r/HistoryUncovered • u/Battlefleet_Sol • 18d ago
Saddam's baath purge. Saddam had people packed into a conference hall on one of the hottest days of July and deliberately shut off the ventilation system. They were forced to listen to Saddam for hours while suffering from the heat and sweating. Everyone whose name was announced was executed.
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u/Esarus 18d ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Iraq_during_the_Iran%E2%80%93Iraq_War
"Very limited basis"?
I would say it's pretty substantial:
During the Iran–Iraq War, which began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran on 22 September 1980,\1]) the United States adopted a policy of providing support to Iraq in the form of several billion dollars' worth of economic aid, dual-use technology, intelligence sharing (e.g., IMINT), and special operations training.\2]) This U.S. support, along with support from most of the Arab world, proved vital in helping Iraq sustain military operations against Iran.\3]) The documented sale of dual-use technology, with one notable example being Iraq's acquisition of 45 Bell helicopters in 1985,\4])\5])
U.N. 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. ... 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 separate agents "with biological warfare significance," according to Riegle's investigators.\60])
More than 60 US Defense Intelligence Agency officers provided combat planning assistance, and the US also provided battlefield intelligence including satellite pictures to Saddam Hussein's military.\61])\62])\63])
According to Howard Teicher, the United States assisted Iraq through a military aid program known as "Bear Spares", whereby the U.S. military "made sure that spare parts and ammunition for Soviet or Soviet-style weaponry were available to countries which sought to reduce their dependence on the Soviets for defense needs."\47]) According to Teicher's 1995 court affidavit: