U.S's blind eye to Saddam's atrocities

After the takeover of Iran by radical Muslim in 1979 and the taking of hostages at the American embassy later that year created a need by the United States for a new regional ally to counter the Iranian threat. The U.S aligned itself with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and in 1980 National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski met with King Hussein of Jordan, Saddam's close confidant to discuss plans for a coup in Iran. Soviet agents uncovered the plot, but Saddam decided to invade Iran. Thus began the Iran-Iraq war.

Although the U.S was neutral in name it was neutral in name only. In 1982 Iraq was removed from the State Department's list of state spanners of terrorism, U.S financed loans helped to finance the war, intelligence and military advise was provided to Saddam by the U.S, and chemical weapons where secretly supplied to the Iraqi regime in spite of the U.S's full and complete knowledge of what they where being used for as well as public condemnations of Iraq's use of chemical weapons. The shipments did not stop until just before the beginning of the Gulf War.

The U.S also blocked a U.N resolution criticizing Iraq because, according to Donald Rumsfeld "The U.S. and Iraq shared many common interests." Although the Bush administration has championed and celebrated the trial of Saddam Hussein the U.S bares a share of the responsibility for the atrocities Saddam was charged with.

Although we can't change our past we must never show such disregard for human life in order to increase our influence in the affairs of other nations.