Rumsfeld's AMAZING Hypocrisy on 60 Minutes re: Chemical Weapons

[jackstraw45]

The hypocrisy is of Donald Rumsfeld on 60 Minutes last night was breathtaking. He actually complained about Iraq using chemical weapons on the Kurds when HE HIMSELF traveled to Iraq and normalized relations with Hussein when US intelligence knew Iraq was using chemical weapons on an "almost daily basis."

Remember National Security Decision Directive 114?

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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

High on the Bush administration's list of justifications for war against Iraq are President Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons, nuclear and biological programs, and his contacts with international terrorists. What U.S. officials rarely acknowledge is that these offenses date back to a period when Hussein was seen in Washington as a valued ally.

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.

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Thus, on Nov. 1, 1983, a senior State Department official, Jonathan T. Howe, told Secretary of State George P. Shultz that intelligence reports showed that Iraqi troops were resorting to "almost daily use of CW" against the Iranians. But the Reagan administration had already committed itself to a large-scale diplomatic and political overture to Baghdad, culminating in several visits by the president's recently appointed special envoy to the Middle East, Donald H. Rumsfeld.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A52241-2002Dec29¬Found=true

[MrPrax]

1. The old Chemical weapons schtick...

Yeah Rummy has no shame...
I often wonder that IF the US hadn't supported Saddam so thoroughly in the 80s, the Iraqi people might have overthrown the their dictator (just like they did in Iran!!)--them dominoes...

But this is interestingly:
Originally from TO Star
"Iraq used chemical weapons to try to kill Iranians who had seized the town ... The Kurdish civilians who died had the misfortune to be caught up in that exchange. But they were not Iraq's main target," he wrote.

The former CIA official revealed that immediately after the battle the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency investigated and produced a classified report that said it was Iranian gas that killed the Kurds.

Both sides used gas at Halabja, Pelletiere suggested.

"The condition of the dead Kurds' bodies however, indicated they had been killed with a blood agent — that is, a cyanide-based gas — which Iran was known to use. The Iraqis, who are thought to have used mustard gas in the battle, are not known to have possessed blood agents at the time."

"A War Crime Or an Act of War?" was the way The Times' headline writer neatly summed up Pelletiere's argument.

John Rappaport dug out an old State Department/Daddy Bush Press Release from '88 (can't find the link) that used this DoD report to blame Iran! for the gas attack originally...
They were good customers...

[jackstraw45]

2. Worth a kick...

Your friends and neighbors most likely don't know this information.

How about you tell them....I know I have and they were shocked.

[retyred]

3. Does it matter to anyone that

our own Pentagon reported that it was evident after investigating the claim it was Iran and not Saddam that had gassed the Kurds and that most Iraqi's, even those living in the area never heard of such a claim and did not believe it was true.

[jackstraw45]

4. It should....

EOM