posted June 06, 2005 09:19 PM              

hey didja know nixon even made a fortune off of saddam when he was being favored by bush sr.?
the notorious arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian was very helpful....lol
***********
NARRATOR: Surely the most bizarre of all of Soghanalian's Iraqi deals was centered in this building in Washington, D.C., in the offices of Global Research International, run by former Marine Colonel and White House aide John Brennan. Soghanalian says that in 1983, Brennan asked him to help sell $181 million worth of military uniforms to Iraq. The deal would involve Brennan's partner, former Attorney General John Mitchell, former Vice President Spiro Agnew, and eventually Richard Nixon.

INTERVIEWER: It didn't surprise you that Lieutenant Colonel Brennan, who was Nixon's aide, or Mitchell, or any of these other people [unintelligible]

Mr. SOGHANALIAN: I was surprised. I was surprised, to be honest with you, that President Nixon was in business with those guys. But anyway, I put the deal together for them. I got the order, and I thought they were going to get the equipment from the States -- you know, uniform and all that -- because the demand was always on U.S.-type shoes, boots, U.S.-type -- you know, U.S. uniform and stuff like that. So I find out that those guys are straight going to Eastern Bloc.

NARRATOR: In fact, Brennan had arranged for the Romanian government to manufacture the uniforms for shipment to the Iraqis. Brennan asked his old boss, Richard Nixon, to write a letter to Romanian dictator Nicolai Ceausescu to help seal the deal. "Dear Mr. President," Nixon wrote in 1984. "I can assure you that Colonel Brennan and former attorney general John Mitchell will be responsible and constructive in working on this project with your representatives. Mrs. Nixon joins me in sending our warm personal regards to you and Mrs. Ceausescu."

Mr. SOGHANALIAN: And the minister called me one day. He said, " I thought we were signing contracts with Americans?" I said, "Yeah, you are." "But," he said, "the supply is coming from Romania. Those are our suppliers since 20 years. Why didn't we to go there to start with?" Because they were buying the shirts, let's say, for $2.75, and they paid $4 for it because it's American. And now the shirts are coming from Romania with higher price, and it's not American.

INTERVIEWER: I mean, to the average [unintelligible], this is very confusing. I mean, you have Richard Nixon and his friends supplying Romanian uniforms to Iraq.

posted June 06, 2005 09:25 PM            

quote:

---

In 1975, Saddam agreed to settle a border dispute with Iran if the Shah of Iran would cut off his support for the Kurdish fighters. The Nixon administration, which had seen the Kurds as a buffer to both the Iraqis and the Soviets, also withdrew its aid. Saddam's army regained control of northern Iraq, continuing its campaign of ethnic cleansing and massive human rights abuses.

---

posted June 06, 2005 10:07 PM              

according to the pike report kissinger & bush sr was continuing nixons policy as he was head of the cia then......
the kurds were still betrayed.....
*****************

By 1975,Kissinger had secretly channeled $16million in military aid to the Kurds,who believed that Washington was fi-nally supporting their right to self-de-termination.But the following year, the U.S.House Select Committee on Intelli-gence issued the Pike report, whichrevealed that the U.S. never had anyintention of supporting a Kurdish state.“Documents in the Committee’s pos-session clearly show that the President[Richard Nixon], Dr. Kissinger and theforeign head of state [the Shah of Iran]hoped that our clients [the Kurds]would not prevail,” the report con-cluded. “They preferred instead thatthe insurgents simply continue a levelof hostilities sufficient to sap the re-sources of our ally’s neighboring coun-try [Iraq]. This policy was not impartedto our clients, who were encouragedto continue fighting.” http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache :l6pkvXXhUnoJ:coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/issue51/articles/51_27.pdf+kissinger+kurds&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

***********

When the Algiers agreement was signed [between the Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein in 1975] and American support of the Kurds ended, did you feel betrayed?

It was the most cruel betrayal in our history--which is full of betrayals. Kissinger was instrumental in this betrayal. And it was totally unfair to promise the Kurdish people help and support and to give the impression that if the Iraqi government attacks we will help you--which they did at the beginning. Then in the middle of the road, to drop you. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saddam/interviews/rahman.html

****************

James Akins was an attache at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, 1963-1965, and later became the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Let's talk about the 1970s, when the U.S. began working with the Kurds. What was your sense of the way American handled that?

I consider this one of the more shameful stories in our diplomatic history. The Kurds came to us repeatedly. While I was there, they came to us, and the position that I took was, "You're great people. You're really awfully good, and you really should have your rights inside Iraq, and probably in other countries. But you'll never ever get any support from the United States, because we have great interests in Iran, and in Turkey. Both of them have larger Kurdish populations than you have in Iraq, and any move toward autonomy, or even worse, toward independence in Iraq would certainly upset our allies--the Shah in Iran, and the Turks. So you'll never get support from us. The only hope that you can get from us is that we will urge the governments to treat you fairly. You might aspire to some sort of cultural autonomy, but never, never, any military support."

Things changed after that. We soured on Saddam, and we did give the Kurds military support through Iran. The Turks were not involved at that time. Then, the Shah concluded his agreement with Saddam, and the attitude of Iran changed totally. They stopped hating the Kurds. The border was sealed off, and the Kurds had no outside support whatsoever. Saddam was able to move into Kurdistan and take his vengeance on the Kurds. Kissinger was asked about the morality of a policy that encouraged the people to revolt against their central government in order to obtain a minor political gain for us--and then when we achieved other goals, we would betray the people and allowed them to be slaughtered. And Kissinger replied that covert military activity is not to be confused with missionary work. It's one of the two most immoral statements made by a secretary of state in recent years. The other was by Mrs. Albright, who was asked about the morality of the sanctions program that resulted in the deaths of 500,000 Iraqi children. She said that we considered that, and decided it was worthwhile. The second statement has been quoted throughout the entire Muslim world. The first statement really only concerned the Kurds.

Can you tell the story you relayed to me earlier--when you asked Mulla Mustafa about why he had trusted the Americans?

After Mulla Mustafa left Iraq, he came to the United States. He wasn't well. Cancer was diagnosed here, and I saw a lot of him when he was here. I talked to him about what had happened in the past. He knew the position that I would take, and that I had never promised anything. I asked him how he possibly could have believed Henry Kissinger, when Kissinger promised to help, and did give him some help.

And he said, "Yes, yes, we were somewhat skeptical, but we've been urging the United States for 20 years to give us support, and finally the United States was giving us support. How could I not believe the foreign minister of the United States? " He didn't write his memoirs. But there is a young Arab scholar here who went up to interview him. He talked for hours and hours, reminiscing about his experiences in Iran right after the war, and the Soviet Union and why he came back. And he said, no, he wouldn't do that, and these people should forget me. He said, "My life has been a failure. If I had had some success, then that would be different, but everything I have tried to accomplish for my people I have failed. And I don't want anybody to interview me, and I don't want to be remembered."

Do you think he felt betrayed by America?

He was betrayed by America.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saddam/interviews/akins.html

posted June 06, 2005 10:33 PM              

quote:

---

Does anyone here know what Watergate was all about, i.e., why John Dean ordered the break-in of the DNC headquarters at the Watergate Hotel?--jwhop

That's the story Liddy tells now. Liddy refused to testify at the hearings and spent about 5 years in prison. He has nothing to lie about or cover up now...--jwhop

---

posted June 06, 2005 11:13 PM            

Your article specifically stated Nixon, not Ford withdrew support for the Kurds. Your source is a liar Petron. Nor was Ford in any way obligated to continue any policy of the Nixon administration but you have posted a lying article which placed Nixon in the White House at the time the policy to withdraw support for the Kurds became the policy of the United States.

posted June 06, 2005 11:24 PM              

the U.S.House Select Committee on Intelli-gence issued the Pike report, whichrevealed that the U.S. never had anyintention of supporting a Kurdish state.“Documents in the Committee’s pos-session clearly show that the President[Richard Nixon], Dr. Kissinger and theforeign head of state [the Shah of Iran]hoped that our clients [the Kurds]would not prevail,”