Egypt Aided Iraq's 1980s Weapons Program

[Syrinx]

But didn't the U.S. do the same thing?

NEW YORK (AP) -- Egypt secretly supplied crucial help -- both
technology and expert manpower -- to the chemical weapons program of
Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1980s, U.S. arms investigators have
found.

The CIA's Iraq Survey Group says Egyptian specialists helped the
Iraqis make ``technological leaps'' on poison gas at the height of the
Iran-Iraq War, when Baghdad used nerve agents to kill thousands of
Iranian soldiers and Iranian and Iraqi civilians.

The U.S. report is the most authoritative and detailed since such
collaboration between the Arab nations was first rumored in the late
1980s.

The Cairo government rejected those earlier allegations, and Egypt's
Washington embassy reiterated that denial when asked by The Associated
Press about the CIA report. But in AP interviews, United Nations arms
inspectors who scoured Iraq's files and facilities in the 1990s
corroborated the U.S. finding.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Cairo-Connection.html

[Barrett808]

1. Many nations helped Iraq's weapons programs

And violated their own export-control laws.

[yorgatron]

2. that's odd,i thought donald rumsfeld was in charge of selling

chemical weapons to iraq in the 80's.

[Chrisduhfur]

3. True. Well sort of....

Actually I do not know who was in charge, but what the US gave Iraq was the material needed to create them. However, what they were given could either be used to make the vaccines or the weapons. I doubt anyone would be foolish enough to think that we believed that Iraq would use it only for peaceful purposes. ;)

However, my stance on it is... We sides with the Russians during World War 2 because we needed each other. However, after WW2 we were great enemies. Same thing in Iraq, it is nothing new. It is not only the US that does it either.

[Barrett808]

6. Actually, I don't know of much evidence the US sold CBW directly

There is the claim by Ari Ben-Menashe that Carlos Cardoen was selling chemical weapons and a factory to make, under the tacit approval of the CIA. Bechtel was going to build the PC2 complex, which could have been used to make chemical weapons but George Schultz advised against it and the project was scrapped. Germany mostly specialized in the chemical weapons projects at Samarra.

The US did sell ballistic missile components to Iraq, against US export controls. The US also provided high-res battlefield satellite imagery, so Saddam could determine precisely the effectiveness of his chemical weapons attacks. So, to that degree at least, the US is complicit in Iraqi war crimes.

[jpak]

8. And don't forget all those billions in taxpayer guaranteed

"agricultural" loans Reagan and Poppy gave Saddam to pay for his WMD programs.

Gee - will the new Free and Democratic US Petroleum Protectoral of Iraq every pay those loans back????

'course they will, right???

[ticapnews]

4. Great, now we have to carpet bomb Cairo...

Are we going to leave the Pyramids standing?

:eyes:

[Chrisduhfur]

10. Bit extreme.

We didn't even carpet bomb Baghdad... We for sure are not going to be carpet bombing Cairo. Of course I believe I picked up on a subtle form of sarcasm. ;)

[Chrisduhfur]

21. opps

hmmm

[malmapus]

5. Egypt Aided Iraq's 1980s Weapons Program

Of course!! It wasn't US at all....

Egypt Aided Iraq's 1980s Weapons Program

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent

NEW YORK - Egypt secretly supplied crucial help — both technology and expert manpower — to the chemical weapons program of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s Iraq (news - web sites) in the 1980s, U.S. arms investigators have found.

The CIA (news - web sites)'s Iraq Survey Group says Egyptian specialists helped the Iraqis make "technological leaps" on poison gas at the height of the Iran (news - web sites)-Iraq War, when Baghdad used nerve agents to kill thousands of Iranian soldiers and Iranian and Iraqi civilians.

The U.S. report is the most authoritative and detailed since such collaboration between the Arab nations was first rumored in the late 1980s.

The Cairo government rejected those earlier allegations, and Egypt's Washington embassy reiterated that denial when asked by The Associated Press about the CIA report. But in AP interviews, United Nations (news - web sites) arms inspectors who scoured Iraq's files and facilities in the 1990s corroborated the U.S. finding.

[daleo]

7. "Egypt is the prize"

Iraq is the opening,
Saudi Arabia is the strategic pivot,
Egypt is the prize.

Wasn't that part of a PNAC presentation not long ago? Something like that anyway.

[bamacrat]

9. This is just blatant PNACing

I may be wrong but isnt one of the targets in the PNAC Egypt. We've already started singling out the others mentioned: Syria, Iran, Iraq, Lebannon.

[chlamor]

11. CIA: Egypt Helped Iraqi WMD Program Used Against Iran

CIA: Egypt Helped Iraqi WMD Program Used Against Iran

Egyptian Specialists May Have Helped Iraqis Make 'Technological Leaps'

POSTED: 6:18 pm EST March 12, 2005
UPDATED: 6:23 pm EST March 12, 2005

NEW YORK -- Egypt secretly supplied crucial help -- both technology and expert manpower -- to the chemical weapons program of Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1980s, U.S. arms investigators have found.

The CIA's Iraq Survey Group says Egyptian specialists helped the Iraqis make "technological leaps" on poison gas at the height of the Iran-Iraq War, when Baghdad used nerve agents to kill thousands of Iranian soldiers and Iranian and Iraqi civilians.

The U.S. report is the most authoritative and detailed since such collaboration between the Arab nations was first rumored in the late 1980s.

The Cairo government rejected those earlier allegations, and Egypt's Washington embassy reiterated that denial when asked by The Associated Press about the CIA report. But in AP interviews, United Nations arms inspectors who scoured Iraq's files and facilities in the 1990s corroborated the U.S. finding.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/4279255/detail.html

[ixion]

12. uh, yeah, well so did the US...

soooo... don't hear much ado about that though...:grr:

In fact, the US went a bit further and supplied the actual chemicals and weapons. :-(

[katinmn]

14. that's what I was gonna say but you beat me to it.

The U.S. has sold arms to all of its current enemies at one time or another.

Maybe we want them to be worthy opponents.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

19. Maybe we want them to be worthy opponents.

We want reasons to invade them and rule over their natural resources. It's a game that some foreign leaders are all too tired of. What infriggingcredible trouble we have created around the globe... "spreading democracy" as it were.

[chlamor]

17. To Both Sides-Thanks Zbignew

or do I mean to all sides etc.

[merwin]

18. That was my first thought as well.

[Daphne08]

22. We certainly did because I remember it very well!

[reprehensor]

13. U.S. companies sold Iraq the ingredients for a witch's brew.

Anthrax for Export

Most Americans listening to the President did not know that the United States supplied Iraq with much of the raw material for creating a chemical and biological warfare program. Nor did the media report that U.S. companies sold Iraq more than $1 billion worth of the components needed to build nuclear weapons and diverse types of missiles, including the infamous Scud.

When Iraq engaged in chemical and biological warfare in the 1980s, barely a peep of moral outrage could be heard from Washington, as it kept supplying Saddam with the materials he needed to build weapons.

From 1980 to 1988, Iraq and Iran waged a terrible war against each other, a war that might not have begun if President Jimmy Carter had not given the Iraqis a green light to attack Iran, in response to repeated provocations. Throughout much of the war, the United States provided military aid and intelligence information to both sides, hoping that each would inflict severe damage on the other.

Noam Chomsky suggests that this strategy is a way for America to keep control of its oil supply:

"It's been a leading, driving doctrine of U.S. foreign policy since the 1940s that the vast and unparalleled energy resources of the Gulf region will be effectively dominated by the United States and its clients, and, crucially, that no independent indigenous force will be permitted to have a substantial influence on the administration of oil production and price."

[Rose Siding]

15. Duelfer's group is pre-Goss CIA, right?

You wouldn't think Goss would want Iraq's programs from that era looked at too closely as there is so much known evidence that could implicate current US officials.

[mhr]

16. Ancient History - Bush's Numbers Must Really Be Tumbling On SS

eom

[Octafish]

20. Alan Friedman: Spider's Web

The guy documented how the US illegally armed Iraw in the 1980s.

BTW: Remember the late, great US Rep. Henry B. Gonazalez (D-TX)? He bushted the BFEE's balls over this. Where were the rest of the DEMs?

IRAQGATE: United States Illegally Armed Saddam Hussein

EXCERPT...

Iraqgate Scandal Documents
National Security Decision Directive

Text Transcript | Document Image 1 | Document Image 2 | Document Image 3 |

This National Security Decision Directive, signed by President George Bush on October 2, 1989, states that "normal relations between the United States and Iraq would serve our long-term interests" and mandates a series of moves to strengthen economic and military ties. One year after ordering these attempts to improve relations with Saddam Hussein's government, Bush was preparing for war against "the butcher of Baghdad."

Secret Message From James Baker to Tariq Aziz

Text Transcript | Document Image 1 | Document Image 2 |
This October 21, 1989 cable carries the text of a secret message from Secretary of State James Baker to Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz. Baker informs Aziz, whose government 13 months previously had gassed Kurdish villages, that "the United States seeks a broadened and deepened relationship with Iraq." President Bush's policy, writes Baker, "is to work to strengthen the relationship between the United States and Iraq whenever possible."

CONTINUED...(with pleny o' links):

http://www.apfn.net/messageboard/8-10-03/discussion.cgi.53.html

[struggle4progress]

23. kick