Larissa
24th March 2003, 22:01
In the news today:
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/03/24/russiairaq030324
MOSCOW - Russia denies that it violated United Nations sanctions and sold military equipment to Iraq, but the White House says it has "credible evidence" to the contrary.
The Russian statement, delivered Monday, says it has not delivered any weapons or weapons systems to Iraq.
The denial comes after a Washington Post story Sunday that three Russian companies were selling sensitive equipment, including anti-tank guided missiles and jamming devices.
The Russian government calls the story "fiction."
----
That was today's news. Here's yesterday's (I mean "yesterday" rhetorically):
http://eatthestate.org/07-09/ListCompaniesSold.htm
List of US Companies That Sold Weapons Technology to Iraq
Key: A - nuclear K - chemical B - biological R - rockets (missiles)
1. Honeywell (R,K) 2. Spektra Physics (K) 3. Semetex ® 4. TI Coating (A,K) 5. UNISYS (A,K) 6. Sperry Corp. (R,K) 7. Tektronix (R,A) 8. Rockwell (K) 9. Leybold Vacuum Systems (A) 10. Finnigan-MAT-U.S. (A) 11. Hewlett
Packard (A.R,K) 12. Dupont (A) 13. Eastman Kodak ® 14. American Type Culture Collection (B) 15. Alcolac International © 16. Consarc (A) 17. Carl Zeis -US (K) 18. Cerberus (LTD) (A) 19. Electronic Associates ® 20.
International Computer Systems 21. Bechtel (K) 22. EZ Logic Data Systems,Inc. ® 23. Canberra Industries Inc. (A) 24. Axel Electronics Inc. (A)
This list doesn't include governmental and quasi-governmental agencies that gave technology to Iraq, including the Pentagon, Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, Sandia Labs, Los Alamos, and the Centers for Disease Control.
---------
And plenty more websites with similar information. OK, if you discount sources such as the above, here's the Washington Post (Dec. 2002):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2002Dec29.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52241-2002Dec29.html)
U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians, Kurds
advertisement 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.
The story of U.S. involvement with Saddam Hussein in the years before his 1990 attack on Kuwait -- which included large-scale intelligence sharing, supply of cluster bombs through a Chilean front company, and facilitating Iraq's acquisition of chemical and biological precursors -- is a topical example of the underside of U.S. foreign policy. It is a world in which deals can be struck with dictators, human rights violations sometimes
overlooked, and accommodations made with arms proliferators, all on the principle that the "enemy of my enemy is my friend."
Throughout the 1980s, Hussein's Iraq was the sworn enemy of Iran, then still in the throes of an Islamic revolution. U.S. officials saw Baghdad as a bulwark against militant Shiite extremism and the fall of pro-American states such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and even Jordan -- a Middle East version of the "domino theory" in Southeast Asia. That was enough to turn Hussein into a strategic partner and for U.S. diplomats in
Baghdad to routinely refer to Iraqi forces as "the good guys," in contrast to the Iranians, who were depicted as "the bad guys."
A review of thousands of declassified government documents and interviews with former policymakers shows that U.S. intelligence and logistical support played a crucial role in shoring up Iraqi defenses against the "human wave" attacks by suicidal Iranian troops. The administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous items that had both military and civilian applications, including poisonous chemicals and deadly biological viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic plague.
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/03/24/russiairaq030324
MOSCOW - Russia denies that it violated United Nations sanctions and sold military equipment to Iraq, but the White House says it has "credible evidence" to the contrary.
The Russian statement, delivered Monday, says it has not delivered any weapons or weapons systems to Iraq.
The denial comes after a Washington Post story Sunday that three Russian companies were selling sensitive equipment, including anti-tank guided missiles and jamming devices.
The Russian government calls the story "fiction."
----
That was today's news. Here's yesterday's (I mean "yesterday" rhetorically):
http://eatthestate.org/07-09/ListCompaniesSold.htm
List of US Companies That Sold Weapons Technology to Iraq
Key: A - nuclear K - chemical B - biological R - rockets (missiles)
1. Honeywell (R,K) 2. Spektra Physics (K) 3. Semetex ® 4. TI Coating (A,K) 5. UNISYS (A,K) 6. Sperry Corp. (R,K) 7. Tektronix (R,A) 8. Rockwell (K) 9. Leybold Vacuum Systems (A) 10. Finnigan-MAT-U.S. (A) 11. Hewlett
Packard (A.R,K) 12. Dupont (A) 13. Eastman Kodak ® 14. American Type Culture Collection (B) 15. Alcolac International © 16. Consarc (A) 17. Carl Zeis -US (K) 18. Cerberus (LTD) (A) 19. Electronic Associates ® 20.
International Computer Systems 21. Bechtel (K) 22. EZ Logic Data Systems,Inc. ® 23. Canberra Industries Inc. (A) 24. Axel Electronics Inc. (A)
This list doesn't include governmental and quasi-governmental agencies that gave technology to Iraq, including the Pentagon, Lawrence Livermore Laboratories, Sandia Labs, Los Alamos, and the Centers for Disease Control.
---------
And plenty more websites with similar information. OK, if you discount sources such as the above, here's the Washington Post (Dec. 2002):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2002Dec29.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52241-2002Dec29.html)
U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup Trade in Chemical Arms Allowed Despite Their Use on Iranians, Kurds
advertisement 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.
The story of U.S. involvement with Saddam Hussein in the years before his 1990 attack on Kuwait -- which included large-scale intelligence sharing, supply of cluster bombs through a Chilean front company, and facilitating Iraq's acquisition of chemical and biological precursors -- is a topical example of the underside of U.S. foreign policy. It is a world in which deals can be struck with dictators, human rights violations sometimes
overlooked, and accommodations made with arms proliferators, all on the principle that the "enemy of my enemy is my friend."
Throughout the 1980s, Hussein's Iraq was the sworn enemy of Iran, then still in the throes of an Islamic revolution. U.S. officials saw Baghdad as a bulwark against militant Shiite extremism and the fall of pro-American states such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and even Jordan -- a Middle East version of the "domino theory" in Southeast Asia. That was enough to turn Hussein into a strategic partner and for U.S. diplomats in
Baghdad to routinely refer to Iraqi forces as "the good guys," in contrast to the Iranians, who were depicted as "the bad guys."
A review of thousands of declassified government documents and interviews with former policymakers shows that U.S. intelligence and logistical support played a crucial role in shoring up Iraqi defenses against the "human wave" attacks by suicidal Iranian troops. The administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous items that had both military and civilian applications, including poisonous chemicals and deadly biological viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic plague.