On what happens when the commander-in-chief fails to act or makes stupid decisions. Some history on Iraq, Hussein, and how he got to be the problem that he was.
http://www.finalcall.com/perspectives/iraq_us10-01-2002.htm
With Iraq, U.S. has never held high ground
During the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88, the United States was deeply complicit both in Iraq’s invasion and its gas attacks.
"In the spring of 1982, Iraq teetered on the brink of losing its war with Iran," stated Howard Teicher, a staff member to the Reagan National Security Council in a 1995 court affidavit. He said President Reagan decided to do "whatever was necessary and legal to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran." Teicher said Washington provided Iraq with intelligence, advice and billions in credits, and made sure other countries helped supply weapons.
The U.S. military was complicit in Iraq’s use of chemical weapons against Iranian troops and Kurdish rebels. In August, the New York Times reported that a team of more than 60 officers from the Defense Intelligence Agency "provided Iraq with critical battle planning assistance at a time when American intelligence agencies knew that Iraqi commanders would employ chemical weapons in waging the decisive battles of the Iran-Iraq war."
Notice the date when the slaughter of Kurds with poison gas was publicly acknowledged: under Reagan's second term.
http://www.phrusa.org/research/chemical_weapons/chemiraqgas2.html
October 22, 1988 - Medical Team Finds Evidence of Iraqi Use of Chemical Weapons on Kurds
In August 1988, shortly after the ceasefire that ended the Iran-Iraq war, the government of Saddam Hussein launched a major military offensive against the Kurds in northern Iraq, sending tens of thousand of refugees who either witnessed or showed physical symptoms of chemical weapons attacks. The PHR team concluded that bombs containing mustard gas and at least one unidentified nerve agent had been dropped on Kurdish villages in northern Iraq.
According to MEW, the Birjinni attack was one of dozens of chemical weapons attacks launched against the Kurds in 1988. "These chemical weapons attacks were part of a genocidal campaign carried out against Kurdish civilians,"
http://www.wanniski.com/showarticle.asp?articleid=2243
"The chemical attacks on Halabja and Goktapa and perhaps two hundred other villages and towns were only a small part of the cataclysm that Saddam's cousin, the man known as Ali Chemical, arranged for the Kurds. The Kurds say that about two hundred thousand were killed. (Human Rights Watch, which in the early nineties published "Iraq's Crime of Genocide," a definitive study of the attacks, gives a figure of between fifty thousand and a hundred thousand.)
Most of the Kurds who were murdered in the Anfal were not killed by poison gas; rather, the genocide was carried out, in large part, in the traditional manner, with roundups at night, mass executions, and anonymous burials. The bodies of most of the victims of the Anfal--mainly men and boys--have never been found."
And when we had the monster by the cajones after he lost Gulf war I, we could have finished him off.... but Bush I had no stomach for a civil war as we see today. OK, maybe he was right. But the Shiites in the south rose up in arms against what was left of Saddam's forces UNDER THE URGING OF BUSH with promises we would support them. The shiites made large gains going north and could have driven farther. What went wrong there?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/etc/cron.html
"With a Gulf War cease fire declared, President Bush, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell believe Saddam's hold on Iraq is tenuous. Bush urges Iraqis to rise up. They do, and within days Saddam has lost control of southern Iraq. But the rebellion is soon overwhelmed by Saddam's forces, which include helicopter gunships, and Bush orders U.S. troops not to intervene. It is estimated that thousands of Shiites were killed."
http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomf...wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/oral/trainor/1.html
"Q: Tell me about what happened at the ceasefire talks at Safwan....
Trainor: The cease fire talks at Safwan represented an opportunity for Schwarzkopf and indeed the coalition to put the screws to the Iraqis and to gain great concessions from them. But instead it turned out to be a situation where the Iraqis gained concessions from the victors. The classic example was when the Iraqis asked Schwarzkopf whether they could use fly helicopters, down in southern Iraq, pointing out that the roads were in terrible shape and that there was wreckage all over them, etc., etc. Well, Schwarzkopf was thinking they were being absolutely honest about this thing and they wanted to use the helicopters to transport logistic supplies and personnel. And so he said sure, that will be all right and then the Iraqis asked the question which should've given Schwarzkopf pause and that was, well, how about armed helicopters and Schwarzkopf without even thinking, said `yes' on helicopters. Now, what the Iraqis had in mind were using the helicopter gun ships to put down the Shi'ite uprising which had taken place and Schwarzkopf gave them carte blanche to do it. The President didn't even know about this when questioned about the Iraqis using the helicopters to shoot at the Shi'ites you know. In a speech he said, that well you know, we'll put a stop to that and, and he had to be reminded, that Schwarzkopf had agreed to that with the Iraqis. So, he was finessed by the Iraqis at the Safwan conference."
So, the Shiites were slaughtered because they had no Stingers to take down the Iraqi gunships. Using those gunships, saddam's forces slaughtered the opposition and regained power. But not all of the Shiites died in battle. many thousands were lined up and shot and dumped into the mass graves unearthed in southern Iraq.
Nor was that the last we heard from Iraqi gunships: as hundreds of thousands of Shiite refugees fled to try to escape, those Iraqi gunships used them for target practice. And US pilots got to see it in person because they were patrolling the air... but handcuffed by strict orders not to interfere.
So, let me hear that republican fairy tale one more time about how Clinton's failure to act militarily caused the Iraq situation. And don't forget the part about how we suddenly discovered Saddam had been murdering people so we had to rush in and invade his country.
http://www.finalcall.com/perspectives/iraq_us10-01-2002.htm
With Iraq, U.S. has never held high ground
During the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88, the United States was deeply complicit both in Iraq’s invasion and its gas attacks.
"In the spring of 1982, Iraq teetered on the brink of losing its war with Iran," stated Howard Teicher, a staff member to the Reagan National Security Council in a 1995 court affidavit. He said President Reagan decided to do "whatever was necessary and legal to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran." Teicher said Washington provided Iraq with intelligence, advice and billions in credits, and made sure other countries helped supply weapons.
The U.S. military was complicit in Iraq’s use of chemical weapons against Iranian troops and Kurdish rebels. In August, the New York Times reported that a team of more than 60 officers from the Defense Intelligence Agency "provided Iraq with critical battle planning assistance at a time when American intelligence agencies knew that Iraqi commanders would employ chemical weapons in waging the decisive battles of the Iran-Iraq war."
Notice the date when the slaughter of Kurds with poison gas was publicly acknowledged: under Reagan's second term.
http://www.phrusa.org/research/chemical_weapons/chemiraqgas2.html
October 22, 1988 - Medical Team Finds Evidence of Iraqi Use of Chemical Weapons on Kurds
In August 1988, shortly after the ceasefire that ended the Iran-Iraq war, the government of Saddam Hussein launched a major military offensive against the Kurds in northern Iraq, sending tens of thousand of refugees who either witnessed or showed physical symptoms of chemical weapons attacks. The PHR team concluded that bombs containing mustard gas and at least one unidentified nerve agent had been dropped on Kurdish villages in northern Iraq.
According to MEW, the Birjinni attack was one of dozens of chemical weapons attacks launched against the Kurds in 1988. "These chemical weapons attacks were part of a genocidal campaign carried out against Kurdish civilians,"
http://www.wanniski.com/showarticle.asp?articleid=2243
"The chemical attacks on Halabja and Goktapa and perhaps two hundred other villages and towns were only a small part of the cataclysm that Saddam's cousin, the man known as Ali Chemical, arranged for the Kurds. The Kurds say that about two hundred thousand were killed. (Human Rights Watch, which in the early nineties published "Iraq's Crime of Genocide," a definitive study of the attacks, gives a figure of between fifty thousand and a hundred thousand.)
Most of the Kurds who were murdered in the Anfal were not killed by poison gas; rather, the genocide was carried out, in large part, in the traditional manner, with roundups at night, mass executions, and anonymous burials. The bodies of most of the victims of the Anfal--mainly men and boys--have never been found."
And when we had the monster by the cajones after he lost Gulf war I, we could have finished him off.... but Bush I had no stomach for a civil war as we see today. OK, maybe he was right. But the Shiites in the south rose up in arms against what was left of Saddam's forces UNDER THE URGING OF BUSH with promises we would support them. The shiites made large gains going north and could have driven farther. What went wrong there?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/etc/cron.html
"With a Gulf War cease fire declared, President Bush, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell believe Saddam's hold on Iraq is tenuous. Bush urges Iraqis to rise up. They do, and within days Saddam has lost control of southern Iraq. But the rebellion is soon overwhelmed by Saddam's forces, which include helicopter gunships, and Bush orders U.S. troops not to intervene. It is estimated that thousands of Shiites were killed."
http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomf...wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/oral/trainor/1.html
"Q: Tell me about what happened at the ceasefire talks at Safwan....
Trainor: The cease fire talks at Safwan represented an opportunity for Schwarzkopf and indeed the coalition to put the screws to the Iraqis and to gain great concessions from them. But instead it turned out to be a situation where the Iraqis gained concessions from the victors. The classic example was when the Iraqis asked Schwarzkopf whether they could use fly helicopters, down in southern Iraq, pointing out that the roads were in terrible shape and that there was wreckage all over them, etc., etc. Well, Schwarzkopf was thinking they were being absolutely honest about this thing and they wanted to use the helicopters to transport logistic supplies and personnel. And so he said sure, that will be all right and then the Iraqis asked the question which should've given Schwarzkopf pause and that was, well, how about armed helicopters and Schwarzkopf without even thinking, said `yes' on helicopters. Now, what the Iraqis had in mind were using the helicopter gun ships to put down the Shi'ite uprising which had taken place and Schwarzkopf gave them carte blanche to do it. The President didn't even know about this when questioned about the Iraqis using the helicopters to shoot at the Shi'ites you know. In a speech he said, that well you know, we'll put a stop to that and, and he had to be reminded, that Schwarzkopf had agreed to that with the Iraqis. So, he was finessed by the Iraqis at the Safwan conference."
So, the Shiites were slaughtered because they had no Stingers to take down the Iraqi gunships. Using those gunships, saddam's forces slaughtered the opposition and regained power. But not all of the Shiites died in battle. many thousands were lined up and shot and dumped into the mass graves unearthed in southern Iraq.
Nor was that the last we heard from Iraqi gunships: as hundreds of thousands of Shiite refugees fled to try to escape, those Iraqi gunships used them for target practice. And US pilots got to see it in person because they were patrolling the air... but handcuffed by strict orders not to interfere.
So, let me hear that republican fairy tale one more time about how Clinton's failure to act militarily caused the Iraq situation. And don't forget the part about how we suddenly discovered Saddam had been murdering people so we had to rush in and invade his country.
