“The Reagan administration and, to an even greater extent, the Bush Sr. administration, spent nearly a decade secretly arming Iraq through direct and indirect sales. The direct sales were of ‘dual-use’ materials, which are goods ostensibly made for civilian purposes but have military applications as well. …The Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations allowed the sales over the objections of the Pentagon, which believed these products would inevitably be used for military purposes. One government official explained that in March 1985, high-technology export licenses, which previously had not been approved by the U.S. government to Iraq, ‘started to go through as if someone had suddenly turned a switch.’ The indirect method involved sales of conventional and chemical weapons to third parties, generally friendly governments, who then sold the weapons to Iraq. U.S. arms dealers made out handsomely, as did dozens of U.S. multinational corporations…” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Antonia Juhasz, The Bush Agenda, Pages 167-168