2003–12–17

Our Frankenstein

Michael Moore has a bit to say on the history of our relationship with Saddam:

Thank God Saddam is finally back in American hands! He must have really missed us. Man, he sure looked bad! But, at least he got a free dental exam today. That’s something most Americans can’t get.

America used to like Saddam. We LOVED Saddam. We funded him. We armed him. We helped him gas Iranian troops.

But then he screwed up. He invaded the dictatorship of Kuwait and, in doing so, did the worst thing imaginable – he threatened an even BETTER friend of ours: the dictatorship of Saudi Arabia, and its vast oil reserves. The Bushes and the Saudi royal family were and are close business partners, and Saddam, back in 1990, committed a royal blunder by getting a little too close to their wealthy holdings. Things went downhill for Saddam from there.

That’s Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam in 1983. Let us not forget our role in setting up Saddam. It’s not an exception, but the rule. The time has long past for a critical evaluation of U.S. Foreign policy. Will we ever learn?

I wonder, who are we shaking hands with today?