I'm sure many of you know this, but Donald Rumsfeld was Reagan's special envoy to the Middle East during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, during which Saddam regularly used chemical weapons. The following paragraph, and the photo (which many of you have seen), are from the George Washington University NSA archives article, "
Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984".
The U.S., which followed developments in the Iran-Iraq war with extraordinary intensity, had intelligence confirming Iran's accusations, and describing Iraq's "almost daily" use of chemical weapons, concurrent with its policy review and decision to support Iraq in the war... The intelligence indicated that Iraq used chemical weapons against Iranian forces, and, according to a November 1983 memo, against "Kurdish insurgents" as well...
(That's Rumsfeld on the left.)
Now, I'm not sure how many of you have been following the "Chemical Frans" story, so here's some very brief background. A little over a year ago, Frans van Anraat was arrested in Amsterdam on the charges that he had supplied Saddam Hussein with a compound [thiodiglycol] used to make mustard gas, which in turn was used in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, resulting in many casualties. van Anraat was therefore nicknamed "Chemical Frans" (mentioned here).
Although van Anraat was wanted by the US for years, it is important to note that UNSCOM (the UN weapons inspectors) documented van Anraat's sales of chemicals to Iraq; obviously, the inspectors were independent, and and therefore were not strong-armed by the US into documenting a source of WMD materials.
Today, "Chemical Frans" was sentenced to 15 years in prison, the maximum sentence possible:
A court jailed a Dutch businessman for 15 years on Friday after finding him guilty of complicity in war crimes for selling chemicals to Iraq used to carry out gas attacks, but acquitted him of genocide charges.
The court said Frans van Anraat, 63, supplied the raw materials knowing they would be used to make poison gas by Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1980-1988 war with Iran.
Poison gas was also used against Iraq's own Kurdish population, including an attack on the town of Halabja in 1988.
"His deliveries facilitated the attacks and constitute a very serious war crime. He cannot counter with the argument that this would have happened even without his contribution," presiding judge Roel van Rossum told a packed court.
The article mentions that van Anraat is the first Dutchman to be tried on genocide-related charges, and that even after seeing the footage of the Halabja attacks, he was "unrepentant" and still wanted to export thiodiglycol to Iraq.
I can't imagine Rumsfeld feels much remorse about his role in the US' dealings with Saddam Hussein. Clearly, Rumsfeld is enjoying a life of freedom he does not deserve.
Comments are closed on this story.