28 August 2013
FP: United States complicit in Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons use
Foreign Policy reported on recently declassified CIA files that reveal that the United States provided assistance to Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war despite having knowledge of chemical weapons use by Saddam Hussein’s military.
According to the report, the CIA documents and former US intelligence officials confirm that the US had firm evidence of chemical weapons attacks beginning in 1983, but the Reagan administration nevertheless continued to provide assistance, including satellite imagery, to Iraq. Previous reports had indicated that the US had suspected the use of chemical weapons, but the declassified documents reveal that US officials were regularly informed on the scale of nerve gas attacks, which according to the FP report, amounts to American complicity in Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons attacks.
The US has denied acquiescing to Iraq’s chemical weapons attacks, and the CIA declined to comment for the FP report.
Source: Foreign Policy | Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran