According to an August 5, 2002 report by Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill, “On March 24, 1984, the day of [Middle East Envoy Donald] Rumsfeld’s visit [to Iraq], UPI [United Press International] reported: ‘Mustard gas laced with a nerve agent has been used on Iranian soldiers in the 43-month Persian Gulf War between Iran and […]
Category: quotes
3/15/1984
In March 1984, “European-based doctors examined Iranian troops and confirmed that they had been exposed to mustard gas [during combat in the Iran-Iraq War]. Iran followed up on these gas attacks with a draft resolution, calling on the United Nations Security Council to condemn Iraq’s use of chemical weapons. According to Joyce Battle from the […]
3/5/1984
“From 1983 to 1988, the Iraqi air force dropped between 13,000 and 19,500 chemical bombs on Iran and on the Kurdish city of Halabja. On March 5, 1984, the U.S. State Department issued a public statement condemning Iraq’s use of chemical weapons in the war against Iran. In private, however, the Reagan administration was eager to […]
3/5/1984
“The U.S. State Department had also concluded that Iraq was using chemical weapons in a report [as well as a public condemnation] on March 5, 1984.” – Amy Goodman with David Goodman, The Exception to the Rulers, Page 29 […]
2/15/1984
In The Iraq War Reader, Joost R. Hiltermann wrote: “In the first Iranian offensive after Rumsfeld’s visit, in Febraury 1984, Iraq used not only large amounts of mustard gas but also the highly lethal nerve agent tabun. It was the first recorded use of tne nerve agent in history.” [The 15th of the month used […]
2/4/1984
” ‘[T]he situation in Lebanon is difficult, frustrating, and dangerous,’ [President Ronald] Reagan said in a radio address to the nation in early February [4] 1984. ‘But that is no reason to turn our backs on friends and to cut and run. If we do, we’ll be sending one signal to terrorists everywhere: They can […]
1/1/1984
“On January 1, 1984, the Washington Post reported that the United States, ‘in a shift in policy, has informed friendly Persian Gulf nations that the defeat of Iraq in the three-year-old war with Iran would be *contrary to U.S. interests* and has made several moves to prevent that result.’ ” – Amy Goodman with David […]
12/20/1983
“…on December 20, 1983, Donald Rumsfeld, serving as a special envoy of President [Ronald] Reagan…traveled to Baghdad [Iraq] and, with a warm smile and handshake (captured by photograph), assured Hussein that the latter could count on America being in his corner in his war with Iran.” – Vincent Bugliosi, The Prosecution of George W. Bush […]
12/20/1983
“In the infamous video of [then-Middle East Envoy] Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein on December 20, 1983, the once and future secretary of defense has been sent by [President] Ronald Reagan at the height of the Iran-Iraq War to assure Hussein of America’s unwavering friendship.” – Eugene Jarecki, The American Way of War, […]
12/20/1983
” ‘It was [President Ronald] Reagan’s Middle East envoy, Donald Rumsfeld, who traveled to Baghdad ‘with a handwritten letter to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein [on December 20, 1983] and a message that Washington was willing at any moment to resume diplomatic relations.’ ” – Amy Goodman with David Goodman, The Exception to the Rulers, Pages […]