Who REALLY armed Iraq

Well, this comes from a well known far right web page, and I doubt there is a chance in hell the information gleaned there could be neutral, or anything like unbiased, so I would not believe these figures without back up from some neutral site, but even if I did, what is your point?

yes, we armed iraq because iraq was in a war with iran. and we felt that iran had more designs on acquiring territory than saddam did. it was a case of the devil you know vs. the devil you don't know.

Actually, I find it interesting- the data on the OTHER countries

Very true troublemkr :-)

In December of 2002, Iraq compiled a dossier to be sent to the United Nations detailing records of how their weapons program had developed and what steps they had taken to abandon it. Iraq merely listed the source of their weapons – from which companies they had acquired the weapons that now made them the target of an imminent U.S. invasion. The companies listed were largely either American or British, namely,

· Honeywell · Spectra Physics · Semetex · TI Coating · Unisys · Sperry Corp. · Tektronix

· Rockwell · Leybold Vacuum Systems · Finnigan-MAT-US · Hewlett-Packard · Dupont · Eastman Kodak

· American Type Culture Collection · Alcolac International · Consarc · Carl Zeiss · Cerberus · Electronic Associates

· International Computer Systems · Bechtel · EZ Logic Data Systems, Inc. · Canberra Industries Inc. · Axel Electronics Inc.

· Euromac Ltd-Uk · C. Plath-Nuclear · Endshire Export Marketing · International Computer Systems · MEED International

· Walter Somers Ltd. · International Computer Limited · Matrix Churchill Corp. · Ali Ashour Daghir · International Military Services

· Sheffield Forgemasters · Technology Development Group · International Signal and Control · Terex Corporation · Inwako

· TMG Engineering · XYY Options, Inc

By pure coincidence, the Americans seized the document before it could be passed on to the U.N. Security Council. They edited out 8,000 pages, more than two-thirds of the entire dossier, citing its contents as 'risky'. CFR henchman Kofi Annan made noticeably little fuss, describing the theft as 'unfortunate,' but angry U.N. diplomats did see that the original contents were leaked to a German media source.

"Iraq's bioweapons program, which U.S. President George W. Bush wants to eradicate, got its start with help from Uncle Sam two decades ago, according to government records getting new scrutiny in light of the discussion of war against Iraq." [Associated Press]

The full checklist of horrors that the U.S. government graciously handed over to Iraq included the following,

· Anthrax: The American Type Culture Collection, a biological samples repository in Manassas, Va., sent two shipments of anthrax to Iraq in the 1980s. Three anthrax strains were in a May 1986 shipment sent to the University of Baghdad, which UN inspectors later linked to Iraq's biological weapons program. A 1988 shipment from ATCC to Iraq also included four anthrax strains.

· VX Nerve Gas: The Iraqi Air Force began using chemical agents against Kurdish resistance forces in northern Iraq in late 1987, provoking outrage on Capitol Hill, particularly after the now infamous March 1988 attack on the Kurdish village of Halabja. This was cited as a fundamental reason justifying the invasion of Iraq.

· Pralidoxine: An antidote to nerve gas which can be easily back-engineered to create nerve gas. U.S. Defence Department Documents detail that Britain sold the drug to Iraq in March 1992, AFTER the Iraqis had gassed the Kurds and AFTER the end of the Gulf War. The Sunday Herald reported,

"The shipments to Iraq went on even after Saddam Hussein ordered the gassing of the Kurdish town of Halabja, in which at least 5000 men, women and children died. The atrocity, which shocked the world, took place in March 1988, but a month later the components and materials of weapons of mass destruction were continuing to arrive in Baghdad."

· Botulinum: Iraq admitted making 20,000 litres of botulinum toxin, a deadly poison produced by the Clostridium botulinum bacteria, and putting some of it into weapons. The American Type Culture Collection sent six strains of Clostridium botulinum to the University of Baghdad in the May 1986 shipment. The September 1988 ATCC shipment to Iraq also contained one strain of Clostridium botulinum. In March 1986, the CDC sent samples of botulinum toxin and botulinum toxoid (used to make a vaccine against botulinum poisoning) directly to Iraq's al-Muthanna complex, a centre for Iraq's chemical weapons program and the site where Iraq restarted its dormant biological weapons program in 1985.

· Gas Gangrene: Gas gangrene, caused by the Clostridium perfringens bacteria, causes toxic gases to form inside the body, killing tissues and causing internal bleeding, lung and liver damage. ATCC sent three strains of Clostridium perfringens to the University of Baghdad in the May 1986 shipment and another three strains in the 1988 shipment.

These examples are just a handful of the almost two dozen forms of viruses, retroviruses, bacteria and fungi provided by the U.S. to Iraqi labs during the 80's and 90's.

The usual retort to the fact that the U.S. armed Iraq is, 'oh but they were our allies against the Iranians' – just like Osama bin Laden was our ally against the Soviets.

"Another veteran of the programme said the Pentagon "wasn't so horrified by Iraq's use of gas. It was just another way of killing people - whether by bullet or phosgene, it didn't make any difference."" [London Guardian]

Both Rumsfeld and Powell were pivotal players in beefing up Iraq's military prowess,

"Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary and one of the most strident critics of Saddam Hussein, met the Iraqi President in 1983 to ease the way for US companies to sell Baghdad biological and chemical weapons components, including anthrax and bubonic plague cultures, according to newly declassified US Government documents." [London Times]

The 'warm handshake' between then Middle East envoy Rumsfeld and Hussein was captured on film and is a perfect example of how a picture can destroy a thousand hypocritical words. After U.S. intelligence confirmed that Iraq was using chemical weapons on an almost daily basis against both in the war against Iran and domestically, Ronald Reagan signed secret National Security Decision Directive 114, one of few Reagan era foreign policy documents that remains classified. The directive stated that the United States would do "whatever was necessary and legal" to prevent Iraq from losing the war with Iran.

Selling biological weapons to Hussein was only deemed 'legal' because the State Department had lovingly removed Iraq from the list of terrorist sponsors the previous year.

Thanks so much that information Felix.
I find it all very interesting
Some of it is just terrible.
I know a big military saying is:" the enemy of your enemy is your friend"
In this case, they should have really thought this one over a bit more before "helping"
It does not matter anymore, or- should I say instead- we cannot erase any of this now
I just hope key people consider these things in future decisions

We should be aware of these things in the world today.
I wish more of the true facts were common knowledge

It makes one wonder how they (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld) can have the egos they do to think that no one will care or pay attention....that blows my mind - the arrogance and indifference to not being honest with the American people...and how in the name of God, can any company like Type Culture Collection, exists in this country with out some type of Federal control as to what they sell to other countries...especially anything that has to do with germs?

Your saying this looks terribly foolish is an understatement...and there need be no "understanding" as to what the company was thinking...IT WAS JUST PLAIN STUPID...

I wish I could find the name of the bank in Africa that the Bush's and their financial partners - some of the Saudis are part of, that deals with diamonds...there has got to be a bad connection there also...in time we will know......

The United States and other countries go to other countries, sell other countries weapons, maybe even chemicals to protect their countries. Then they turn around and use them against the very countries that trained them.

In this article the U.S is the one who least helped arm Iraq.

Thank you Larry for all your information.
I am someone who likes to be aware of all sides. Information is the key to understanding these issues. If I did not get detailed comments like yours & Felix'
I would never post anything like this. The comments of REAL opinions & information is what I want.

Either way I do enjoy hearing and reading on all sides. It's best to take time in forming an opinion.

I know the truth or full truth is out there somewhere. I do wish it was easier to find.
As well as, easier to validate what is out there.

I found this at Institute for Policy Studies, January 2003


http://www.ips-dc.org/iraq/primer4.htm#36


A leak in the German newspaper die Tageszeitung of some of the 8,000 pages that Washington deleted from Iraq's December 7, 2002, arms declaration provided further information. The deleted sections documented 24 U.S. corporations, 55 U.S. subsidiaries of foreign corporations, and a number of U.S. government agencies that provided parts, material, training and other assistance to Iraq's chemical, biological, missile, and nuclear weapons programs throughout the 1970s and 80s, some continuing till the end of 1990. The U.S. corporations include Honeywell, Rockwell, Hewlett Packard, Dupont, Eastman Kodak, Bechtel, and more. U.S. government Departments of Energy, Commerce, Defense and Agriculture, as well as federal laboratories at Sandia, Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore, were also involved.

Larry O.,

" The point is that one of the main arguments used by the far left is that the US has no right to go after terrorist groups or their enablers because we're the main creators of terrorists, either through direct support or through policy. And the evidence so often cited is that we trained and supplied people like Bin Laden and Saddam, so we deserve anything that happens to us."

I don't think you have a right to put words into anyones mouth. The point is the hypocrisy of the administration, I know no one that feels "We deserve whatever happens to us" as a result. Way to misstate your oppositions arguments.

Larry O.,

"All of the companies listed fall into the "dual use" catergory already I already noted. I mean c'mon just read the freakin list! Kodak listed as a weapons supplier?"

Kodak supplies optical and intelligence items usable in surveillance and intelligence gathering and some weapons systems. Computers are indispensable to any WMD and nuclear research. But actually, more than the aid, it is important when it was given. Saddam actively consolidated his rule during the time we were supporting him. Note the gassing of the Kurds.

Very Interesting

Larry O.,
And once again I say this, it is not so much the aid given, it is when it was given. We effectively supported him and armed him while he consolidated his power and eliminated any dissent.

Larry O.
Kodak has sold it's remote sensing subsidiary recently to ITT systems, but are still active in defense contracting and lately weapons systems upgrades, as illustrated by this link. Some links to defense are, of course classified, and you aren't going to find much on them, but these should illustrate Kodak's involvement in military supply.

http://www.senate.gov/~schumer/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/PR02061.html

And you can read about their previous subsidiary here

http://www.directionsmag.com/press.releases/index.php?duty=Show&id=8688&trv=1

And just because people comment on the causes for the terrorism, and the intent of the administration, does not mean they are saying we deserve anything we get. Even if they did, the fact that you can find a few liberals saying we may have contributed to our own dilemma, does not mean you have the right to smear them all. If this were true, I could arguably say that all conservatives were gay, now couldn't I?

Here is another link to a lawsuit contending bomb sights produced by Kodak infringed on patents held by others in 1963.

http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/sschooner/farrand.html

In point of fact, Kodak has been a leader in military aerial reconnaissance and bomb sight manufacture since WWII (including parts for the famous Norden bomb sight) and has branched out into many other areas. Optics for just about any application have been supplied the military for years. These have included, optical imaging, and remote sensing for aiming systems. etc. The problem with finding specific information on Iraq supplied items, is time, secrecy classification, and lack of interest, apparently, and the newer systems, well, they aren't advertising those details, obviously.

The newspaper says a review of a large tranche of government documents reveals that the administrations of President Reagan and the first President Bush both authorized providing Iraq with intelligence and logistical support, and okayed the sale of dual use items — those with military and civilian applications — that included chemicals and germs, even anthrax and bubonic plague.
...
Congressional investigations after the Gulf War revealed that the Commerce Department had licensed sales of biological agents, including anthrax, and insecticides, which could be used in chemical weapons, to Iraq.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/12/31/world/main534798.shtml

US Companies Sold Iraq
Billions Of NBC Weapons Materials
By William Blum
The Progressive Magazine
http://www.progressive.org
April 1998 Issue
3-26-2

(Note - This four year old article contains extremely relevant information for today...)

Most Americans listening to the President did not know that the United States supplied Iraq with much of the raw material for creating a chemical and biological warfare program. Nor did the media report that U.S. companies sold Iraq more than $1 billion worth of the components needed to build nuclear weapons and diverse types of missiles, including the infamous Scud.

When Iraq engaged in chemical and biological warfare in the 1980s, barely a peep of moral outrage could be heard from Washington, as it kept supplying Saddam with the materials he needed to build weapons.

...Throughout much of the war, the United States provided military aid and intelligence information to both sides, hoping that each would inflict severe damage on the other.

...During the Iran-Iraq war, Iraq received the lion's share of American support because at the time Iran was regarded as the greater threat to U.S. interests. According to a 1994 Senate report, private American suppliers, licensed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, exported a witch's brew of biological and chemical materials to Iraq from 1985 through 1989. Among the biological materials, which often produce slow, agonizing death, were:

* Bacillus Anthracis, cause of anthrax.

* Clostridium Botulinum, a source of botulinum toxin.

* Histoplasma Capsulatam, cause of a disease attacking lungs, brain, spinal cord, and heart.

* Brucella Melitensis, a bacteria that can damage major organs.

* Clostridium Perfringens, a highly toxic bacteria causing systemic illness.

* Clostridium tetani, a highly toxigenic substance.


Also on the list: Escherichia coli (E. coli), genetic materials, human and bacterial DNA, and dozens of other pathogenic biological agents. "These biological materials were not attenuated or weakened and were capable of reproduction," the Senate report stated. "It was later learned that these microorganisms exported by the United States were identical to those the United Nations inspectors found and removed from the Iraqi biological warfare program."

The report noted further that U.S. exports to Iraq included the precursors to chemical-warfare agents, plans for chemical and biological warfare production facilities, and chemical-warhead filling equipment.

The exports continued to at least November 28, 1989, despite evidence that Iraq was engaging in chemical and biological warfare against Iranians and Kurds since as early as 1984.

The American company that provided the most biological materials to Iraq in the 1980s was American Type Culture Collection of Maryland and Virginia, which made seventy shipments of the anthrax-causing germ and other pathogenic agents, according to a 1996 Newsday story.

Other American companies also provided Iraq with the chemical or biological compounds, or the facilities and equipment used to create the compounds for chemical and biological warfare. Among these suppliers were the following:

* Alcolac International, a Baltimore chemical manufacturer already linked to the illegal shipment of chemicals to Iran, shipped large quantities of thiodiglycol (used to make mustard gas) as well as other chemical and biological ingredients, according to a 1989 story in The New York Times.

* Nu Kraft Mercantile Corp. of Brooklyn (affiliated with the United Steel and Strip Corporation) also supplied Iraq with huge amounts of thiodiglycol, the Times reported.

* Celery Corp., Charlotte, NC

* Matrix-Churchill Corp., Cleveland, OH (regarded as a front for the Iraqi government, according to Representative Henry Gonzalez, Democrat of Texas, who quoted U.S. intelligence documents to this effect in a 1992 speech on the House floor).


The following companies were also named as chemical and biological materials suppliers in the 1992 Senate hearings on "United States export policy toward Iraq prior to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait":

* Mouse Master, Lilburn, GA

* Sullaire Corp., Charlotte, NC

* Pure Aire, Charlotte, NC

* Posi Seal, Inc., N. Stonington, CT

* Union Carbide, Danbury, CT

* Evapco, Taneytown, MD

* Gorman-Rupp, Mansfield, OH


Additionally, several other companies were sued in connection with their activities providing Iraq with chemical or biological supplies: subsidiaries or branches of Fisher Controls International, Inc., St. Louis; Rhone-Poulenc, Inc., Princeton, NJ; Bechtel Group, Inc., San Francisco; and Lummus Crest, Inc., Bloomfield, NJ, which built one chemical plant in Iraq and, before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, was building an ethylene facility. Ethylene is a necessary ingredient for thiodiglycol

In 1994, a group of twenty-six veterans, suffering from what has come to be known as Gulf War Syndrome, filed a billion-dollar lawsuit in Houston against Fisher, Rhone-Poulenc, Bechtel Group, and Lummus Crest, as well as American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) and six other firms, for helping Iraq to obtain or produce the compounds which the veterans blamed for their illnesses. By 1998, the number of plaintiffs has risen to more than 4,000 and the suit is still pending in Texas.

A Pentagon study in 1994 dismissed links between chemical and biological weapons and Gulf War Syndrome. Newsday later disclosed, however, that the man who headed the study, Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg, was a director of ATCC. Moreover, at the time of ATCC's shipments to Iraq, which the Commerce Department approved, the firm's CEO was a member of the Commerce Department's Technical Advisory Committee, the paper found.

A larger number of American firms supplied Iraq with the specialized computers, lasers, testing and analyzing equipment, and other instruments and hardware vital to the manufacture of nuclear weapons, missiles, and delivery systems. Computers, in particular, play a key role in nuclear weapons development. Advanced computers make it feasible to avoid carrying out nuclear test explosions, thus preserving the program's secrecy. The 1992 Senate hearings implicated the following firms:

* Kennametal, Latrobe, PA

* Hewlett Packard, Palo Alto, CA

* International Computer Systems, CA, SC, and TX

* Perkins-Elmer, Norwalk, CT

* BDM Corp., McLean, VA

* Leybold Vacuum Systems, Export, PA

* Spectra Physics, Mountain View, CA

* Unisys Corp., Blue Bell, PA

* Finnigan MAT, San Jose, CA

* Scientific Atlanta, Atlanta, GA

* Spectral Data Corp., Champaign, IL

* Tektronix, Wilsonville, OR

* Veeco Instruments, Inc., Plainview, NY

* Wiltron Company, Morgan Hill, CA

The House report also singled out: TI Coating, Inc., Axel Electronics, Data General Corp., Gerber Systems, Honeywell, Inc., Digital Equipment Corp., Sackman Associates, Rockwell Collins International, Wild Magnavox Satellite Survey, Zeta Laboratories, Carl Schenck, EZ Logic Data, International Imaging Systems, Semetex Corp., and Thermo Jarrell Ash Corporation.

Some of the companies said later that they had no idea Iraq might ever put their products to military use. A spokesperson for Hewlett Packard said the company believed that the Iraqi recipient of its shipments, Saad 16, was an institution of higher learning. In fact, in 1990 The Wall Street Journal described Saad 16 as "a heavily fortified, state-of-the-art complex for aircraft construction, missile design, and, almost certainly, nuclear-weapons research."

Other corporations recognized the military potential of their goods but considered it the government's job to worry about it. "Every once in a while you kind of wonder when you sell something to a certain country," said Robert Finney, president of Electronic Associates, Inc., which supplied Saad 16 with a powerful computer that could be used for missile testing and development. "But it's not up to us to make foreign policy," Finney told The Wall Street Journal.

In 1982, the Reagan Administration took Iraq off its list of countries alleged to sponsor terrorism, making it eligible to receive high-tech items generally denied to those on the list. Conventional military sales began in December of that year. Representative Samuel Gejdenson, Democrat of Connecticut, chairman of a House subcommittee investigating "United States Exports of Sensitive Technology to Iraq," stated in 1991:

"From 1985 to 1990, the United States Government approved 771 licenses for the export to Iraq of $1.5 billion worth of biological agents and high-tech equipment with military application. [Only thirty-nine applications were rejected.] The United States spent virtually an entire decade making sure that Saddam Hussein had almost whatever he wanted. . . . The Administration has never acknowledged that it took this course of action, nor has it explained why it did so. In reviewing documents and press accounts, and interviewing knowledgeable sources, it becomes clear that United States export-control policy was directed by U.S. foreign policy as formulated by the State Department, and it was U.S. foreign policy to assist the regime of Saddam Hussein."

Subsequently, Representative John Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, investigated the Department of Energy concerning an unheeded 1989 warning about Iraq's nuclear weapons program. In 1992, he accused the DOE of punishing employees who raised the alarm and rewarding those who didn't take it seriously. One DOE scientist, interviewed by Dingell's Energy and Commerce Committee, was especially conscientious about the mission of the nuclear non-proliferation program. For his efforts, he received very little cooperation, inadequate staff, and was finally forced to quit in frustration. "It was impossible to do a good job," said William Emel. His immediate manager, who tried to get the proliferation program fully staffed, was chastened by management and removed from his position. Emel was hounded by the DOE at his new job as well.

Another Senate committee, investigating "United States export policy toward Iraq prior to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait," heard testimony in 1992 that Commerce Department personnel "changed information on sixty-eight licenses; that references to military end uses were deleted and the designation 'military truck' was changed. This was done on licenses having a total value of over $1 billion." Testimony made clear that the White House was "involved" in "a deliberate effort . . . to alter these documents and mislead the Congress."
.....

Gulf War Veterans Suing Companies for Chemical Exports
From Phil Hirschkorn and Richard Roth
CNN New York Bureau
Friday, January 17, 2003 Posted: 8:46 PM EST (0146 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Twelve years after the Persian Gulf War began, some American veterans of that conflict are finding new ammunition in their fight to find out who supplied Iraq chemicals that might have made them sick.

More than 5,000 veterans are plaintiffs in a lawsuit that accuses companies of helping Iraqi President Saddam Hussein build his chemical warfare arsenal. The plaintiffs are among the tens of thousands who came down with "Gulf War Illness," a debilitating series of ailments that can include chronic fatigue, skin rashes, muscle joint pain, memory loss, and brain damage.

Now, plaintiffs' attorneys have acquired, for the first time, what they believe is strong evidence of which companies supplied Iraq the chemicals that might have been used to produce mustard gas, sarin nerve gas and VX.

The supplier list, shown to CNN, is included in Iraq's 1998 weapons declaration to the United Nations, parts of which were resubmitted to weapons inspectors last month.

...The lawsuit, originally filed by Pitts in a civil court in Brazoria County, Texas, in 1994, alleges that companies knew "products and/or manufacturing facilities supplied ... were to be used to produce chemical and biological weapons."

The suit seeks at least $1 billion in damages for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/01/17/iraq.chemical.suit/

It is now known that a vast network of companies, based in the U.S. and elsewhere, fed Iraq's warring capabilities right up until August 1990, when Saddam invaded Kuwait.

The "Iraq-gate" scandal revealed that an Atlanta branch of Italy's largest bank, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, relying partially on U.S. taxpayer-guaranteed loans, funneled US$ 5 billion to Iraq from 1985 to 1989. In August 1989, when FBI agents finally raided the Atlanta branch of BNL, the branch manager, Christopher Drogoul, was charged with making unauthorized, clandestine, and illegal loans to Iraq—some of which, according to his indictment, were used to purchase arms and weapons technology.

Beginning in September, 1989, the Financial Times laid out the first charges that BNL, relying heavily on U.S. government-guaranteed loans, was funding Iraqi chemical and nuclear weapons work. For the next two and a half years, the Financial Times provided the only continuous newspaper reportage (over 300 articles) on the subject. Among the companies shipping militarily useful technology to Iraq under the eye of the U.S. government, according to the Financial Times, were Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix, and Matrix Churchill, through its Ohio branch.
...

Aside from the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and ABC's Ted Koppel, the Iraq-gate story never picked up much steam, even though The U.S. Congress became involved with the scandal.

In December 2002, Iraq's 1,200 page Weapons Declaration revealed a list of Eastern and Western corporations and countries—as well as individuals—that exported chemical and biological materials to Iraq in the past two decades. By far, the largest suppliers of precursors for chemical weapons production were in Singapore (4,515 tons), the Netherlands (4,261 tons), Egypt (2,400 tons), India (2,343 tons), and Germany (1,027 tons). One Indian company, Exomet Plastics (now part of EPC Industrie) sent 2,292 tons of precursor chemicals to Iraq. The Kim Al-Khaleej firm of Singapore supplied more than 4,500 tons of VX, sarin, and mustard gas precursors and production equipment to Iraq.

By contrast, Alcolac International, for example, a Maryland company, transported thiodiglycol, a mustard gas precursor, to Iraq. Alcolac was small and was successfully prosecuted for its violations of export control law. The firm pleaded guilty in 1989. A full list of American companies and their involvements in Iraq was provided by The LA Weekly in May 2003.

On 25 May 1994, The U.S. Senate Banking Committee released a report in which it was stated that "pathogenic" (meaning disease producing), "toxigenic" (meaning poisonous) and other biological research materials were exported to Iraq, pursuant to application and licensing by the U.S. Department of Commerce. It added: "These exported biological materials were not attenuated or weakened and were capable of reproduction."

The report then detailed 70 shipments (including anthrax bacillus) from the United States to Iraqi government agencies over three years, concluding "It was later learned that these microorganisms exported by the United States were identical to those the UN inspectors found and recovered from the Iraqi biological warfare program."

A report by Berlin's Die Tageszeitung in 2002 reported that Iraq's 11,000-page report to the UN Security Council listed 150 foreign companies that supported Saddam Hussein's WMD program. Twenty-four U.S. firms were involved in exporting arms and materials to Baghdad.

Donald Riegle, Chairman of the Senate committee that authored the aforementioned Riegle Report, said, "UN inspectors had identified many United States manufactured items that had been exported from the United States to Iraq under licenses issued by the Department of Commerce, and [established] that these items were used to further Iraq's chemical and nuclear weapons development and its missile delivery system development programs." He added, "the executive branch of our government approved 771 different export licenses for sale of dual-use technology to Iraq. I think that is a devastating record."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control sent Iraq 14 agents "with biological warfare significance," including West Nile virus, according to Riegle's investigators. And The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish organization dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust, also released a list of U.S. companies and their exports to Iraq.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._support_for_Saddam_during_the_Iran-Iraq_war

I could go on and on and on, but...I think I've made my point.

Thanks again Felix, this gives me lots of information to mull over :-)

In point of fact, Kodak has been a leader in military aerial reconnaissance and bomb sight manufacture since WWII (including parts for the famous Norden bomb sight) and has branched out into many other areas. Optics for just about any application have been supplied the military for years. These have included, optical imaging, and remote sensing for aiming systems. etc. The problem with finding specific information on Iraq supplied items, is time, secrecy classification, and lack of interest, apparently, and the newer systems, well, they aren't advertising those details, obviously. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>



Ron W.,
Very interesting indeed.

Did anyone understand what he just said?

Felix,

I think he said:I am unwilling to accept the idea that my heroes are two faced liars that have no real principles or dedication to the values they give lip service to in order to provide shallow minded citizens a way to cheer on policies that are destroying the nations long term ability to subdue or restrain violence and warfare.

But I could be slightly off on that.

Thanks, John, that's what I thought he said, but, decided to be sure...so that's why I used up one of my life-lines.

I thought he said "I am losing this argument, so I would prefer to split hairs until your input is excluded, therefor, I win, and I'm taking my bat and ball and going home."