Saddam

[thx1138]

US provided satellite intelligence to Iraq pinpointing Iranian targets. The US was far more pissed off at Iran for deposing the their lackey (shah of Iran). and of course the embarrassment of the hostage taking provided additional impetus. Why would the US provide weapons to Iran? Although I do recall a deal was brokered by Bush senior to send weapons to Iran provided they held the hostages until after the 1980 presidential election. The hostages were released the next day after Reagan was elected. Perhaps this is what you were referring to.

[Rogers]

Perhaps this is what you were referring to.

Who is "you"?

[thx1138]

I was talking to hippie NOT you.

[thx1138]

OK, I see what happened. This orignal post was a reply to Hippie on the topic "your thoughts". Don't know how it got it's own thread.

[hippifried]

No! That's not what I'm referring to at all, because none of that is known fact.

The hostages were released on inauguration day, in January 1981. Carter didn't attend Reagan's inauguration, because he was on his way to Germany to meet them, at Reagan's request.

Iran/Contra was an arms deal with Iran, supposedly to get them to put pressure on Hezbollah to release some hostages in Lebanon. The sales were made through Israel (strange because the battle cry of the Iranian army was "All the way to Jeruselem!".), & the front money was bankrolled by H Ross Perot. The front men were ret Gens John Singlaub & Richard Secord. They sold TOW, Hawk, & Stinger missiles to Iran. The money was shuffled through Swiss banks to Columbia, where it bought cocain that was flown into the US under NSC clearance. Then they set up crack factories on both coasts, bankrolling both the Crips & the Bloods, & starting a gang war that's in a tenuous cease fire today. Those profits were used to buy & stockpile US surplus arms. It all started to unravel when some exiled Iraqi militant group, that got branded as Iranian, started a new wave of terrorist attacks, & the Israelis balked. So the gun runner gang at the NSC decided to get greedy & sell direct. A couple of high mucky mucks in arms manufacturing got caught in an FBI sting. DOJ wasn't in the loop, & they figured they had unearthed a big batch of traitors who were selling arms to Iran. Oops! ...& the dominos tumbled all the way to the Whitehouse. But the Reaganites still pulled it off. Even while all the info was floating out into the press, they still got Congress to cut loose with $100 million in aid to the Contras, who then handed it over to the gun runners for the stockpile of surplus weaponry that had been bought with the drug profits. Estimated profit, about $50 million or 100%. Of course by that time, Nicaragua had held another election. Daniel Ortega got beat & stepped aside, so the whole Contra thingie was moot. It was a gigantic ripoff for everybody concerned, except Secord & Singlaub who are hanging out on the Riviera, or somewhere comparable, sipping drinks with umbrellas in them on our dime.

As far as I'm concerned, this was the biggest scandal in US history. How many people know what it was about? I'm not relating anything that wasn't made public at the joint congressional hearings. I was glued to them. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, & was even more disturbed by the incredible hubris. These clowns, especially North & Abrams, all got in front of the committee, chaired by Daniel Inouye, a disabled vet & winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor, & called them commies & traitors for interfering with their scam. If there was any justice in the world, Ollie North would be in Leavenworth playing pick up the soap with some giant named Bubba today. (_*_) to (_O_). We'd see how tough that punk really is.

Saddam was just a gangster that took control of a disfunctional country. He was a minor player throughout. He was so gullible that he bought the wink & nod that he could have the port of Kuwait. Bush 41 needed something to get everybody's mind off the S&L collapse. Neil Bush was a major player, & the grand jury was in deliberations when Desert Shield & Desert Storm refocused media attention. Neil walked away. Saddam was a tool. He wasn't the new Hitler. He was no big threat to anybody we didn't want him to threaten. He was never a big deal. We didn't support him. We didn't have to. He was a fool who could be herded like a sheep. He was just a convenient excuse for rotating military ordnance. He's the focus of so many lies. You do know that he was second on Osama binLaden's hate list, right? #1 being the house of Saud of course. The US was/is somewhere around 5th or 6th. You're just barking at the moon with all this Saddam crap. Talk about the gullible getting suckered into a bullshit story...

[thx1138]

I agree with assments of Saddam. I was replying to your original statement that US supplied weapons to Iran. It did during the reign of the shah. Therafter as you mentioned the Iran contra thing was the exception.