Congressional Record - How Saddam Happened

[BRUCE]

Apologies for the monstrous document, no, I haven't had a chance to peruse over it yet - but I invite you all to do so.

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_cr/s092002.html

[ieffinhatecardio]

This is going to take a while to read but good job at least posting something. I was getting worried with all your dodging. Let's see if this holds up to what you said it would.

[BRUCE]

This is going to take a while to read but good job at least posting something. I was getting worried with all your dodging. Let's see if this holds up to what you said it would.

Please, I told you I would get you (more) evidence, and I did.  I look forward to your response.

[ieffinhatecardio]

I don't know if this has been posted before, if it has I apologize.

This quote is taken from Senator Robert Byrd from September 19, 2002 in an exchange with Secretary Rumsfeld.
Here is the link. http://hnn.us/articles/1283.html

I asked Secretary Rumsfeld:

    Mr. Secretary, to your knowledge, did the United States help Iraq to acquire the building blocks of biological weapons during the Iran-Iraq war? Are we in fact now facing the possibility of reaping what we have sewn?

The Secretary quickly and flatly denied any knowledge but said he would review Pentagon records. I suggest that the administration speed up that review. My concerns and the concerns of others have grown. A letter from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, which I shall submit for the Record, shows very clearly that the United States is, in fact, preparing to reap what it has sewn. A letter written in 1995 by former CDC Director David Satcher to former Senator Donald W. Riegle, Jr., points out that the U.S. Government provided nearly two dozen viral and bacterial samples to Iraqi scientists in 1985--samples that included the plague, botulism, and anthrax, among other deadly diseases. According to the letter from Dr. Satcher to former Senator Donald Riegle, many of the materials were hand carried by an Iraqi scientist to Iraq after he had spent 3 months training in the CDC laboratory. The Armed Services Committee is requesting information from the Departments of Commerce, State, and Defense on the history of the United States, providing the building blocks for weapons of mass destruction to Iraq. I recommend that the Department of Health and Human Services also be included in that request. The American people do not need obfuscation and denial. The American people need the truth. The American people need to know whether the United States is in large part responsible for the very Iraqi weapons of mass destruction which the administration now seeks to destroy. We may very well have created the monster that we seek to eliminate. The Senate deserves to know the whole story. The American people deserve answers to the whole story.

[BRUCE]

I don't know if this has been posted before, if it has I apologize.

This quote is taken from Senator Robert Byrd from September 19, 2002 in an exchange with Secretary Rumsfeld.
Here is the link. http://hnn.us/articles/1283.html

I asked Secretary Rumsfeld:

    Mr. Secretary, to your knowledge, did the United States help Iraq to acquire the building blocks of biological weapons during the Iran-Iraq war? Are we in fact now facing the possibility of reaping what we have sewn?

The Secretary quickly and flatly denied any knowledge but said he would review Pentagon records. I suggest that the administration speed up that review. My concerns and the concerns of others have grown. A letter from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, which I shall submit for the Record, shows very clearly that the United States is, in fact, preparing to reap what it has sewn. A letter written in 1995 by former CDC Director David Satcher to former Senator Donald W. Riegle, Jr., points out that the U.S. Government provided nearly two dozen viral and bacterial samples to Iraqi scientists in 1985--samples that included the plague, botulism, and anthrax, among other deadly diseases. According to the letter from Dr. Satcher to former Senator Donald Riegle, many of the materials were hand carried by an Iraqi scientist to Iraq after he had spent 3 months training in the CDC laboratory. The Armed Services Committee is requesting information from the Departments of Commerce, State, and Defense on the history of the United States, providing the building blocks for weapons of mass destruction to Iraq. I recommend that the Department of Health and Human Services also be included in that request. The American people do not need obfuscation and denial. The American people need the truth. The American people need to know whether the United States is in large part responsible for the very Iraqi weapons of mass destruction which the administration now seeks to destroy. We may very well have created the monster that we seek to eliminate. The Senate deserves to know the whole story. The American people deserve answers to the whole story.

It has, in my other thread.  It should be pointed out to whom, and why, these samples were given.  Keep reading for the answers.

[240 is Back]

It has, in my other thread.  It should be pointed out to whom, and why, these samples were given.  Keep reading for the answers.

SO you don't deny the following happened:

"A letter written in 1995 by former CDC Director David Satcher to former Senator Donald W. Riegle, Jr., points out that the U.S. Government provided nearly two dozen viral and bacterial samples to Iraqi scientists in 1985--samples that included the plague, botulism, and anthrax, among other deadly diseases. According to the letter from Dr. Satcher to former Senator Donald Riegle, many of the materials were hand carried by an Iraqi scientist to Iraq after he had spent 3 months training in the CDC laboratory. "

You just question the *intent* of the US in giving these diseases to Saddam?

By 1985, he had already committed some serious atrocities.  And they were the first choice of the US govt, to deliver these deadly strains?

Jeez, kinda naive of us.  We could have given them to any of the 300 nations on earth.   We chose to trust diseases to a murdereour dictator at war.

Do you believe this, Bruce?

[Dos Equis]

Where in the document does it specifically link the weapons used by Saddam on the Kurds? 

[240 is Back]

Where in the document does it specifically link the weapons used by Saddam on the Kurds? 

What in the world was Reagan's admin doing giving ANY KIND OF CHEMICAL WEAPON to saddam?

Don't feed us the bullshit about "but... medical reasons!" or "We don't know it was the same gas that killed thousands".

What the hell was Reagan/Rumsfeld doing giving any chem weapons to saddam?  Hell, he was at war with Iran.  And the day he entered office, he had publicly executed hudreds of potential enemies on national TV to make his point that dissension would not be tolerated.

Reagan gave him WMD anyway.  Can anyone please defend this action?  thanks!

[mightymouse72]

What in the world was Reagan's admin doing giving ANY KIND OF CHEMICAL WEAPON to saddam?

Don't feed us the bullshit about "but... medical reasons!" or "We don't know it was the same gas that killed thousands".

What the hell was Reagan/Rumsfeld doing giving any chem weapons to saddam?  Hell, he was at war with Iran.   And the day he entered office, he had publicly executed hudreds of potential enemies on national TV to make his point that dissension would not be tolerated.

Reagan gave him WMD anyway.  Can anyone please defend this action?  thanks!

you answered your own question. 
i highlighted in bold for your convenience.

[240 is Back]

you answered your own question. 
i highlighted in bold for your convenience.

SO we gave Saddam WMD to fight Iran?

Wait, I think Bruce told us we gave them WMD for "medical research".

[ieffinhatecardio]

SO we gave Saddam WMD to fight Iran?

Wait, I think Bruce told us we gave them WMD for "medical research".

Oops.

[240 is Back]

military and Bruce better work this one out

Either we armed a killer to gas his own people... or we were insanely irresponsible enough to arm him given his history.

Reagan was either evil (facilitating mass murder), or insanely stupid (giving a proven tyrant killer a great number of WMD while at war so he could do medical research?)


Which was it, guys?  Why did Reagan share WMD with a proven evil guy?

[mightymouse72]

when the  Aiatola "took over" Iran, there was a quest to spread Islamic radicals through the region.  And what would happen if they took over, 240 here's your favorite word, the oil trade?
 Reagan saw a way to control it without actually using our military. 
And at the time, yes we helped saddam defeat them.

[240 is Back]

when the  Aiatola "took over" Iran, there was a quest to spread Islamic radicals through the region.  And what would happen if they took over, 240 here's your favorite word, the oil trade?
 Reagan saw a way to control it without actually using our military. 
And at the time, yes we helped saddam defeat them.

This contradicts what Bruce said - that we only gave them WMD for medical research.

I'm fine with the oil trade.

But does Reagan hold any accountability for selling WMD on the world market to a tyrant at war?  The US would prompty nuke the shit out of Iran or NKorea if they tried that today

[mightymouse72]

we did bomb iran a few times after they invaded and try to destroy some oil fields.
that was about the extent of our involvement

[ieffinhatecardio]

when the  Aiatola "took over" Iran, there was a quest to spread Islamic radicals through the region.  And what would happen if they took over, 240 here's your favorite word, the oil trade?
 Reagan saw a way to control it without actually using our military. 
And at the time, yes we helped saddam defeat them.

Well, there it is. An admission from a conservative that we supplied Hussein with chemical weapons to use against other human beings, not for medical research.

[mightymouse72]

This contradicts what Bruce said - that we only gave them WMD for medical research.

I'm fine with the oil trade.

But does Reagan hold any accountability for selling WMD on the world market to a tyrant at war?  The US would prompty nuke the shit out of Iran or NKorea if they tried that today

hindsight is 20/20 bro.  you can't use what you know now against what has happened 25 years ago.  not in the politcal world anyway. 
times have changed. 

do you blame clinton for selling N. korea nuclear technology??

[Dos Equis]

Where in the document does it specifically link the weapons used by Saddam on the Kurds? 

Bump?  The issue is whether we, knowingly or unknowingly, provided WMDs to Saddam that he then used on the Kurds. 

[240 is Back]

hindsight is 20/20 bro.  you can't use what you know now against what has happened 25 years ago.  not in the politcal world anyway. 
times have changed. 

do you blame clinton for selling N. korea nuclear technology??

If clinton did it, yes.

I was under the believe the Rumsfeld did this in 1999 in the pvt sector.  Is this wrong?

[ribonucleic]

Reagan was either evil (facilitating mass murder), or insanely stupid (giving a proven tyrant killer a great number of WMD while at war so he could do medical research?)

W. provides further proof that the two are not mutually exclusive.

[240 is Back]

Either we armed a killer to gas his own people... or we were insanely irresponsible enough to arm him given his history.

Reagan was either evil (facilitating mass murder), or insanely stupid (giving a proven tyrant killer a great number of WMD while at war so he could do medical research?)

bruce, can you explain this one? 

[ribonucleic]

bruce, can you explain this one? 

To BRUCE and his ilk, when the Supreme Leader says someone is Bad, it justifies any action against them - with any moral or sane considerations of other consequences not merely suspended, but labeled treasonous to even discuss.

Saves a lot of wear-and-tear on the old brainpan that way.

[mightymouse72]

bruce, can you explain this one? 

To BRUCE and his ilk, when the Supreme Leader says someone is Bad, it justifies any action against them - with any moral or sane considerations of other consequences not merely suspended, but labeled treasonous to even discuss.

Saves a lot of wear-and-tear on the old brainpan that way.

Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunn

[Dos Equis]

Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunn

lol!  Clever.  I had to look that up.     (Dumb and Dumber)

[240 is Back]

mighty,

the irony is that you're calling me dumb.  Where are you and where I am today?