our knowledge and tacit support.

    >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

    PUBLISHED: 14:16 EST, 29 January 2013
    U.S. ‘backed plan to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria and blame it on Assad’s regime’

    Leaked emails from defense contractor refers to chemical weapons saying ‘the idea is approved by Washington’
    Obama issued warning to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month that use of chemical warfare was ‘totally unacceptable’

    http://web.archive.org/web/20130129213824/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270219/U-S-planned-launch-chemical-weapon-attack-Syria-blame-Assad.html

  15. “They do not have evidence of who used the weapons,”

    I seems that the call for action in Syria is undermined by questions regarding which group actually launched the attack.

    It seems to me that if the use of gas is the ‘red line’ for policy, then it is essential to know who used the gas.

    There seems to be very little MSM interest in that question, unless I am reading the wrong sources.

  16. “the documents show that the Reagan Administration not only knew of the use of chemical weapons by the Iraqi Regime in the Iran-Iraq war”

    That has been common knowledge for decades outside the US.

    “but supplied the intelligence and satellite imagery used in the attacks.”

    And that is utterly unsurprising. The US did the same things in Afghanistan and Cambodia where the US armed and trained the Mujahadeen fighting the Soviets and the communist Khmer Rouge fighting the communist Vietcong. Yes, the US armed communists, another in a long history of short term thinking predicated on “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”.

  18. Not only did the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations supply intelligence, they also sold the chemical weapons technology to Saddam:

    “Reports by the US Senate’s committee on banking, housing and urban affairs — which oversees American exports policy — reveal that the US, under the successive administrations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr, sold materials including anthrax, VX nerve gas, West Nile fever germs and botulism to Iraq right up until March 1992, as well as germs similar to tuberculosis and pneumonia. Other bacteria sold included brucella melitensis, which damages major organs, and clostridium perfringens, which causes gas gangrene.”

    http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0908-08.htm

  19. Jill 1, August 26, 2013 at 9:21 am

    I have another question. Where is the money coming from? I thought we had to starve people, cut off their unemployment checks, reduce social security etc. to complete the austerity program on behalf of the budget deficit. Does this mean we don’t have a budget deficit?
    =========================
    It probably turns on who “we” refers to.

    We have a budget deficit but we don’t, if you know what I mean.

  20. I have another question. Where is the money coming from? I thought we had to starve people, cut off their unemployment checks, reduce social security etc. to complete the austerity program on behalf of the budget deficit. Does this mean we don’t have a budget deficit?

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