Thursday, December 18, 2003
The United States Once Supported Saddam, Does it Matter?
A conservative friend raised the point: "Who cares if we supported Saddam?"
Well, I do.
It's an important point to bring up because if we don't know history, we're doomed to repeat it.
Propping up scumbags like Hussein is a HUGE problem and we continue to do it to this very day (Saudi Arabia???). We need to learn that we only add to the influence and power that these monsters possess when we take their side in ANY capacity.
It's also germane to the topic when you consider that the incident in 1988 when Saddam "gassed his own people" happened while we were on his side and then-President Ronald Reagan (the patron saint of all things conservative) did NOTHING about it.
Think about that...Bush and the fleet of conservative flaks (Hannity, Coulter, Limbaugh, etc...) used this instance freely during the march to war. It almost seemed like an involuntary reflex: "How can you support a man who gassed his own people? You hate America!"
Raising this issue suited Bush politically, but he never mentioned that Saint Ronnie and his own father, George H.W. Bush turned their heads when it happened. Not only that, Bush Sr. continued to provide support to Saddam during the early part of his Presidential term.
Why did Reagan veto The Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988 (co-sponsored by Al Gore and Jesse Helms...who woulda thunk it???) that passed the Senate unanimously and would have imposed sanctions on Iraq for using chemical weapons?
Reagan refused to apply consequence to Hussein at the time, in spite of the reports of thousands of Iraqi Kurds being killed instantaneously....Why?
We need to remember these things, because they can far too easily happen again...We also need to remember that others involved in shaping US policy in the 80's are still shaping our policy today.
Colin Powell was national security adviser to Reagan at the time of the alleged gas attack. Donald Rumsfeld was prominently involved in providing Saddam with the aid he needed. Dick Cheney was a prominent Congressman that could have supported sanctions against Iraq. None of them acted. Why?
These are questions conservatives dare not raise and cannot rationally answer....
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