A commenter, Andrew, suggested a Rumsfeld test.
How about the Donald Rumsfeld Test?
1. Have you ever sold guns to Saddam Hussein?
2. Have you ever been part of an administration which has vetoed a UN Resolution condemning Saddam's use of chemical weapons against the Kurds?
Im no fan of Galloway's politics and to be frank his party is about as popular as cancer - but he spoke for many people when he said what he did about the US Government and Iraq.
"It's not true I met Saddam Hussein many times. In fact I met him twice, the same number of times as Donald Rumsfeld has. The only difference is that I wasn't selling Saddam guns and maps." - George Galloway.
Rumsfeld can answer no to number one.
The Iraqi air force does not fly Falcons or Eagles. The majority of the Iraqi air force is made in Russia. The Russian MiG and Sukhoi design bureaus supplied Iraq with hundreds of advanced strike-fighters and the Mach 3 Foxbat interceptor.
Perhaps the Iraqi missile force has some U.S.-made weapons? Not. The primary Iraqi missile is the Russian-made Scud. Other missiles include the FROG-7 from Russia, the Exocet from France and the Silkworm from China.
The Iraqi air defense has plenty of missiles ... from Russia, China and France. The SA-2 Guideline, SA-3 Goa and SA-6 Gainful SAM missiles are all of Russian or Chinese manufacture. The French also supplied Baghdad with a number of Roland air defense missile systems.
The Iraqi armor force is made up of Chinese and Russian models familiar to any "cold" warrior. The Iraqi T-72 and T-55 tanks are all of Russian manufacture. The Iraqis also have a large number of Type-59 Chinese tanks and Russian-made BMP armored troop carriers. No M-1 Abrams here.
The main Iraqi artillery is the French 155mm howitzer. The remainder of Iraq's artillery is 122mm Russian-made cannons and Russian-made short-range rocket launchers. Even the Iraqi foot soldier is armed with the venerable AK-47 of Russian and Chinese make.
Let's not forget Iraq's army was armed with AK47s not M16s.
As for the maps...
The facts are that during the Iran-Iraq war the U.S. supplied Iraq with something much more valuable than guns: satellite information on when and where the Iranians were going to attack.
Of course, current anti-war activists seize this piece of information without putting it into historical context. The information was supplied during the height of the Cold War. The main threat to America was the Soviet Union and the biggest fear in the Gulf was the Ayatollah Khomeini. [...]
The Reagan administration, aware that the Iranian ayatollah had threatened to turn the Gulf into a sea of fire, assisted Saddam so that he would not lose the war. The assistance stopped short of helping Saddam win the war.
In fact, when it appeared the Iraqis were on the verge of victory, the Reagan administration transferred real weapons to the Iranians. The infamous Iran-Contra scandal involved a large number of badly needed U.S. TOW anti-tank missiles that were sold to Iran.
The U.S. missiles proved to be critical to the Iranian defense against Iraq's superior Russian tank force. The result was a stalemate and the war ended.
So, who really armed Iraq? The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has the numbers in - TIV of transfers of major conventional weapons to Iraq 1970-2004 (pdf - 32kb)
And the list of what was supplied and by whom is here: - Register of the transfers of major conventional weapons to Iraq 1970-2004 (pdf - 128kb)
Here is what the US sold to Iraq.
USA (31) Bell-214ST Helicopter 1985 1987-88 (31) Originally part of order for 45 for civilian use but taken over by Air Force
4 C-130E Hercules Transport aircraft (2004) .. Ex-US; aid; delivery 2005
7 Comp Air-7SL Light aircraft 2004 2004 7 Financed by UAE
30 Hughes-300/TH-55 Light helicopter 1983 1984 (30) Officially bought for civilian use, but taken over by Air Force; Hughes-300C version
30 MD-500MD Defender Light helicopter 1983 1983 (30)
26 MD-530F Light helicopter 1985 1985-86 (26) Officially bought for civilian use, but taken over by Air Force
43 ASV-150/M-1117 APC 2004 2004 (10) Deal worth $50 m; incl 2 CP version; delivery 2004-2005
The US supported Saddam during the Iraq-Iran war when it used to be US policy that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. People seem to forget that Bush renounced that policy during his state visit to the UK.
Galloway continues to support Saddam to this day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment