Dec 29 2006
The Hanging Of Saddam Hussein
Major Update: It is done – good riddance Saddam. May you face in death the millions of people you brutally murdered over your pathetic lifetime. Some thoughts. Saddam’s passing will lift a cloud from Iraq and its new government and give the democratic government some serious street credibility. The liberal left has taken a huge hit if watching CNN and Alan Colmes on Fox is any indication. Colmes was obsessed with the idea Saddam would be a hero to some. I guess he just missed all the holocaust denials and those who, to this day, praise and pray for the return of Hitler and Stalin. Sad, but these pathetic humans do exist. And Peter Arnaut was on CNN claiming Saddam was senile and the only reason we took Iraq was his sons did not have his military genius. America is going to be watching the Democrats – and if the liberal media is any indication there is a good chance they will blow this. Saddam’s shadow was felt here in the US most of my life – and all of my adult life. His passing was also felt a half a world away here in the US. One can only imagine the power of the impact in Iraq.
Update: Keep an eye on the reporting from Iraq by Iraq The Model as event unfold with Saddam’s hanging. – end update
All I have to say on the matter is good riddence, and the world is a much better place. But I will explain why I have no pity for Hussein. He had no pity for anyone else. No one should forget how he came to power – as a murderous thug. His ascendecy over Iraq began with a staged-crafted purge of his political enemies:
He knew when to kill his enemies and when to compromise them. In the purge that followed Saddam’s final assumption of the presidency, for example, ranking members of government were arrested not in secrecy, but at public meetings. And then their colleagues — ministers and party leaders — were ordered to make up the firing squads. They were made part of the terror.
If you have ever seen the video of this act it is chilling to the bone. Purging his enemies was a special gift of Saddam’s. He started two major wars with Iran and Kuwait resulting in the deaths of millions. But his signature atrocity against humanity was the gassing of his own people. I find myself feeling less for this animal than I would an actual animal dying. The man was brutal, insane and dangerous. It was only a matter of time before he was able to obtain the WMDs he needed to ravage this world. While the lefties will defend Saddam as a saint before crediting Bush with removing one of history’s most evil figures, that just illustrates how deranged the left is in this country. They see Bush as worst than Saddam. Thankfully that warped view of reality is held only by a petty minority. Anyone who opines for Saddam is crazy or sick. The rape rooms and children’s torture chambers are closed, as are the mass graves of his victims. The world is a much better place now.
Update: The best I have seen on this matter in the Blogosphere is, not surprisingly, by Rick Moran. As usual he and I see things very much the same way. He just says it better.
Ken
Why am I not surprised that you are so up on Lenin dates.
Wear it well.
Ken: I’ve had to destroy dozens of other Jacobite Anti-American/Pro-Jihadi supporters like yourself, on other Blogs, spewing the absolute Leftist and Democratic canards that you’ve spewed out of that sewer you call a mouth, in this thread, and I’m up for the challenge here, as well!
Post ONE FACT, that you have, that the US Govt did what you said, which is “supported and financed” Saddam throughout much of his reign, including “anthrax”!
ONE FACT, one LINK to FACT’s PLEASE!
Not Leftist Bullshit, Leftist canards, Leftist Fantasy and Delusions, ONE FACT, please?
I’m waiting…
Dear Raging Moonbats:
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI.org), the top supplier of arms to Iraq from 1975 up to the invasion is not the U.S., but the Soviet Union / Russia.
You can look at the data here:
http://www.sipri.org/contents/armstrad/access.html#irq
Russia supplied over 54% of arms imports to Iraq during this period; France comes in second at over 13%, China at 12%. The United States is a distant eighth on the list, supplying 0.59% of Iraqs arms during the same period.
Now, the data shows conventional arms transfers only. The problem with chemical weapons is that much of the technology is “dual use”, meaning it can be used for non-weapon applications (like agricultural pest control, etc.).
The overtly military elements of the technology (like delivery systems) can also be used for conventional weapons (like artillery shells).
Given the above, it seems much more likely that the “top three” suppliers were in a much better position to deliver chemical-nuclear-biological technology and hardware to Iraq than the U.S.
What the U.S. did supply to Iraq was intellegence during its war with Iran, which is not the same thing as giving Saddam CNB weapons and/or technology.
If you have details or specific data supporting the assertion that the U.S. “armed Saddam” then please cite your sources.
Barbara you are absolutely correct. All the Arab countries treat Palestinians like second classs citizens. In Jordan although they compose a big part of the poplulation they are kept in ghettos and are not allowed citizenship.It sounds to me like the dems and minorities. They want their vote and kept in welfare so they can be subdued.
Arafat was a thief living like a king while the Palestinians lived in squalor. Ms. Arafat controlled all their money.
Rosenkreutz, there were a lot of good legitamate reasons to execute Saddam Hussein, but the most important factor which you overlooked, is that he could have escaped. He still had a large number of Baathist supporters in the govt and the police departments that might have helped him slip away. I think that is the fear that has kept many Iraqis from speaking out and supporting the new government to begin with. They were afraid that if he escaped and led the insurgency back to power, there would be a bloodbath. This had to happen go give closure to these people. They had to know he was NEVER coming back. I will go against the common blather and predict that things will greatly improve after this. The execution of Saddam was a closure of a dark door that will never be re-opened.
Bikerken, I agree there were good practical reasons to execute him, and I hope it will make the situation better. I just personally find capital punishment barbaric.
Ken,
We are all anxiously waiting. Where’s the link?
Strata
“Saddam’s passing will lift a cloud from Iraq and its new government and give the democratic government some serious street credibility”
Nope, not a chance.
“All I have to say on the matter is good riddence, and the world is a much better place”
Nope, not even Iraq itself which the US invasion has transmogrified into a anarchial bloody mess, with even many of Saddam’s enemies longing for his admittedly cruel rule by way of comparison.
Bikerken
” I will go against the common blather and predict that things will greatly improve after this.”
Just another (non) “turning point” in a growing list
that people like you were confident represented the light at the end of the tunnel.
TrainingwheelBikerken
“Thank you George W. Bush! I appreciate what you and our fine armed forces have done. From now on, the wackjobs in the middle east have to realize the rest of the world really is fed up with their crap.”
The Shias in power in Iraq represent those who already have imposed harsher laws in many avenues of national life, eg for women, than Saddam. The penalties for disobeying the broad swath of these laws
is, on the whole, harsher. They more than qualify for
your (but not my) definition of “whack jobs.”
Other than that, Palestinians under Hamas Lebanon, Syria and Iran are all ruled by a stronger and more numerous version of whom you but not I call
“whack jobs.”Iran in particular does not feel
intimidated in the least as Bush’s has empowered
both it and Syria with his botched invasion.
You’re not ready to discard the training wheeels.
The quack Doctor says
“Arafat was a thief living like a king while the Palestinians lived in squalor. Ms. Arafat controlled all their money.”
Hamas might agree with the first part, but note,
Arafat’s like was brimming with danger and he did not
“live like a king” during much of it including when he had much money at his disposal. Nor did he have
“all the money.” Hamas and other Arafat rivals had
quite a chunk of it. I take no sides in internal
Palestinian disputes, I’m just here to correct
ignorant statements.
Crewdog: thanks for that; that’s always the First issue I destroy the Anti-American/Pro-Jihadis like Ken on, after they all start repeating the Leftist Mantra: “we created Saddam, we armed Saddam, we created Bin Laden, we armed Bin Laden…..”…ad naseum…
dj elliott, who posts on this board sometimes, and I served together out in the Arabian Gulf during a crucial time, during ’88, when we were actually in a Shooting War with Iranian forces; look up “Operation Praying Mantis”, on the Wiki, to find out more!
I was not part of the actual delegation that went to Baghdad, to explore closer relations with the Iraqis, vis a vis the Iranians; but I KNEW all the members of the Delegation, and I spoke to them extensively, after they came back.
Their recommendation up the chain of command was unanimou; despite the fact it appeared at that moment, that the Iraqis and Us had a mutual enemey in the Iranians, and that it was thus advantageous for us to “cooperate”; in fact, it was likely, that in the long run, the GREATEST danger to us, and to the Middle East in general, was in fact, the Iraqis, and in particular, Saddam Hussein!!
Pretty interesting huh?
As a result, we SEVERLY restricted our contacts with the Iraqis, remember, they had just supposedly “accidently” struck the USS Stark some months before.
But we kept our contacts, our exchange of “intel” and information to a BARE MINIMUM, and only to the level that we felt it was necessary to keep another of our ships from getting “accidently” attacked by Iraqi forces.
All these Leftist lies, and delusions, about US Government Cooperation, at a Strategic level, us supplying arms, WMD, etc., to Saddam, for decades, the CIA putting Saddam in power, etc., are just all that, DELUSION!
The ONLY thing they can point to as “evidence”, is that Cheney and Rumsfield either made some “nice” comments about Saddam in an effort to use him against the Iranians at a Strategic and Diplomatic level, or that Saddam, thru th spending of Billions of Dollars, and multiple Front Companies, Arms Dealers, and Export violations, managed to fool a couple of US Private companies, into giving him extremely SMALL samples of dual-use items, such as some Anthrax Spores from one biolab, if I remember correctly!
That’s it! I have challenged Ken on this board, and have challenged, and destroyed and embarrassed other Pro-Jihadi Leftists like Ken, to PROVE to me otherwise, and they cannot, because it doesn’t exist.
Additionally, I later spent weeks in Northern Iraq, with the Kurds, during 1991.
I found tens of thousands of TONS of munitions, and supplies, belonging to Iraqi forces, and watched as American & British military forces destroyed them.
I saw tens of thousands of TONS of munitions from: Russia, China, Czechoslovakia, NBC equipment from Germany!; Thousands of Landmines from Italy!; thousands of AK-47’s from a country that NEVER gets tied into supplying Iraq, and that is CUBA, and even Tactical Radio equipment from BRITAIN, being used by the Iraqis.
But it’s funny, in that ENTIRE time, I never saw ONE, single, solitary Bullet, weapon, or single solitary piece of equipment, being used by the Iraqis, that came from the US!
Wonder why that was?????
Crewdog, please go over to http://www.rightwingnuthouse.com, and go to Rick Moran’s first post, and comment #18; there is another Lunar Chiroptera that needs destroyed!
Daleinatlanta
Read it and weep.
Home|Art & Culture|History|Iran’s Guide|Podium
Arming Iraq: A Chronology of U.S. Involvement
By: John King, March 2003
What follows is an accurate chronology of United States involvement in the arming of Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war 1980-88. It is a powerful indictment of the president Bush administration attempt to sell war as a component of his war on terrorism. It reveals US ambitions in Iraq to be just another chapter in the attempt to regain a foothold in the Mideast following the fall of the Shah of Iran.
rming Iraq and the Path to War
A crisis always has a history, and the current crisis with Iraq is no exception. Below are some relevant dates.
September, 1980. Iraq invades Iran. The beginning of the Iraq-Iran war. [8]
February, 1982. Despite objections from congress, President Reagan removes Iraq from its list of known terrorist countries. [1]
December, 1982. Hughes Aircraft ships 60 Defender helicopters to Iraq. [9]
1982-1988. Defense Intelligence Agency provides detailed information for Iraq on Iranian deployments, tactical planning for battles, plans for air strikes and bomb damage assessments. [4]
November, 1983. A National Security Directive states that the U.S would do “whatever was necessary and legal” to prevent Iraq from losing its war with Iran. [1] & [15]
November, 1983. Banca Nazionale del Lavoro of Italy and its Branch in Atlanta begin to funnel $5 billion in unreported loans to Iraq. Iraq, with the blessing and official approval of the US government, purchased computer controlled machine tools, computers, scientific instruments, special alloy steel and aluminum, chemicals, and other industrial goods for Iraq’s missile, chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs. [14]
October, 1983. The Reagan Administration begins secretly allowing Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Egypt to transfer United States weapons, including Howitzers, Huey helicopters, and bombs to Iraq. These shipments violated the Arms Export Control Act. [16]
November 1983. George Schultz, the Secretary of State, is given intelligence reports showing that Iraqi troops are daily using chemical weapons against the Iranians. [1]
Donald Rumsfeld -Reagan’s Envoy- provided Iraq with
chemical & biological weapons
December 20, 1983. Donald Rumsfeld , then a civilian and now Defense Secretary, meets with Saddam Hussein to assure him of US friendship and materials support. [1] & [15]
July, 1984. CIA begins giving Iraq intelligence necessary to calibrate its mustard gas attacks on Iranian troops. [19]
January 14, 1984. State Department memo acknowledges United States shipment of “dual-use” export hardware and technology. Dual use items are civilian items such as heavy trucks, armored ambulances and communications gear as well as industrial technology that can have a military application. [2]
March, 1986. The United States with Great Britain block all Security Council resolutions condemning Iraq’s use of chemical weapons, and on March 21 the US becomes the only country refusing to sign a Security Council statement condemning Iraq’s use of these weapons. [10]
May, 1986. The US Department of Commerce licenses 70 biological exports to Iraq between May of 1985 and 1989, including at least 21 batches of lethal strains of anthrax. [3]
May, 1986. US Department of Commerce approves shipment of weapons grade botulin poison to Iraq. [7]
March, 1987. President Reagan bows to the findings of the Tower Commission admitting the sale of arms to Iran in exchange for hostages. Oliver North uses the profits from the sale to fund an illegal war in Nicaragua. [17]
Late 1987. The Iraqi Air Force begins using chemical agents against Kurdish resistance forces in northern Iraq. [1]
February, 1988. Saddam Hussein begins the “Anfal” campaign against the Kurds of northern Iraq. The Iraq regime used chemical weapons against the Kurds killing over 100,000 civilians and destroying over 1,200 Kurdish villages. [8]
April, 1988. US Department of Commerce approves shipment of chemicals used in manufacture of mustard gas. [7]
August, 1988. Four major battles were fought from April to August 1988, in which the Iraqis massively and effectively used chemical weapons to defeat the Iranians. Nerve gas and blister agents such as mustard gas are used. By this time the US Defense Intelligence Agency is heavily involved with Saddam Hussein in battle plan assistance, intelligence gathering and post battle debriefing. In the last major battle with of the war, 65,000 Iranians are killed, many with poison gas. Use of chemical weapons in war is in violation of the Geneva accords of 1925. [6] & [13]
August, 1988. Iraq and Iran declare a cease fire. [8]
August, 1988. Five days after the cease fire Saddam Hussein sends his planes and helicopters to northern Iraq to begin massive chemical attacks against the Kurds. [8]
September, 1988. US Department of Commerce approves shipment of weapons grade anthrax and botulinum to Iraq. [7]
September, 1988. Richard Murphy, Assistant Secretary of State: “The US-Iraqi relationship is… important to our long-term political and economic objectives.” [15]
December, 1988. Dow chemical sells $1.5 million in pesticides to Iraq despite knowledge that these would be used in chemical weapons. [1]
July 25, 1990. US Ambassador to Baghdad meets with Hussein to assure him that President Bush “wanted better and deeper relations”. Many believe this visit was a trap set for Hussein. A month later Hussein invaded Kuwait thinking the US would not respond. [12]
August, 1990 Iraq invades Kuwait. The precursor to the Gulf War. [8]
July, 1991 The Financial Times of London reveals that a Florida chemical company had produced and shipped cyanide to Iraq during the 80’s using a special CIA courier. Cyanide was used extensively against the Iranians. [11]
August, 1991. Christopher Droguol of Atlanta’s branch of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro is arrested for his role in supplying loans to Iraq for the purchase of military supplies. He is charged with 347 counts of felony. Droguol is found guilty, but US officials plead innocent of any knowledge of his crime. [14]
June, 1992. Ted Kopple of ABC Nightline reports: “It is becoming increasingly clear that George Bush Sr., operating largely behind the scenes throughout the 1980’s, initiated and supported much of the financing, intelligence, and military help that built Saddam’s Iraq into [an aggressive power].” [5]
July, 1992. “The Bush administration deliberately, not inadvertently, helped to arm Iraq by allowing U.S. technology to be shipped to Iraqi military and to Iraqi defense factories… Throughout the course of the Bush administration, U.S. and foreign firms were granted export licenses to ship U.S. technology directly to Iraqi weapons facilities despite ample evidence showing that these factories were producing weapons.” Representative Henry Gonzalez, Texas, testimony before the House. [18]
February, 1994. Senator Riegle from Michigan, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, testifies before the senate revealing large US shipments of dual-use biological and chemical agents to Iraq that may have been used against US troops in the Gulf War and probably was the cause of the illness known as Gulf War Syndrome. [7]
August, 2002. “The use of gas [during the Iran-Iraq war] on the battle field by the Iraqis was not a matter of deep strategic concern… We were desperate to make sure that Iraq did not lose”. Colonel Walter Lang, former senior US Defense Intelligence officer tells the New York Times. [4]
This chronology of the United States’ sordid involvement in the arming of Iraq can be summarized in this way: The United States used methods both legal and illegal to help build Saddam’s army into the most powerful army in the Mideast outside of Israel. The US supplied chemical and biological agents and technology to Iraq when it knew Iraq was using chemical weapons against the Iranians. The US supplied the materials and technology for these weapons of mass destruction to Iraq at a time when it was know that Saddam was using this technology to kill his Kurdish citizens. The United States supplied intelligence and battle planning information to Iraq when those battle plans included the use of cyanide, mustard gas and nerve agents. The United States blocked UN censure of Iraq’s use of chemical weapons. The United States did not act alone in this effort. The Soviet Union was the largest weapons supplier, but England, France and Germany were also involved in the shipment of arms and technology.
References:
Washingtonpost.com. December 30, 2002
Jonathan Broder. Nuclear times, Winter 1990-91
Kurt Nimno. AlterNet. September 23, 2002
Newyorktimes.com. August 29, 2002
ABC Nightline. June9, 1992
Counter Punch, October 10, 2002
Riegle Report: Dual Use Exports. Senate Committee on Banking. May 25, 1994
Timeline: A walk Through Iraq’s History. U.S. Department of State
Doing Business: The Arming of Iraq. Daniel Robichear
Glen Rangwala. Labor Left Briefing, 16 September, 2002
Financial Times of London. July 3, 1991
Elson E. Boles. Counter Punch. October 10, 2002
Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988. Iranchamber.com
Columbia Journalism Review. March/April 1993. Iraqgate
Times Online. December 31, 2002. How U.S. Helped Iraq Build Deadly Arsenal
Bush’s Secret Mission. The New Yorker Magazine. November 2, 1992
Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia: Iran-Contra Affair
Congressional Record. July 27, 1992. Representative Henry B. Gonzalez
Bob Woodward. CIA Aiding Iraq in Gulf War. Washington Post. 15 December, 1986
Case Study: The Anfal Campaign. http://www.gendercide.com
Barbee
“And I will tell you why the other Arab states would not aid these people. They wanted to keep them in poverty and squalor as a rallying cry for the other Arabs against the Jews. In other words they used the Palestinian people.”
Most of the time when Jewish racists and their gullible supporters say this, they mean that other Arab nations should have welcomed Palestinians with open arms and assimilated them. But the large majority of the Palestinians never have wanted to
become citizens of other countries-they have wanted
to live in their stolen Palestine. And weren’t you complaining that Saddam did “aid” the “terrorist” Palestinians? Other Arab countries have given them foreign aid, whether enough or not, it is not for me or you to say. We do know America has made enemies of the entire Arab world by its aid to Israel…
Rooonenti
Bush has a 20% war support in supposedly “winning”
his battle with Hussein.
He “lost” in the view of 80%, with more to come as
America’s position in Iraq deteriorates further,
which it will if it stays.
MerlinOS2
Why am I not surprised that ignorance of basic historical facts about recent American wars doesn’t have the slightest effect on you?
I notice that Ken is having to post a lot today. I wonder why?
🙂
Go George! And our magnificent military! And the 11 million Iraqi’s who risked death to VOTE for democracy! Thank you for removing this cancer on our earth.
And maybe this will give hope and courage to those who wish for freedom…such as the Iranians (not so)underground these days…and many others in the Middle East and in N.K.
To those here that feel sorrow that Saddam is gone:
L – losers, you lose!
W – GW wins, we win!
Get a life losers. Anyone that posts 15 or more times on this thread with pathetic moanings and ignorance has no life – meaning no significant other, no friends, no hobbies and no other outlets. I guess that makes anyone like this a loser.
Idontthaveit asks, “I notice that Ken is having to post a lot today. I wonder why?”
Try reading the posts of the people I’ve corrected-like the
pompous fool who claimed America did not arm Iraq against
Iran.
Mark78 , that also means you.
Idonthaveitgetshisowncorrection
“Go George! And our magnificent military! And the 11 million Iraqi’s who risked death to VOTE for democracy!”
“Democracy” has nothing to do with voting for religious and ethnic slates rather than individual candidates. And the latest polls of Iraqis
show they have little faith in the ability of those they elected to
stabilize Iraq. Got another foolish cheerlead?