Shaking Hands with Saddam: The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984

The National Security Archive at George Washington University has published "a series of declassified U.S. documents detailing the U.S. embrace of Saddam Hussein in the early 1980's." The documents "show that during this period of renewed U.S. support for Saddam, he had invaded his neighbor (Iran), had long-range nuclear aspirations that would 'probably' include 'an eventual nuclear weapon capability,' harbored known terrorists in Baghdad, abused the human rights of his citizens, and possessed and used chemical weapons on Iranians and his own people. The U.S. response was to renew ties, to provide intelligence and aid to ensure Iraq would not be defeated by Iran, and to send a high-level presidential envoy named Donald Rumsfeld to shake hands with Saddam (20 December 1983)."