Kick-Ass Letter To The Editor On U.S. And Saddam

[Hissyspit]

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=665811&category=OPINION&newsdate=2/22/2008

United States helped put Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party in power

First published: Friday, February 22, 2008

In another attempt by the right wing to justify the pre-emptive war for oil in Iraq, Larry Gniewek (letter, Jan. 24) cites the evidence presented at Saddam Hussein's trial that he was a murderous tyrant who engaged in mass executions.

Had it actually been a fair trial, however, prominent figures from the Reagan era such as George H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld should have been called to the stand to testify as to U.S. complicity in the very war crimes of which Hussein had been accused.

After all, in 1982, the same year in which Hussein committed the atrocities outlined in his first trial, the Reagan administration dropped Iraq from the list of states sponsoring terrorism in order to open a floodgate of military and other aid to our then-friend Saddam Hussein.

That this aid enabled him to continue to terrorize his own people, including gassing the Kurds, seems not to bother the right-wingers who embraced him then and revile him now. That this aid continued until he disobeyed his benefactors and invaded Kuwait seems also to escape their notice.

In fact, not once have I read in the mainstream press how Saddam got into power in the first place.

A bit of history then: In 1958, Abdul Karim Qasim overthrew the British-backed Iraqi regime. His goal was to break Anglo-American control of Iraqi oil wealth and create a strong, democratic Arabist Iraq that would control and distribute its own national wealth.

Fearing that this threat to the interests of the multinationals that controlled much of the world's energy resources would spread, in 1963, the CIA under President Kennedy overthrew Qasim and installed Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party.

The atrocities actually began at that time with the slaughter of suspected Communists and other leftists, using lists supplied by the CIA. It continued for over three decades with the murder of thousands, including many of Iraq's educated elite.

That Saddam Hussein was a blood thirsty, murderous thug goes without saying, but right-wingers like Mr. Gniewek would do well to remember that Hussein, like the Shah, Somoza, Pinochet, Marcos, Noriega, bin Laden, Karimov, and numerous others, was our thug, bought and paid for with U.S. taxpayer money.

STEPHEN A. KENNEY, Ph.D. Rensselaerville

[Richard D]

1. K&R

Excellent.

[bluerum]

2. Most exspensive lynching in history. Georgie sure knows how to party.

[texasleo]

3. good read

[SpiralHawk]

4. "This is more of that fact-based stuff, isn't it?" - Republicon Homelanders

"We don't need no steenkin facts. We gots our beliefs." - Republicon Homelanders

[Martin Eden]

5. Wingnut response:

GW went into Iraq to right this wrong!

I've been doing battle with those assholes on the internets a lot lately, and that's the usual response to something like that excellent LTTE.