Why did we arm Saddam in the first place?

Question

We gave weapons and support to Saddam Hussein back in the 1980's? What was the thinking, if any, behind that?

Answer 1

Do a Yahoo search on the name: Ayatollah-Khomeni.

Then you might want to retract your question. Where exactly were you during the 1980's, anyway? Did you ever happen to watch the evening news?

Oh, wait, I just remembered your last question. Now I know why you have no recall of the 1980's. Go ahead and do that Yahoo Search, Professor. You might learn something.

Answer 2

US was not the only one supporting Saddam back in the 1980s, pretty much everybody in the world (including Soviet, China) gave their support to Iraq, if you looked at the weapon used by the Iraqi army, you will know that Soviet provided much more support than the US ever did, and the Gulf states gave a lot of money to Iraq to support its war against Iran, in deed, many people back then thought that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was just the first step in its effort to eliminate the threat posed by an fundamentalist Iran sitting right next to the USSR, the US decided to support Saddam because Iran was perceived and indeed a much more dangerous threat, just like the US provided support to Stalin during WWII against Hitler, not because Stalin was a good guy, but because Hitler was a much more dangerous and much more imminent threat.

Answer 3

He seemed a little more normal, considering the neighbors to the East (Iran), he didn't seem to bad. It was the same with lots of dictatorships we've supported over the years, it was a deal with the devil but to confront a worse evil nearby. The foreign service chess game often involves making trades and screwy bargains in order to gain an advantage. Try playing checkers or chess without sacrificing good playing pieces or positions in order gain an advantage elsewhere.

Lenin said communism would hang the west. When asked how they would get the rope, Lenin answered, the west would sell it to them. Consider that when you buy "made in China" goods. We are doing something all by ourselves, without the "leadership" of politicians when China wants to pull the plug after we gave them such a tremendous industrial and technological advantage. There are industries we used to be big in, but can no longer make it ourselves if we had to. Then we will have some asking, "What was the thinking, if any, behind that?"

Answer 4

He was deemed better than supporting Iran since they had taken our citizens prisoners. Our thinking was that if he could beat them things in the middle east would be better than if he lost. Once again the big Whigs made a bad decision with our money. Just like they did in Afghanistan when we gave the rebels weapons to fight the Russians. It is constantly picking the wrong team to fight on our side. Something like voting for Democrats. The choice may be the lesser of two evils.

Answer 5

At that time american had a grudge with Iran (the hostage situation) so america actually armed saddam with the WMD that he used against Iran, thus this gave way to sadam dismantling them and rebuilding them. BY THE WAY russia was not helping Iran , They had their own Vietnam In Afghanistan

Answer 6

Your question is based on a false premise. The Iraqi military never deployed American-made weapons.

The Iraqi air force flew French Mirages.

The Iraqi army deployed Soviet T-57 tanks.

Answer 7

Its not only Saddam, Bin Laden too. Its because of the short sighted plan of the Generals.

Answer 8

What makes you think that the government had a reason for doing something that stupid? Dont you know that the government doesnt know what its doing half the time and has no idea that they can cause lots and lots of damage later on by their actions?

But sarcasm aside, it was just a stupid thing to do, and I have no idea why they would do something that crazy and stupid.

Answer 9

To help win against Iran because the Russians were helping Iran win.

Answer 10

He was fighting Iran at the time and we thought Iran was the bigger threat.

Hindsight is 20/20.