Saddam Hussein - United States relations

Former U.S. diplomats, British scholars and former U.S. intelligence officials have confirmed that Saddam Hussein was appeased by different United States governments. Saddam Hussein was seen in the past by the U.S. as a bulwark of anti-communism in the 60's, and as a counterweight to Iran in the 80's. They used him as their instrument for more than 40 years.Sale, Richard. [http://www.webcitation.org/5asrxaUsF Saddam Key in Early CIA Plot] UPI. 2003] [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/08/31/the_true_iraq_appeasers/ The true Iraq appeasers] Boston.com] The Hussein-U.S. alliance came to an end in 1990 when Hussein invaded Kuwait.

Coup against Qassim

Hussein's first contacts with U.S. officials date back to 1959, when he was part of a CIA-authorized six-man squad tasked with assassinating then Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul Karim Qassim. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/oct/24/iraq.comment John Casey: If Hussein goes, bring back the king | World news | The Guardian ] ]

Iraq was then regarded as a key buffer and strategic asset in the Cold War with the Soviet Union. In the mid-1950s, Iraq was quick to join the anti-Soviet Baghdad Pact which was to defend the region and whose members included Turkey, Britain, Iran and Pakistan. Qassim's sudden decision to withdraw from the pact in 1959 was an act that "freaked everybody out" according to a former senior U.S. State Department official.

Hussein, while only in his early 20s, became a part of a U.S. plot to get rid of Qassim. Hussein was installed in an apartment in Baghdad on al-Rashid Street directly opposite Qassim's office in Iraq's Ministry of Defense, to observe Qassim's movements. The move was done with full knowledge of the CIA, and Hussein's CIA handler was an Iraqi dentist working for CIA and Egyptian intelligence.

The assassination was set for Oct. 7, 1959, but it was completely botched; the 22-year-old Hussein lost his nerve and began firing too soon, killing Qassim's driver and only wounding Qassim in the shoulder and arm, Qassim escaped death. Hussein was shot in the leg, but escaped to Tikrit with the help of CIA and Egyptian intelligence agents. Hussein then crossed into Syria and was transferred by Egyptian intelligence agents to Beirut, the CIA paid for Hussein's apartment and put him through a brief training course, the agency then helped him get to Cairo, where he made frequent visits to the American embassy. During this time the CIA placed him in an upper-class apartment observed by CIA and Egyptian operatives.

In February 1963 Qassim was killed in a Baath Party coup. Provided with information by the CIA, the Baath Party hunted down suspected communists. They then jailed, interrogated, and summarily gunned them down. Many suspected communists were killed outright. An exact toll is not known, but accounts indicate that among the victims were hundreds of doctors, teachers, technicians, lawyers, and other professionals. These numbers also include military and political figures. Saddam Hussein himself was said to have participated in the killings. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9505EFDB103EF937A25750C0A9659C8B63 New York Times - A Tyrant 40 Years in the Making] ] There was an exchange of information between the Ba'ath and the CIA; for the first time, the United States was able to get models of certain Mig fighters and tanks made in the Soviet Union. That was what the Ba'ath had to offer the United States in return for their help in eliminating Qassim. [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saddam/interviews/aburish.html frontline: the survival of saddam: secrets of his life and leadership: interview with said k. aburish ] ]

The United States also sent arms to the new regime, weapons later used against the same Kurdish insurgents the United States had backed against Qassim and then abandoned. Soon, Western corporations like Mobil, Bechtel and British Petroleum were doing business with Baghdad -- for American firms, their first major involvement in Iraq.

But it wasn't long before there was infighting among Iraq's new rulers. In 1968, the CIA encouraged a palace revolt among Baath party elements led by long-time Hussein mentor Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr.cite news|url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0420-05.htm|title=Ex-U.S. Official Says CIA Aided Baathists|author=David Morgan|publisher=Reuters|date=April 20, 2003] Hussein's rise to leadership took a significant step in November 1969 when he assumed a number of senior posts in the Ba'ath Party and Iraqi government. The British embassy in Baghdad described Hussein as "the recognized heir-apparent" and "young," with an "engaging smile," "a formidable, single-minded and hard-headed member of the Ba'athist hierarchy, but one with whom, if only one could see more of him, it would be possible to do business". [ [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB107/index.htm The National Security Archive - Saddam Hussein: More Secret History (document 2)] ] In 1979, Hussein formally assumed the presidency when al-Bakr turned over the reins of power to his ambitious protégé.

Said Aburish, journalist and writer, believes that Hussein and the CIA had a common enemy -- Qassim. He believes that their alliance was for the duration of getting rid of Qassim, and it was not an alliance of permanent nature.

Iraq-Iran war

According to Said Aburish, Hussein made a visit to Amman in the year 1979, before the Iran–Iraq War, where he met three senior CIA agents. He discussed with them his plans to invade Iran.

In 1980, Iraq started the war with a blitzkrieg attack. The tide had turned by 1982 in favor of much larger Iran, and the Reagan administration was afraid Iraq might lose. Reagan chose Donald Rumsfeld as his emissary to Hussein, whom he visited in December 1983 and March 1984.

After the visit, the Reagan administration offered Hussein financial credits that eventually made Iraq the third-largest recipient of US assistance. The CIA and DIA relation with Hussein intensified. The CIA regularly sent a team to Hussein to deliver battlefield intelligence obtained from Saudi AWACS surveillance aircraft, Iraq used this information to target Iranian troops with chemical weapons.

Under President George H.W. Bush, the U.S. doubled its financial credits for Iraq. Dick Cheney, who was secretary of defense and a statutory member of the National Security Council that reviewed Iraq policy, supported the administration's appeasement policy.

Kuwait pre-Invasion

has declined to comment on its accuracy.

Glaspie was quoted saying to Hussein : [ [http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/glaspie.html US Ambassador April Glaspie's Interview with Pres. Saddam Hussein, July 25 1990 ] ] cquote|bgcolor=#FFFFE7|But we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait.

I was in the American Embassy in Kuwait during the late 60's. The instruction we had during this period was that we should express no opinion on this issue and that the issue is not associated with America. James Baker has directed our official spokesmen to emphasize this instruction. We hope you can solve this problem using any suitable methods via Klibi or via President Mubarak. All that we hope is that these issues are solved quickly.

And then:

Author Barry M. Lando notes of this meeting, that despite growing concern within the US intelligence community that hostile military forces were planning to annex Kuwait's northern oil field, and whilst General Norman Schwartzkopf had offered the Kuwaitis private assurances they would "come to their rescue" if attacked, the Americans made no public declaration nor communicated a single word of warning to Saddam Hussein's government. [Lando, Barry. "Web of Deceit: The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George W. Bush", Other Press, January 17, 2007]

The expressed position of neutrality coming at a critical point in time, further underscored at James Baker's direction, is viewed by some with suspicion; with others believing it was "deception" or a "green light" to the Iraqi dictatorship, facilitating a military attack.

Tariq Aziz told PBS "Frontline" in 1996 how the Iraqi leadership was under "no illusion" about America's affairs in the region: "She [Glaspie] didn't tell us anything strange. She didn't tell us in the sense that we concluded that the Americans will not retaliate. That was nonsense you see. It was nonsense to think that the Americans would not attack us." ["The Gulf War", PBS, January 9, 1996]

End of alliance

The Hussein-U.S.A alliance of convenience came to an end at 2 a.m. Aug. 2, 1990, when 100,000 Iraqi troops, backed by 300 tanks, invaded Kuwait. America's one-time ally had become its bitterest enemy.

Early next year, American, French and British war planes bombed Iraq for weeks. The world had joined forces to defeat Saddam Hussein and soon victory was at hand. When the Gulf War ended in 1991, Hussein was allowed to remain in power. But with severe limitations: U.S. war planes flew non-stop missions over Iraq to deny Hussein the ability to attack fellow Iraqis who opposed him. And the UN ordered him to use Iraqi oil money for badly needed food and medicine, not weapons. [ [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/31/sunday/main2318319.shtml A Look Back At Saddam's Reign , The Former U.S. Ally Became The Nation's Most Famous Enemy - CBS News ] ] In 2003, coalition forces, led by the United States, invaded Iraq. The U.S. military developed a set of playing cards to help troops identify the most-wanted men in Iraq, Hussein was the Ace of Spades; most wanted man.

Hussein was Captured by U.S. forces on December 13, 2003, he was brought to trial under the Iraqi interim government set up by U.S.-led forces. On November 5, 2006, he was convicted of charges related to the executions of 148 Iraqi Shi'ites suspected of planning an assassination attempt against him, and was sentenced to death by hanging. Hussein was executed on December 30, 2006. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6218485.stm BBC NEWS | Middle East | Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq ] ]

Peter W. Galbraith, a former US ambassador to Croatia says:

Hussein, having watched the United States gloss over his crimes in the Iran war and at home, concluded he could get away with invading Kuwait.

It was a costly error for him, for his country, and eventually for the United States, which now has the largest part of its military bogged down in the Iraqi quagmire. Meanwhile the architects of the earlier appeasement policy now maintain the illusion that they have a path to victory.

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