# What exactly did the west sell Saddam pre Gulf war 1? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 13, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-did-the-west-sell-saddam-pre-gulf-war-1/254887 "2004-07-13T14:01:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-did-the-west-sell-saddam-pre-gulf-war-1/254887/1 "2004-07-13T14:01:54Z")
definitely not trying to start a debate, but did the UK, US, France etc ever knowingly sell Saddam precursors or equipment, to make actual WMDs in the 1980’s. This is partially because of the “old” joke about WMDs - “Of course we know Saddam had WMDs - we sold them to him!” ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-did-the-west-sell-saddam-pre-gulf-war-1/254887/2 "2004-07-13T15:13:50Z")
Saddam was given some anthrax by the U.S. governmnent, but not for use as a weapon. He was given anthrax under a program run by the Department of Agriculture to help other countries work on vaccines and such. That was a mistake, but it wasn’t sinister. Just a foul-up. And his anthrax was never used as a weapon, as far as I know. Did he buy the chemicals used to make the gas he used on the Iranians and Kurds? I don’t know, but I suppose it’s possible - some horrible weapons can be made from common chemicals that are available on the open market, and supplied by U.S. firms around the world. As for military aid, he got almost none from the U.S. I think the total aid to Iraq from the U.S. amounted to some unarmed helicopters for medical use and some other support equipment. Almost all of Saddam’s arsenal came from France, Russia, and China. Saddam’s tanks were Russian T-72’s. His airplanes were Migs and French Mirages. Etc. It is basically a myth that the U.S. armed Saddam. Or at least a gross exaggeration. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-did-the-west-sell-saddam-pre-gulf-war-1/254887/3 "2004-07-13T17:00:15Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > Saddam was given some anthrax by the U.S. governmnent, but not for use as a weapon. He was given anthrax under a program run by the Department of Agriculture to help other countries work on vaccines and such. That was a mistake, but it wasn’t sinister. Just a foul-up. And his anthrax was never used as a weapon, as far as I know. Unfortunately, it goes much further than that. [Here, about 3/4 of the way down,](http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2002_cr/s092002.html) are detailed export records of the biological samples sent to Iraq in the mid 1980s. As you can see, it is an extensive list that includes numerous Type III pathogens, which include Bacillus anthracis, Clostridium botulinum, Brucella abortus, and others. (You should be aware that the Iraq Atomic Energy Commission referenced in this document is widely believed to be a front for Iraq’s old WMD programs, since one may wonder why dangerous pathogens were being shipped to nuclear scientists.) In all fairness, Iraq’s **large** scale production of BW began several years after these shipments, but it was known that Iraq was engaging in BW research at the time of the sales. It is not public knowledge at this point whether these biological samples listed were actually weaponized, or whether they were used to develop techniques to weaponize other strains. UNSCOM inspections from the early- to mid-1990s would have revealed this information, but these detailed analyses have not been published. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-did-the-west-sell-saddam-pre-gulf-war-1/254887/4 "2004-07-13T23:53:44Z")
There’s also [the Riegle Report, otherwise known as “U.S. Chemical and Biological Warfare-Related Dual Use Exports to Iraq and their Possible Impact on the Health Consequences of the Gulf War.” Written after the first Gulf War, it documents the date and destination of all US exports to Iraq. Among the entries are: [ul] [li]May 2, 1986: two batches of bacillus anthracis – the micro-organism that causes anthrax – were shipped to the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education, along with two batches of the bacterium clostridium botulinum, the agent that causes deadly botulism poisoning. [/li][li]August 31, 1987: one batch each of salmonella and E coli were shipped to the Iraqi State Company for Drug Industries. Other shipments went from the US to the Iraq Atomic Energy Commission on July 11, 1988; the Department of Biology at the University of Basrah in November 1989; the Department of Microbiology at Baghdad University in June 1985; the Ministry of Health in April 1985 and Officers’ City, a military complex in Baghdad, in March and April 1986. [/li][/ul] Also note that the shipments continued even after Saddam ordered the March 1988 gassing of Kurds in Halabja, which killed about 5000 people. Despite international outrage at the event, American shipments of WMDs continued a month later. Not noted in the Riegle report, but also worth noting, is that the Reagan Administration also provided Saddam with “battle planning assistance” during the Iran-Iraq war, so Saddam could kill Iranians more efficiently: > [@](#): > > [url=http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/history/2002/0818officers.htm] **Officers Say US Aided Iraq in War Despite Use of Gas** ]([http://www.gulfweb.org/bigdoc/report/riegle1.html](http://www.gulfweb.org/bigdoc/report/riegle1.html)) > > …Though senior officials of the Reagan administration publicly condemned Iraq’s employment of mustard gas, sarin, VX and other poisonous agents, the American military officers said President Reagan, Vice President George Bush and senior national security aides never withdrew their support for the highly classified program in which more than **60 officers of the Defense Intelligence Agency were secretly providing detailed information on Iranian deployments, tactical planning for battles, plans for airstrikes and bomb-damage assessments for Iraq.** > > Iraq shared its battle plans with the Americans, without admitting the use of chemical weapons, the military officers said. But **Iraq’s use of chemical weapons, already established at that point,** became more evident in the war’s final phase. > [@Sam Stone](#): > > It is basically a myth that the U.S. armed Saddam. Or at least a gross exaggeration. Someone’s exaggerating around here, but I don’t think it’s the “U.S. armed Saddam” folks… ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-did-the-west-sell-saddam-pre-gulf-war-1/254887/5 "2004-07-13T23:58:30Z")
_Arrrgh, I really borked up the coding on that one… let’s try again… \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\__ There’s also [the Riegle Report,](http://www.gulfweb.org/bigdoc/report/riegle1.html) otherwise known as “U.S. Chemical and Biological Warfare-Related Dual Use Exports to Iraq and their Possible Impact on the Health Consequences of the Gulf War.” Written after the first Gulf War, it documents the date and destination of all US exports to Iraq.Among the entries are: [ul] [li]May 2, 1986: two batches of bacillus anthracis – the micro-organism that causes anthrax – were shipped to the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education, along with two batches of the bacterium clostridium botulinum, the agent that causes deadly botulism poisoning.[/li][li]August 31, 1987: one batch each of salmonella and E coli were shipped to the Iraqi State Company for Drug Industries.Other shipments went from the US to the Iraq Atomic Energy Commission on July 11, 1988; the Department of Biology at the University of Basrah in November 1989; the Department of Microbiology at Baghdad University in June 1985; the Ministry of Health in April 1985 and Officers’ City, a military complex in Baghdad, in March and April 1986.[/li][/ul] Also note that the shipments continued even after Saddam ordered the March 1988 gassing of Kurds in Halabja, which killed about 5000 people. Despite international outrage at the event, American shipments of WMDs continued a month later. Not noted in the Riegle report, but also worth noting, is that the Reagan Administration also provided Saddam with “battle planning assistance” during the Iran-Iraq war, so Saddam could kill Iranians more efficiently: > [@](#): > > [**Officers Say US Aided Iraq in War Despite Use of Gas**](http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/history/2002/0818officers.htm) > > …Though senior officials of the Reagan administration publicly condemned Iraq’s employment of mustard gas, sarin, VX and other poisonous agents, the American military officers said President Reagan, Vice President George Bush and senior national security aides never withdrew their support for the highly classified program in which more than **60 officers of the Defense Intelligence Agency were secretly providing detailed information on Iranian deployments, tactical planning for battles, plans for airstrikes and bomb-damage assessments for Iraq.** > > Iraq shared its battle plans with the Americans, without admitting the use of chemical weapons, the military officers said. But **Iraq’s use of chemical weapons, already established at that point,** became more evident in the war’s final phase. > [@Sam Stone](#): > > It is basically a myth that the U.S. armed Saddam. Or at least a gross exaggeration. Someone’s exaggerating around here, but I don’t think it’s the “U.S. armed Saddam” folks… ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-did-the-west-sell-saddam-pre-gulf-war-1/254887/6 "2004-07-14T00:21:09Z")
The United States also sold Iraq equipment that could be used to create chemical weapons, apparently with knowledge that this was what Saddam intended. Read the “Road to Halabja” chapter in Said Aburish’s “Saddam Hussein - The Politics of Revenge”. It’s an interesting read overall. After Halabja (the most notorious incident of the use of chemical weapons against the Kurds), the US Army War College actually issued a report analysing the massacre, and concluded that it was actually the fault of the Iranians. The report, published as [a book](http://www.amazon.com/o/dt/assoc/handle-buy-box=B000103AGU), was called “Iraqi Power & US Security in the Middle East”. I can’t find it online, though perhaps someone with more Google skills would have a better chance. Therefore, the US not only sold chemical weapons plant to the Iraqis, they endeavoured to cover up their use of such weapons. ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-did-the-west-sell-saddam-pre-gulf-war-1/254887/7 "2004-07-14T10:52:04Z")
many thanks for the leads and cites. It is roughly what I expected