Why Do People Hate the USA

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by spinningfetus

Sorry, you have it backwards. The arms you were thinking about were the ones we tried to trade for hostiges, but the reigm (sp?) that deposed the Shah was most definitely NOT our ally.

Actually, much of what was up for trade in the Iran-Contra deal was spare parts for stuff we originally gave/sold to the Shah....notably F-4 and C-130s, which were slowly falling out of servicable status as parts-on-hand dried up after the Shah was deposed. After the Shah was gone, the Iranians got a lot of stuff from the Israelis.

A google yeilded this site in which the GAO found that we were in fact supplying Saddam.

While Iraq may have gotten some parts and helos from US sources (and computers, of course; who would be dumb enough to try to use Russian computers?), the LOC Iraqi "Country Study"reports:
<blockquote>
"Since 1959 the Soviet Union has been Iraq's chief arms supplier and its most essential foreign military tie. In April 1972, the two states signed a fifteen-year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in which Iraq and the Soviet Union agreed to 'continue to develop cooperation in the strengthening of the defense capabilities of each.'".
</blockquote>
see: http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/iqtoc.html

One serious factor in the dissolution of the Soviet Blok was that the Iraqis, equipped with the flower of Soviet Military technology, got their butts so thoughly whipped by a numerically inferior force equipped with technically superior Western equipment. After that, the perceived value of Soviet equipment and training dropped precipitously.

The Iraqis did still have some leftover Brit gear (of 1950s vintage) in small quantities, and did manage to get some small quantities of stuff past a US embargo, as your GAO report shows.

But the idea that *we* gave/sold Saddam any significant part of his military equipment is just plain wrong...the stuff cited in the GAO report is chump change next to what they bought from the Soviets. Just take a look at the tables in the appendix to that LOC country report and you'll see what I mean.