All America Has Amnesia About Iraq

Yesterday George Bush accused John Kerry of having "election amnesia" about Iraq. Everyone in America has amnesia about Iraq. Most of all George W. Bush. The Press has not reminded the American public often enough that the USA had a cozy relationship with Saddam Hussein from 1959 until the Gulf War in 1991. In 1959 the CIA hired Saddam as an assassin to shoot Iraq prime minister General Abd Al-Kaim Qasim. Back then he was a piss-poor shot...he missed. With practice his aim got much better. The agency had full knowledge that Saddam was an out-and-out gangster but they used him as a hired assassin for two decades. He was their dirty little secret in Baghdad. George H.W. Bush was appointed head of the CIA in 1976. More than 5 billion dollars in loans were guaranteed to Saddam during the Reagan-Bush Sr. presidencies. The United States played both sides against the middle during the Iran/Iraq war which lasted from 1980 to 1988. They funneled money to both sides. Although both President Reagan and President Bush Sr. publicly denounced Saddam’s use of chemical weapons, they continued to support him with money and arms right up to the Gulf War. For a full recounting of this double-dealing and calumny see Craig Unger’s “House of Bush House of Saud”. Perhaps the reason George W. Bush has not invited his father’s advice on Iraq is that the less said about Senior's sweetheart deals in Iraq, the better for Junior. Bush Sr. armed Saddam Hussein in order to protect the Iraq oil fields. When Saddam attacked Kuwait and proved he was the ruthless thug the CIA always knew him to be, President George H.W. Bush had to convince the American public that the man who had been our ally was now a degenerate who committed horrible crimes against humanity. It worked. We forgot that for forty years Saddam Hussein had been our friend and hired gun. George W. Bush continues the GOP policy of ignoring that America was once in bed with Saddam Hussein. Perhaps his own amnesia lets him forget that his father not only armed Saddam Hussein but aided and abetted his rise to power.