We all know Donald Rumsfeld would like us to see this Iraq war as a struggle on par with that against the Nazis. Sure, it's rarely if ever mentioned that Bush's
own Grandpa dealt with the Nazi regime all through WWII. I suppose that would only be treasonous if a Democrat did it (though it
might be considered so if our "liberal media" were to pick up on it). But Rumsfeld and Cheney's senses of irony are just as dulled as Bush's is, if not moreso...
In this weekend's succinct
op-ed by by ex-US US-Croatia ambassador Peter Galbraith, it is once again brought to the surface what utter hypocrites our so-called leaders really are with regards to Saddam. Rumsfeld himself (then Defense Secretary) was assigned by the Reagan administration to visit Saddam just after he had used chemical weapons against Iran. Was Rummy sent to command Saddam to stop such actions?? Why of course not! He was sent to appease the
new Hitler!
Rumsfeld never mentioned this blatant violation of international law to Hussein, instead focusing on shared hostility toward Iran and an oil pipeline through Jordan. Rumsfeld apparently did mention it to Tariq Aziz, Iraq's foreign minister, but by not raising the issue with the paramount leader he signaled that good relations were more important to the United States than the use of poison gas.
Then the Reagan administration normalized relations with the new Hitler and his oppressive regime and made Iraq the third largest US aid recipient. Reagan's administration then tried to blame Iran for the Haditha massacre and blocked a Democratic bill to stop sending the bastards aid!
The next year, President George H.W. Bush's administration actually doubled US financial credits for Iraq. A week before Hussein invaded Kuwait, the administration vociferously opposed legislation that would have conditioned US assistance to Iraq on a commitment not to use chemical weapons and to stop the genocide against the Kurds. At the time, Dick Cheney, now vice president, was secretary of defense and a statutory member of the National Security Council that reviewed Iraq policy. By all accounts, he supported the administration's appeasement policy.
Yes the Democrats are the appeasers. Republicans surely never benefitted from any of these weapons supplying US companies' (taken from The Memory Hole-note, though not as many companies, some from many other countries did business with Iraq too and they're noted at the same link):
Key
A = nuclear weapon program
B = biological weapon program
C = chemical weapon program
R = rocket program
K = conventional weapons, military logistics, supplies at the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, and building of military plants
1. Honeywell (R, K)
2. Spectra Physics (K)
3. Semetex (R)
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-US (A)
11. Hewlett-Packard (A, R, K)
12. Dupont (A)
13. Eastman Kodak (R)
14. American Type Culture Collection (B)
15. Alcolac International (C)
16. Consarc (A)
17. Carl Zeiss - U.S (K)
18. Cerberus (LTD) (A)
19. Electronic Associates (R)
20. International Computer Systems (A, R, K)
21. Bechtel (K)
22. EZ Logic Data Systems, Inc. (R)
23. Canberra Industries Inc. (A)
24. Axel Electronics Inc. (A)
"In addition to these 24 companies home-based in the USA are 50 subsidiaries of foreign enterprises which conducted their arms business with Iraq from within the US. Also designated as suppliers for Iraq's arms programs (A, B, C & R) are the US Ministries of Defense, Energy, Trade and Agriculture as well as the Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories."
Like Rumsfeld, now Cheney wants to bomb everyone, but back in the day, he just wanted to do business with them. From The Guardian:
In particular, Cheney objected to sanctions against Libya and Iran, two countries with which Halliburton was already doing business regardless. Even more disconcerting, though, was the work the company did in Iraq. Between his stints as secretary of defence and vice-president, Cheney was in charge of Halliburton when it was circumventing strict UN sanctions, helping to rebuild Iraq and enriching Saddam Hussein.
In September 1998, Halliburton closed a $7.7bn stock merger with Dresser Industries (the company that gave George HW Bush his first job). The merger made Halliburton the largest oilfield services firm in the world. It also brought with it two foreign subsidiaries that were doing business with Iraq via the controversial Oil for Food programme. The two subsidiaries, Dresser Rand and Ingersoll Dresser Pump Co, signed $73m-worth of contracts for oil production equipment.
Cheney told the press during his 2000 run for vice-president that he had a "firm policy" against doing business with Iraq. He admitted to doing business with Iran and Libya, but "Iraq's different," he said. Cheney told ABC TV: "We've not done any business in Iraq since UN sanctions were imposed on Iraq in 1990, and I had a standing policy that I wouldn't do that."
Three weeks later, Cheney was forced to admit the business ties, but claimed ignorance. He told reporters that he was not aware of Dresser's business in Iraq, and that besides, Halliburton had divested itself of both companies by 2000. In the meantime, the companies had done another $30m-worth of business in Iraq before being sold off.
Cheney manages to profit from the destruction AND rebuilding of Iraq! Now THAT'S good business sense: certainly not appeasement...if it's Cheney doing it.
Now if Kofi Annan's son gets a job because of someone Kofi talked to at a party, well...that's truly a travesty. Certainly, many would argue that only Republicans and their donors and political allies should even have jobs at all, much less make a lot of money. Remember how offended so many were at John Kerry's wealth? Ned Lamont must endure attacks for his large net-worth, and he didn't even seemingly deal with any forbidden terrorist regimes to earn it.
But perhaps I should give Cheney and Rummy (as well as Bush who may not know his family history) the benefit of the doubt. Maybe our leaders back in their Reagan days truly thought it was best for the Iranians' (who we were also secretly arming of course) welfare for them to be gassed. Cheney merely profited from suspect dealings with terrorist states to deplete their financial resources, and Halliburton donated their profits secretly to help the victims of these regimes. These are Republicans after all, not those appeasement-loving "Defeat-ocrats."