Rumsfeld made Iraq overture in '84 despite....

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Rumsfeld made Iraq overture in '84 despite....

Posted By: wtnf
Date: 23, December 03, at 11:26 a.m.

Rumsfeld made Iraq overture in '84 despite chemical raids
WASHINGTON — As a special envoy for the Reagan administration in 1984, Donald H. Rumsfeld, now the defense secretary, traveled to Iraq to persuade officials there that the United States was eager to improve ties with President Saddam Hussein despite his use of chemical weapons, newly declassified documents show.
Mr. Rumsfeld, who ran a pharmaceutical company at the time, was tapped by Secretary of State George P. Shultz to reinforce a message that a recent move to condemn Iraq's use of chemical weapons was strictly in principle and that America's priority was to prevent an Iranian victory in the Iran-Iraq war and to improve bilateral ties.
During that war, the United States secretly provided Iraq with combat planning assistance, even after Mr. Hussein's use of chemical weapons was widely known. The highly classified program involved more than 60 officers of the Defense Intelligence Agency, who shared intelligence on Iranian deployments, bomb-damage assessments and other crucial information with Iraq.
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Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
Reprinted from The New York Times:
www.nytimes.com/2003/12/23/international/middleeast/23RUMS.html

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