A podcast mentioned in passing about the US having encouraged Iraq to invade Iran shortly after the Iranian revolution.
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A podcast mentioned in passing about the US having encouraged Iraq to invade Iran shortly after the Iranian revolution.
How had I never heard about this?
From Wikipedia, no direct evidence has been found about actively encouraging in advance. But US support for Iraq after the war started was extensive:
"in June [1982] Reagan signed a National Security Decision Directive (NSDD) co-written by Teicher, who was now at the NSC, which determined: "The United States could not afford to allow Iraq to lose the war to Iran."
On June 9, 1992, journalist Ted Koppel reported on ABC News Nightline that the "Reagan/Bush administrations permitted—and frequently encouraged—the flow of money, agricultural credits, dual-use technology, chemicals, and weapons to Iraq."
The Wikipedia article is long, with many twists and turns. But wow. Puts the first Gulf war (1990) in different perspective for me. A blip in the continuum of US actions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Iraq_during_the_Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War
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R relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
