Who Really Built Saddam?

The West made Saddam Hussain. The soviet arms mill defence. But, by handing him everything from chemical weapons to ballistic missiles and the makings of a nuclear bomb, America and Europe transformed a two-bit dictator into a world class threat.

Some goods from Europe fell into Saddam's hands as customs officials slept at the switch. Other European goods were supplied with a nod and a wink by nations hungry for Iraqi oil or greedy for trade.

The US government is equally responsible. It deliberately traded with Saddam so that Iraq would not lose its war against Iran. America did not want the Ayatollah Khoemeini's fundamentalist Islamic government to dominate West Asia.

In addition, American trade officials, dazzled by the business Europeans were doing, assiduously sought Iraqi commerce. And State Department specialists - from the height of their "expertise" in Arab culture - mistakenly declared Saddam "a force for moderation" who could be "worked with."

Here is a shocking account of a decade of appeasement.

1980. On September 17, war begins when Iraq bombs Iran with Soviet-built MiGs. Iran is soon smashing back with Americans- made Phantom F-4 fighter bombers originally supplied to the deposed Shah.

France announces it will honour its agreement to sell Iraq $1.6 thousands million worth of arms. More important, France and Italy maintain their commitment to help Saddam develop the "peaceful" Osiraq nuclear reactor's capability. "The government," opines the French daily le Monde, "cannot take the risk of annoying this oil-producing country"

1981. In late May, French scientists conclude that Saddam's nearly completed Osiraq reactor could potentially manufacture nuclear weapons. One week later, French President Francois Mitterrand promises to supply the reactors with uranium fuel.

On June 7, Israeli aircraft strike the Osiraq plant, robbing Saddam of the bomb he wanted. Saudi Arabia offers to finance the building of the reactor. George Bush, then vice-president, is among, the Western leaders "de-ploring" the strike.

1982. In return for Saddam's diminishing support of terrorism, such as the eviction of the dreaded terrorist Abdul Abbas from Bagdad, the US State Department removes Iraq from its list of terrorist nations. The removal frees Saddam to buy American computers, commercial aircraft and other goods. It also makes Iraq eligible to use some US-taxpayer guaranteed loans.

Saddam begins at staggering cost, to build underground bases fro his air force.

1983. Iraqi agents quietly consult investment advisers in the Switzerland and France. On their counsel, from European firms that specialize in military technology. Eventually, this effort will be the responsibility of Saddam's Ministry for Industry and Military Industrialization.

It is not Saddam's first shopping trip. Since 1981 the German laboratory and medical supplier Karl Kolb GmbH has been constructing six "pesticide plants" for him in Samara, Iraq. In the autumn, Saddam announces that the facilities can now produce chemical weapons.

1984. Iraq is spending $14 thousand million a year foreign military purchases for its war against Iran. An underground network or European "technomercenaries" (which has been developing ballistic missiles for Argentina and Egypt) is eager to cash in. European companies- such as Germany's Messerchmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (MBB) and Italy's SniaBPD-escape detection by letting former employees set up subsidiaries and businesses to handle certain transactions.

Warned by US intelligence about the deadly new network, named "Consen," Washington sends diplomatic notes of protest to the German government. However, US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Burt does not press the point, and Germany in turn does not act.

In February, America confirms Saddam's battlefield use of mustard gas against Iranian forces. In November, having waited until President Reagan is re-elected; the United States lets the world know that it is restoring full diplomatic relations with Iraq.

1985. In Europe, Iraqi agents move ahead with plans to acquire a nuclear missile- the Condor II-from Consen.

With Saddam's support, Marshall Wiley, former US ambassador to Oman, founds the US-Iraq Business Forum to promote American investment in Iraq. Nearly 70 major firms eventually join, including such giants as Westinghouse and Caterpillar.

In October, on the cruise ship Achille Lauro in Mediterranean, lieutenants of Abdul Abbas murder wheelchair-ground American Leon Klinghoffer, Abbas, traveling on an Iraqi passport, finds refuge in Iraq. But the United States does not return Iraq to the list of states sponsoring terrorism.

1986. Britain sells Iraq its entire stock of desert-weight military uniforms. In the Persian Gulf four years later, Iraqi soldiers are appropriately dressed while British troops swelter in heavy camouflage gear until new uniforms are available.

1987. On May 17, a French-built Iraqi Warplane accidentally attacks the frigate USS Stark, killing 37 Americans. The US State Department emphasizes that Iraq has apologized and offered compensation for the dead and the ship. (Three years later, after Iraq invaded Kuwait, a sheepish State Department official acknowledged that "the transfer of the money has never taken place.")

West German authorities finally begin to investigate Iraq's tries with their businessman. America, meanwhile, signs trade agreement to increase its own commerce with Iraq. "There is a growing sense," says one US Offical, "that we ought to be in on the bonanza."

In August, Iraq announces it has launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile.

1988. The kurds-who seek dependence from Iraqi- have angered Saddam. On March 16 and 17, strikes the town of Halabjah with poison gas. As many as 5,000 people were killed. More than 70,000 refugees flee into Turkey, many suffering from festering wounds.

In America, Senators Claiborne Pell and Jesse Helms demanded sanctions against Iraq. The Administration calls the move "premature," and the measure stall in the house of Representatives. Meanwhile, the US Export-Import bank insures Iraqi purchases or American pesticides. Export-Import Bank officials think it is unlikely they will be used to produce chemical weapons.

On July 17, the Iran-Iraq was ends with no clear victor.

1989. It is learnt that between February 1988 and July 1989 the Atlanta branch of Italy's Banca Nazionale del Lavoro arranged $3 thousand million worth of secret and unauthorized loans for Iraq. Some of the loans went to British, American and West German companies exporting militarily useful technology to Iraq, some to Iraq's central bank. Loans to Iraq totaling some $750 million were guaranteed by US taxpayers through the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). Iraq has become one of the CCC's biggest customers, requesting and securing over $1 thousand million in guarantees in each of the past two years. In October, the agency decides to authorize another $500 million in guaranteed loans.

1990. In January, President Bush waives Congress's ban on Iraq's use of Export-Import bank funds, citing America's "national interest" In February, a Voice of America radio broadcast includes Iraq in a list of police states. Secretary of State James Baker instructs US ambassadors in Baghdad April Glaspie, to apologize.

Also that month, Iraq obtains permission to buy state-of-art imaging and photographic equipment from International Imaging Systems, a California firm. In their first bid in 1985, Saddam's agents said it would be used for "forestry, soil analysis and cartography." US Defence Department official Stephen Bryen warned that the equipment was more suitable for aerial reconnaissance and missile targeting, But the Commerce Department grants the licence and, until the invasion of Kuwait leads to a total trade embargo, the company is authorized to ship.

Saddam becomes ever more belligerent, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, he warns, must cancel $30 thousand million war debt and pay him $30 thousand million of suffer reprisals.

On March 28, British customs officials in London arrest five people accused of trying to smuggle electrical capacitors designed to help detonate nuclear weapons. The capacitors were made by a Californian firm that had operated in an elaborate sting. Those arrested include Ali Ashour Daghir or Euromac, an English firm suspected of being an Iraqi front.

One week after the smugglers are caught, Saddam boasts on Iraqi TV, "We do not need an atomic bomb. We have the dual chemical.

In April, President Bush asks Saddam to stop making inflammatory statements. Privately, he asks five Senators led by Minority Leader Robert Dole to carry a milder message to Saddam. Dole conveys Bush's desire for better relations. Upon his return, Dole tells Bush that saddam is "a leader to whom the United States can talk."

In May, CCC auditors discover apparent kickbacks to the Iraq's which they call "minor irregularities" and refuse to consider $500 million in additional guarantees.

Alan Friedman of London's Financial Times reports that the kickbacks helped from an estimated $100-million pool that funded operation of Saddam's European arms-procurement network. By 1993, US taxpayers could lose nearly $2 thousand million in bad Iraqi loans guaranteed by CCC.

In June, US Senator nancy Kassebaum is horrified by a report that Iraq has tortured and executed Kurdish children to intimidate their parents into submission. She seeks to end Iraq's participation in the CCC once and for all. "This would hurt wheat sales in Kansas," Kassebaum acknowledges, "but sometimes we have to stand up and be counted."

US Assistant Secretary of State John Kelly, speaking for the Bush Administration, opposes her, saying economic sanctions will not help the United States meet its "goals."

By mid-July, saddam is mobilizing his army. On Jult 23, American spy satellites reveal 30,000 of Saddam's troops massing at Iraq's border with Kuwait. On July 24, the United States express its concern by holding a naval exercise with the United Arab Emirates.

On July 25, Saddam summons US Ambassador April Glaspie to protest the exercise. He threatens to unleash terrorists on America. Glaspie responds by praising Saddam's "extraordinary efforts" to rebuild his country. Then she queries the massive build-up at the border. She says she is asking "in the spirit of friendship-not in the spirit of confrontation."

On July 27 and 28, US intelligence warns the Bush Administration that Iraq may invade Kuwait. On July 29, Iraq activates its radar- a sign of impending battle. On July 30, Iraqi strength near the border is above 100,000. Ambassador Glaspie, reassured by her talk with Saddam, departs Babhdad fir a long-scheduled visit to Washington.

On August 1, the CIA again warns the Administration that Iraq will invade Kuwait. But by the end of the day, the State Government has not even warned tourists of this. Early on the morning of August 2, Iraq invades Kuwait.

The NATIONS of the World have been slow to acknowledge their folly. Even as America mobilized for the largest military engagement since Vietnam, the US State and Commerce departments sought approval for IBM to sell a super computer to a Brazilian firm with connections to Iraq. And while British troops gathered in Saudi Arabia, Iraqi-front companies continued to operate in London. France's warships sat alongside America's in the Gulf, yet Paris initially balked at a US request for information about the French-made equipment Iraq was using to jam US AWACS. And Germany did not stop sales of sensitive technology until an international embargo was imposed.

A month after Saddam devastated Kuwait, Richard Murphy, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs during much of the Iran-Iraq was, declared: "I still think that Iraq would have turned into a state with whom one could have had very mutually profitable exchanges."

As troops massed to oppose Saddam Hussein last autumn, Hans-Heino Kopeitz, a London -based West Asia analyst, saw the situation differently: "We closed our eyes because some businesses wanted to make money and because Saddam was a useful tool against Iran. Saddam is a Frankenstein that the West created."