Baker Helped Finance Hussein

[KansDem]

The Associated Press

Sunday 11 January 2004

<snip>
The guarantees were an important part of the first President Bush's effort to improve relations with Iraq in hopes of boosting commercial ties and gaining leverage with a powerful and strategically important nation.

U.S. officials were well aware at the time that Saddam had used chemical weapons against Iran and Iraqi Kurds. Iraq also was believed to have biological and nuclear weapons programs and to be harboring terrorists -- reasons the current Bush administration has used to justify toppling the Iraqi leader.

But in 1989, Baker and other officials hoped incentives might change Saddam.

"That turned out to be unsuccessful, but I don't think it was necessarily a bad approach to try," said John H. Kelly, who led the State Department's Near Eastern Affairs bureau under Baker.

After invading Kuwait, Iraq defaulted on its debt to the United States; the debt has grown to more than $4 billion. That includes $1.9 billion in principal and $1.1 billion in interest on Agriculture Department-guaranteed loans.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/011304A.shtml

This whole Iraqi mess stinks more and more each day, what with Rumsfeld playing footsie with Saddam, Cheney doing business with Saddam, and Baker acting as the "debt collector" for failed Bush business deals...
:dem:

[el_gato]

1. here's another good resource

http://fas.org/spp/starwars/congress/1992/h920224g.htm

[HootieMcBoob]

2. and now he's making money off of the Saudis

Let's see he helps prop up Hussein and now his firm is defending the Saudi royal family against the families of 9/11 victims. Awwww, who's a little scumbag :)