The U.S. government may be considering military action in response to chemical strikes near Damascus. But a generation ago, America's military and intelligence communities knew about and did nothing to stop a series of nerve gas attacks far more devastating than anything Syria has seen, Foreign Policy has learned.
In 1988, during the waning days of Iraq's war with Iran, the United States learned through satellite imagery that Iran was about to gain a major strategic advantage by exploiting a hole in Iraqi defenses. U.S. intelligence officials conveyed the location of the Iranian troops to Iraq, fully aware that Hussein's military would attack with chemical weapons, including sarin, a lethal nerve agent.
The intelligence included imagery and maps about Iranian troop movements, as well as the locations of Iranian logistics facilities and details about Iranian air defenses. The Iraqis used mustard gas and sarin prior to four major offensives in early 1988 that relied on U.S. satellite imagery, maps, and other intelligence. These attacks helped to tilt the war in Iraq's favor and bring Iran to the negotiating table, and they ensured that the Reagan administration's long-standing policy of securing an Iraqi victory would succeed. But they were also the last in a series of chemical strikes stretching back several years that the Reagan administration knew about and didn't disclose.
U.S. officials have long denied acquiescing to Iraqi chemical attacks, insisting that Hussein's government never announced he was going to use the weapons. But retired Air Force Col. Rick Francona, who was a military attaché in Baghdad during the 1988 strikes, paints a different picture.
"The Iraqis never told us that they intended to use nerve gas. They didn't have to. We already knew," he told Foreign Policy.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/08/25/secret_cia_files_prove_america_helped_saddam_as_he_gassed_iran
Nothing fundamentally new in these, but the timing is interesting.
gastarbeiter posted:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/08/25/secret_cia_files_prove_america_helped_saddam_as_he_gassed_iran
Nothing fundamentally new in these, but the timing is interesting.
it's interesting to note that Foreign Policy is the same publication that is asserting to have proof of Syrian army's chemical weapons usage:
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/27/exclusive_us_spies_say_intercepted_calls_prove_syrias_army_used_nerve_gas
gyrofry posted:why would we trust CIA files
when confidence in us imperialism is at an all-time low, we must refute any such public relations campaigns by the cia that their espionage activities (both foreign and domestic) succeeded in destabilizing countries, causing the deaths of millions and million of innocent civilians, etc... because such notions only strengthen the american public's perception of the cia and us military. we must stand in radical opposition to the likes of edward snowdan, and "leftists" who are presenting evidence of the us government murdering innocent civilians. this is why i support obama here, in his claims that assad is gasing his own civilians and not the cia through proxy of the rebels and as a corollary ideologically support full nato intervention into syria (and iran).
maybe the political shame thing could till work (sort of unveil the us as blatantly imperialistic), but really i'm not sure how revolutionary defeatism would apply here, because, you know, america's at the mall while the marine corp is at war.
