In addition to fellow Arab support, the United States and west European countries began to support the Iraqis. Saddam Hussein was given diplomatic, monetary, political, and military support by the US, including massive loans, political clout, and intelligence on the Iranian deployments using American spy satellites. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan removed Iraq from the list of countries "supporting terrorism", and sold weapons such as howitzers to Iraq via Jordan and Israel.[61] France sold Iraq millions of dollars worth of weapons, including Gazelle helicopters, Mirage F-1 fighters, and Exocet missiles. Both the United States and West Germany sold Iraq pesticides and poisions that would be used to create their infamous and illegal chemical weapons,[61] and other weapons, such as Roland missiles, while the US and Great Britain blocked any UN resolutions against Iraqi chemical weapons uses, and even accusing Iran of using them as well. The US also gave intelligence to the Iraqis which allowed them the coordinate their attacks against the Iranians, often using chemical weapons.[61] At the same time, the Soviet Union, angered with Iran purging and destroying of Iran's nation communist party (Tudeh Party), resumed massive shipments of weapons to Iraq again. The Iraqi air force was speedily rearmed with Soviet and French fighter jets and helicopters. Iraq also bought weapons such as AK-47's and RPG's from the Chinese. The depleted tank forces were replenished with Soviet tanks, and the Iraqis were rearmed in the face of renewed Iranian attacks. Despite the fact that Iraq had started the war, Iran was portrayed as the aggressor, and would seen as such until the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War (when Iraq would be condemned). Nevertheless, both sides distrusted each other, partularly after the Iran-Contra Scandal in 1986. Saddam was angered that the US was giving weapons to the Iranians as well (although they were much fewer).
It is a bit ironic to me that just as we once removed Iraq from the terrorist list so that they could fight a proxy war for the US Government, so the day before the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq War it is reported that the Federal State is about to remove a terrorist cult from the terrorist list so that they can use them in acts of terrorism against Iran.
In recent years, it has enlisted Washington luminaries in both parties to speak on its behalf or appear at rallies. Among them are former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Democratic Party leader Howard Dean, former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, former FBI Director Louis Freeh and President Obama’s former national security advisor, James L. Jones.
Some of the officials reportedly were paid tens of thousands of dollars in fees. The group also spent considerable sums on full-page newspaper advertisements and other media.
Critics of the MEK faulted the Obama administration for bowing to the lobbying effort, warning that the appearance of U.S. support for a group that many Iranians view as traitorous could weaken Iran’s pro-democracy movement. Some current and former U.S. officials have called for arming the MEK to conduct attacks against Iran, which experts say could tip the United States and Iran closer to war.
“It’s a gift to [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei,” Iran’s supreme leader, said Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, a Washington-based nonprofit advocacy group that opposes the government in Tehran.
“At a moment when the United States is trying to put pressure on the Iranian regime through sanctions, and have that economic hardship for the people translate into them putting pressure on their own government, that policy is undermined if the balance of public anger is directed to the U.S. rather than the regime itself,” Parsi said.Got that? The MEK is delisted because they have renounced violence and become some hope to arm them for acts of violence. Perfect.
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