Ochi reason number one...

[kandrathe]

Should all of the US, past, present and future be condemned by the actions of William Casey, or if you want to go back further J. Edgar Hoover? Moral high ground, not in the perfect sense of what that implies, but certainly not the overt help that was supplied by France, the former Soviet Union, Japan, and some others. The US has its share of evil-doers, and some of them attain levels of power. Hopefully, a free press, government accountability, along with the checks and balances built into our system prevents abuses of power from happening, or lasting. However, US history has many incidents of evil deeds that have been intesively scrutinized to which we the people of the US are ultimately responsible for, and are willing to make recompense for.

From the sources that you cite and the ones that I have read regarding this topic, one can see a measured, calculated and limited amount of aid (good and evil) was given to Iraq. Just enough to assure that the waves of Iranian soldiers would not overrun Iraq. Now, I still maintain the the DOC is not the DOD, and one hand does not neccesarily know what the other is doing. Remember, this was the time when even the NSA was running secret military operations out of the White House basement. William Casey as director of the CIA was very powerful (IMO, too much so) and yet a good friend of Reagan with Congressional oversight. In general, the Reagan administration and all of its factions were at odds with a Congress that for a decade had worked to pull the teeth of the Executive branch. People in the US, even the citizens were afraid of Iran, and not of Iraq. In fact, many considered it a good thing to have a friendly sectarian state in the middle east, like Iraq, who would help to stem the tide of Islamic fundamentalism.

I reject your implication that the US had a direct role in helping Iraq develop any WMD program. Indirectly, yes, I can clearly see we turned a blind eye to Iraq's chemical weapons usage in the 1980's and even supplied them with satellite photos. I can see how our research universities probably mailed them the biological samples that were a crucial step in their BW program. There is evidence to suggest that this was the case.

Here is what I think is a well researched (and sourced) relevant document; Monterey Institute of Internationl Studies - Foreign Suppliers to Iraq's Biological Weapons Program and the entire collection seems to be acedemically sound; Monterey Institute of International Studies - Iraq Sepcial Collection

If I mailed you precursor chemicals, biological samples, or uranium ore, I maintain it would take you a long time, alot of money, external help, and research, to create a WMD. For example, North Korea has been actively trying to build an atomic bomb for over 40 years. All it takes is one greedy SOB to let the WMD knowledge genii out of its bottle.