bruce, although i agree with alot of your posts, i respectfully disagree.
they did supply saddam with weapons during the iran/iraq war. it was only to stop the fanatical aiatola in iran from invading the oil fields. at the time it was the right thing to do.
It was not to stop the Ayotollahs from invading any oil fields. The purpose was to cause strife, instability, and to be a general pain in the Ayatollahs tush, preventing them from making any progress within their newly reclaimed nation. Despite their apology, their admission of wrong doing, their agreement to pay huge financial restitution to Iran, and blocking any lawsuits from Embassy hostages against Iran, ...the Republican administration of Reagan/Bush (which included the unholy cabal of Cheney, Rumsfeld, & Rice -- yep they were knee deep in it then just as now) was not content to lick it's wounds, accept American defeat in Iran, and start fresh. They wanted to ensure Iran was further destabilized after their boy's departure. So while they charged Rumsfeld with ensuring Iraq had plenty of weapons with which to attack Iran, and anyone else he chose, ...they
ALSO supplied IRAN with weapons as well. A quick defeat at the hands of Saddam wouldn't do... the war had to be so drawn out, bloody and protracted, that it robbed both nations of a generation of fighting men, and set both countries back decades. The money from the illegal & illicit arms sales to Iran (which was hidden from Congress) was used to fund
terrorists ...umm,
"Freedom Fighters" in South America. (At least Freedom Fighters is what Reagan, Bush Snr, and Ollie North called them... despite the fact that these
'freedom fighters' waged a campaign of terror attacking civilians with death squads, murdering & raping nuns, blowing up schools, hospitals, and attacking other infrastructure in an attempt to topple a democratically elected, populist government acting responsibly in the interests of their own country, and unwilling to enslave it's own population.
Please see: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=673946929268570136&hl=enSaddam was a tool, used to occupy Iran, keep it busy. When a nation's focus is on war and destruction, ...it has no time to better itself as a nation or provide for the needs of it's citizenry. The Iran/Iraq war existed to ensure the mutual destruction and debilitation of the economies and infrastructures of both countries, thereby preventing either one from progressing. And who was sitting pretty while all this was going on... the Saudi Arabians of course. However once, the war was over, and Iraq had all this weaponry courtesy of the USA, SA didn't feel so comfortable anymore, ...but how do you get rid of a tool like this, once he's fulfilled his purpose? Simple... you encourage him to invade and reclaim what was historically a part of his own country. The part the British partitioned in order to destabilized the region when
they themselves were forced to leave. You encourage him to invade with assurances you will look away and turn a blind eye to his actions. Then the minute he does... you lead a multi-national coalition against him, bomb his already decimated country into the stone ages, and pile crippling worldwide economic sanctions against his country for over a decade. And when finally you realize that despite all the careful preparation, groundwork and laser precise execution of your plans, ...this guy still isn't going down, ...that he has not only hit rock bottom, and survived, ...but to your horrors... you realize he has nowhere to go from there except up, ...you launch a massive psych-op against your own citizens to traumatize them enough so that their critical thinking skills temporarily cease to function optimally. You bombard them with graphic nightmares, evoking all kinds of anxieties which you exploit with relish, as they overload the frontal lobes, leaving only primitive primal responses of fear, void of rational critical thought, responses malleable to your desire to aggressively and illegally invade a sovereign nation of no threat to yourself, ...and get rid of the guy yourself. At least, that's what I would have done,
"...if I did it" 
So... in summary, ...then as know... the war between Iraq & Iran was not intended to produce a clear winner, ...but infact to ensure both sides were losers. It has been quite plausibly argued elsewhere, the same fate is immediately intended for both Iran as well as the American public.
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -- GWBush 
