{"id":1502,"date":"2003-04-15T14:23:00","date_gmt":"2003-04-15T18:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meehawl.com\/Blogfiles-wp\/?p=1502"},"modified":"2003-04-15T14:23:00","modified_gmt":"2003-04-15T18:23:00","slug":"what-rumsfeld-did-or-didnt-talk-about-with-saddam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meehawl.com\/Blogfiles\/2003\/04\/15\/14\/23\/what-rumsfeld-did-or-didnt-talk-about-with-saddam\/","title":{"rendered":"What Rumsfeld Did or Didn’t Talk About With Saddam"},"content":{"rendered":"

So although much has been made of Bagman Rumsfeld’s cordial visit with Saddam<\/a> during the 1980s, just as Iraq’s campaign of chemical warfare was hitting its stride, it’s always been somewhat of a mystery what Rumsfeld<\/a> and Saddam talked about. But memos from the 1980s have been recently declassified<\/a> that describe how Rumsfeld’s mission was not to talk about Iraq’s human rights abuses<\/a>, or to mediate in the war between Iraq and Iran. Apparently, Rumsfeld was sent to talk to the Butcher of Baghdad about an oil pipeline<\/a>. The dodgy construction company Bechtel wanted to build a pipeline running from Iraq through Jordan to the sea, and seeing as how most of Reagan’s higher-up cronies were former Bechtel execs, this seemed like a good aim for US foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the price wasn’t right and Saddam was not cooperative. A breakdown in relations led increasingly bitter resentment among the Bechtel Gang until, when some of them finally joined the Bush 2 Gang, they were able to align their commercial interests with the religious focus of the fundies and the political goals of the neocons and push for an invasion of Iraq.<\/p>\n

And of course, Bechtel is one of the front-runners for the juicy reconstruction contracts within post-Saddam Iraq…<\/p>\n

cables back and forth between Washington and U.S. diplomats in the Middle East around the time of 1983 and 1984 disclose for the first time what really transpired in Rumsfeld’s meetings with Saddam and other Iraqi officials. What had previously been reported was that Rumsfeld had a cozy meeting with Saddam in Baghdad in December 1983. In the past, the focus was on whether or not he had raised the issue of Saddam’s use of chemical arms against Iran. But what the actual memoranda show is that a big part of Rumsfeld’s discussion with Saddam Hussein was this new proposal from Bechtel to build a pipeline form Iraq to Jordan. I mean Rumsfeld was executing the marching orders of George Schultz, who was the Secretary of State, but who came directly from the presidency of Bechtel to the Reagan administration.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a>Earlier here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So although much has been made of Bagman Rumsfeld’s cordial visit with Saddam during the 1980s, just as Iraq’s campaign of chemical warfare was hitting its stride, it’s always been somewhat of a mystery...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t