The Passing of a Dictator

[ProSense]

Excellent post at the John Kerry Blog:

The Passing of a Dictator

Snip...

The article goes on to describe his invasion of Kuwait, the result of the 1st Gulf War, and the years of sanctions that followed. Then it mentions the period of time that we are all more familiar with: the second invasion of Iraq and Saddam's capture.

What the article does not do is adequately outline how involved the US government was with Iraq and in particular, with Saddam Hussein all throughout his career.

For that you'll need to go to Juan Cole's blog, Informed Comment. Juan notes,

The tendency to treat Saddam and Iraq in a historical vacuum, and in isolation from the superpowers, however, has hidden from Americans their own culpability in the horror show that has been Iraq for the past few decades.

He goes onto outline US government involvement in Iraq stretching back into the 1950's and moving forward to the very active period of engagement during the 1980's as a result of the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations. Some of the participants' names will be very familiar.

Snip...

Considering this point in history brings two thoughts to mind -- first, how important it is to know the history of our country and its involvement with other countries and people on this small planet, and second -- how important is the co-equal status of the three branches of our government. Congressional advice and oversight of our foreign policy is crucial to our nation's future security.

Juan Cole piece is an excellent time line of the events linking the U.S. to Saddam's rise. Check out Eric Blumrich's Flash slideshow, "Thanks for the Memories," linked at the end of Cole's post.

[Lucky Luciano]

1. "The Passing of a Dictator"

* is dead? I never received the good news!