United States foreign policy toward Iraq

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Some analysts questioning U.S. policy of demonizing Saddam: By John Diamond, Associated Press, 29 November 1997. The Bush administration likened Saddam Hussein to Hitler; the Clinton administration portrays him as irrational and deceptive. But now, as the latest U.S.-Iraqi crisis appears to have eased, some experts question whether the US gains anything by painting him as a villain.
As Billions Flow to Oil and Defense Companies Bombing Of Baghdad Staves Off Financial Uncertainty: By Michel Chossudovsky, 19 February 2000. The bombing of Baghdad pulled Wall Street out of danger and put billions of dollars into the deep pockets of Defense contractors and oil companies. War and globalization go hand in hand; militarisation is an integral part of the neo-liberal agenda.
Reflections on American injustice: By Edward Said, Al-Ahram Weekly, 24 February to 1 March 2000. So terrible are the results of the US-maintained sanctions against that country’s civilian population and infrastructure that not even a seasoned international humanitarian official can tolerate the agony of what those sanctions have wrought.
Radicalized By US Disregard For Iraqi People: By Robert Jensen, Baltimore Sun, Sunday 13 August 2000. Denis Halliday was U.N. assistant secretary general and in September 1997 took over as humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, where he saw first-hand the results of a policy he now calls genocidal. The economic embargo, which remains in place because the US demands, has killed at least 1 million innocent Iraqis, at least half younger than 5.
Right wing telling Bush to hit Iraq: By Edward Epstein, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 November 2001. With the Taliban and Osama bin Laden on the run in Afghanistan, President Bush’s fellow conservatives are pushing him to attack Iraq as the next step in the war on terrorism. Warnings from some analysts that the administration risks provoking a hostile world reaction if it goes to war against Hussein.
10 Leading Lawmakers Urge Targeting of Iraq: By Steven Mufson, Washington Post, Thursday 6 December 2001. “As we work to clean up Afghanistan and destroy al Qaeda, it is imperative that we plan to eliminate the [terrorist] threat from Iraq”. Among the signers was former vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.)
Declassified papers leave the White House hawk exposed over his role during the Iran-Iraq war: By Julian Borger, The Guardian (London), Tuesday 31 December 2002. The Reagan administration and its special Middle East envoy, Donald Rumsfeld, did little to stop Iraq developing weapons of mass destruction in the 1980s, even though they knew Saddam Hussein was using chemical weapons “almost daily” against Iran.
U.S. Decision On Iraq Has Puzzling Past: Opponents of War Wonder When, How Policy Was Set: By Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Sunday 12 January 2003. Six days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush planned to go to war in Afghanistan as part of a global campaign against terrorism and directed the Pentagon to begin planning military options for an invasion of Iraq.
Neo-Conservatives’ 1998 Memos a Blueprint for Iraq war: South News, 11 March 2003. Years before the Sept. 11 attacks set the President George W. direction of his presidency, a group of influential Bush. neo-conservatives hatched a plan to get Saddam Hussein out of power. The group, the Project for the New American Century, or PNAC, was founded in 1997.