Reviewing Iraqi-American history.

Stumbled onto two different articles both recalling various aspects of the long American involvement in Iraqi affairs, especially the early support for Saddam. One by Robert Parry in In These Times, entitled Missing U.S.-Iraq History, and one by Robert Scheer in the LA Times, entitled The U.S. Winked at Hussein's Evil.

Parry details, among other things, how animosity towards Iran during the Carter and Reagan administrations led the US to encourage and support his regime, how Bush I continued their efforts, and how Clinton basically went along with it, and helped cover up what remained of the Iran-Contra affair. It's a very long and detailed article. Scheer is engaged in mostly Bush-Republican bashing, although he does seem to get his facts straight.

But I really liked Parry's analysis. It's important for people to know that there really hasn't been any difference between Democratic and Republican actions there, and one shouldn't expect much, if any, difference in the future. People really have no idea of the degree and extent of American involvement, or just how willing they were (and are) to sacrifice the long-term needs of the Iraqi people to short-term political goals.

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