News ID: 87
20 things the U.S. did to help Saddam against Iran
During Saddam's imposed war on Iran from 1980 to 1988, the Western governments provided the Iraqi regime with chemical weapons and sophisticated military equipment as well as strategic supports.
IRDC.IR: When in 1980 Saddam Hussain decided to stage a war against Iran, Iraq per se did not have the political will and military might required to launch an attack on the Iranian soil. It was actually the CIA and the Reagan administration(1) who encouraged Iraq to undertake an anti-Iranian offensive from 1980 to 1988(2). After the Carter administration's operation Eagle Claw, the CIA staged a failed coup with the help of Saddam and the remnants of the old Iranian regime who sought refuge in Iraq with Saddam(3). This coup, known as Nojeh ou Nuzhih, struck a heavy blow to Iranian armed forces as several high ranking officials, who were complicit in this coup, were executed for treason(4). Saddam was even being counseled by Shah’s generals in estimating the Iranian armed forces and their defensive powers, which they evaluated to be meager because of the social upheaval and restructuring brought on by the revolution and US-backed sanctions(5).
At the beginning of the Iraqi assault on Iran in 1980, Saddam conquered many Iranian border cities. The Iranian army managed to push back Iraqi forces in 1982. In that year, after waves of victory for the Iranian forces, the superiority was clearly tilted toward the Iranian side and an Iraqi defeat looked imminent(6). An Iranian victory looked so dire to the American government that they made the strategic decision to wholeheartedly embrace the terrorist government of Saddam in order to tilt the war against Iran.
US support for Iraq was not a secret and was frequently discussed in open session of the Senate and House of Representatives. On June 9, 1992, Ted Koppel reported on ABC's Nightline, that:
"Reagan/Bush administrations permitted—and frequently encouraged—the flow of money, agricultural credits, dual-use technology(7), chemicals, and weapons to Iraq.(8)"
Although the United States delisted Iraq from the state sponsors of terrorism in 1982(9), European and American companies(10) and administrations were already helping Saddam long before that(11). This move was taken despite the fact that the US government was already convinced that Iraq was involved in terrorism. Iraq received 200 million dollars’ worth of arms from America between 1983 to 1990(12); all this for the purpose of defeating Iran.
Apart from US military aid to Iraq, there were also economic aids, since Iraqi oil exports had almost come to a halt, as had that of Iran's. While Iran was under US and European sanctions, which increased the volatility of Iran’s oil exports(13), Iraqi oil tankers were escorted under the American flag, by the American Navy past the Persian Gulf (14). Moreover, a five billion dollars(15) US loan was granted to Saddam in his war with Iran, in addition to over 680 million dollars for building oil pipes(16) and later one billion dollars of aid (17); all of which were spent on Iraqi military buildup. America's Central Intelligence Agency put a cover before Congress for a five billion dollar loan granted to Saddam by the Atlanta branch of Italian Lavoro Bank(18). All this support and assistance to Saddam ignored the fact that Saddam was financing terrorist organizations like MEK. The US credits offered to Saddam made Iraq the third-largest recipient of US assistance(19). As Rodney Castledean put it in 2011:
"During the Iran-Iraq War there is no question about it; the United States was an ally of Iraq, and gave Saddam Hussein several different kinds of aid to help him win the war.(20)”
Many American and European companies(21) were helping Saddam to build up its Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) programs from 1975 onward, as well as rockets and conventional weapons. According to leaked reports, Iraq’s WMD program consisted of nuclear(22), chemical and biological weapons(23) of mass destruction(24). These aids were apart from governmental aids. Later it was disclosed that American standards(25) were used in production of Iraqi biological weapons(26). The Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control (CDC) sent 14 agents "with biological warfare significance" to Iraq between 1985 and 1989(27).
France and Britain both had sold some arms to Iraq back in the 1960s, but between 1974 and 1980, Iraq started to purchase arms from different western countries. It started to acquire helicopters, antitank missiles, and high performance Mirage jet fighters from France. Other aids that the US administration offered to Saddam include counter-insurgency training, operational intelligence on the battlefield and weapons(28).
The interesting fact is that the same Ronald Rumsfeld(29) who took a hawkish attitude toward Iraq and favored an attack post 9/11, was the person who went to Baghdad as Reagan’s emissary(30) for a handshake with Saddam(31). This move was taken in December 1983 and again in March 1984 because the "Reagan administration was afraid Iraq might actually lose” the war to Iran, according to US ambassador Peter W. Galbraith(32).
shaking Hands: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein greeets Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983
A month before this historic handshake, in November 1983, Iraq had already started to use chemical weapons against Iran and the US administration was well aware of that(33). According to the Geneva Protocol of 1925, which the Americans had ratified in 1975, states undertake that they will not use chemical weapons and agree they 'will exert every effort to induce other States' to do the same(34). Charles A. Duelfer(35) said in an interview:
In reference to the Geneva protocol of 1925, Iran filed a United Nations draft resolution to condemn Saddam’s use of chemical weapons against Iran, but the US lobbied its allies at the UN to vote for a "no decision” stance against this resolution(37). Three years later, in 1988, Saddam also used chemical weapons against his own people, killing 5,000 innocent civilians, women and children in the Iraqi town of Halabja. As it turned out later, the US used to monitor the Iraqi army's messages on the use of chemicals in Halabja(38). The Reagan administration sought to obscure responsibility of this attack by falsely accusing Iran of being responsible(39). These accusations were levied while Iran had never developed or used such kind of weapons during this war or later on.
saddam's chemical attack on Halabja,Ireq
Below is a brief outline on twenty different aids Saddam recieved from the United States on his war against Iran:
A) Political support
1. US removed Iraq from list of State Sponsors of Terrorism; 1982.
2. US and its allies supported "no decision" at UN on Iraq’s use of chemical weapons; 1984.
3. Bush signed NSD 26 to ensure the security of Iraq; 1989.
B) Military Support
4. $1.5 billion worth of Pathogenic, toxigenic and other biological research materials were exported to Iraq; 1985-89.
5. US delivered 200 million dollars’ worth of arms; 1983-90.
6. CIA secretly directed armaments and hi-tech components to Iraq; 1985-90.
7. CIA secretly encouraged rogue arms dealers and private military companies to funnel arm to Iraq; 1985-90.
8. US based company, Alcolac International exported mustard gas to Iraq; 1987-88.
9. Almost 150 foreign companies supported Saddam Hussein's WMD program; 1975-91.
10. 60 officers of the Defense Intelligence Agency provided logistic information to Iraq; 1987- 88.
11. US navy escorted Iraqi oil tankers while Iraq was targeting Iranian tankers; 1987-88.
12. Saddam's elite troops were trained in US; 1980s.
13. Iraqi helicopter pilots received training in the United States; 1980s.
14. The United States assisted Iraq through a military aid program known as "Bear Spares"; 1980s.
C) US direct attack on Iran while in war with Saddam
15. US directly attacked Iran by hitting Iran’s oil platforms; 1987.
16. US directly attacked Iran’s navy in unproportioned and unreasonable war; 1988.
17. US shot down Iranian civilian airliner in the Iranian territory; 1988.
D) Blaming Iran for Iraqi attack on Halabja
18. US blamed Iran for Iraqi attack on USS Stark; 1987.
E) Logistic Support
19. US spied on Iran with aircraft during operation Eager Glacier and delivered this information to Iraq; 1987-88.
D) Economic Support
20. US funneled $5 billion of American tax payers money to Iraq; 1985-89.
*Fatemeh Mohammadi has a M.A. in Public Relations and is well experienced in Iranian history. She also has articles in comparative history which are published by Tasnim News Agency and Cultural Heritage News Agency