Did the US willingly work with Saddam Hussein when it benefited them?

Question

Yes or NO

Answer 1

I wonder if Rumsfeld still has the photo of him warmly greeting Saddam on his office wall?

Answer 2

Yes. We supported Iraq (with Saddam) in the Iran Iraq war during the 80's.

Answer 3

The US was instrumental in putting him in power.

"In 1958, a year after Saddam had joined the Ba'ath party, army officers led by General Abdul Karim Qassim overthrew Faisal II of Iraq. The Ba'athists opposed the new government, and in 1959, Saddam was involved in the attempted United States-backed plot to assassinate Prime Minister Qassim.

Saddam was shot in the leg, but managed to flee to Tikrit with the help of CIA and Egyptian intelligence agents. Saddam then crossed into Syria and was transferred to Beirut for a brief CIA training course. From there he moved to Cairo where he made frequent visits to the American embassy. During this time the CIA placed him in a upper-class appartment observed by CIA and Egyptian operatives. (UPI 'analysis' article)"

See the full article here.

http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Saddam_Hussein

Answer 4

Yes, Regan made a decision and decided that between Iraq and Iran, Iraq was the lesser of two evils. So he helped Iraq...

A few years later though...

Saddam's a crazy mad man, invades Kuwait we go in kick him out. Saddam figures he can't get away with bombing the US but decides to fund people who can. Multiple attacks on US through the 90's when Bill Clinton is in office, he doesn't do much. 9/11 happens and Bush decides to go for the head of the snake...years later, here we are.

Answer 5

Well, first I'd take some issue with your loaded wording.

'willingly' is not correct, nor is 'benefited'. Because we weren't seeking to work with him, nor did we benefit, or seek to benefit.

The fact is that in his war against Iran, there was the very real possibility that Iraq would lose, and thus Iran would gain control over the whole of the Gulf of Arabia, threatening the world oil supplies. This geopolitical reality was not palatable, so we consented to help Saddam.

It wasn't for our benefit - it was more for the benefit of the whole world that Iran did not win. We gained nothing from this whole affair, and we did not seek gain.

And we weren't 'allies'. Let's clear up the obfuscating and false language surrounding the events.

Answer 6

Yes-- he was an "ally". We supported him in efforts to keep Iran from winning the Iran-Iraq war.

WMD's? We gave him WMD's during that time.

We do these sorts of things all the time-- Noreiga was a buddy-- but then we got rid of him. We supported people in central america that were not so good either.

We are allies and buddies with quite a few Dictators, Monarchies and yes even Commies (China).

Answer 7

Yes. Big Yes. Giant Yes! Hypocrites.

Flip flop refuglicans.

Answer 8

Absolutely. The US worked with Iraq when it was in the national interest of the US to do so.

Morality is only a quaint (and subjective) nicety when compared to national interests. It would be very moral to spend half of our GDP to stop genocide in Africa; however, it is not in our national interest (cost-benefit) to do so.

Answer 9

Yes. In the 1980s Iraq was supported in their war against Iran.

The war was a proxy war against the USSR, as was Afghanistan.

Answer 10

yes. they were allies untill 1991. when iraq invaded kuwait, it is widely believed that the US gave a tacit green light. however, mrs thatcher was a firm kuwaiti ally, and after visiting bush senior in the states, he started to put pressure on saddam, leading to the first us/un-iraq Gulf War.

Answer 11

Yes. Of course.