Would you have supported Saddam in the 80s?

[minionofmidas]

I wouldn't have, but I bet the right wingers here would've, even if they deny it now. Back then most right wingers LOVED Saddam and worshipped the ground he walked on. I bet Reagan had a very very positive opinion of him.

You would have too, he was the anti-Khomeini.

[minionofmidas]

Jake's the only honest Republican on this board.

[minionofmidas]

Yeah, that was the European Left's position.

(The Ranis though? The last fighting Rani I know of was the Rani of Jhansi. )

[minionofmidas]

Your premise is faulty.  The US did not support Saddam.  It had basically the same relationship with Iraq that we had with nearly every other non-aligned country.

Aside from that, no I would not support Saddam.

Who sold him tons of weapons? And note the famous picture of Saddam shaking hands with Rumsfeld.

We've been through this, get it through your thick commie skull.

Saddam's top supplier of weapons was the Soviet Union, providing over 50% of the Iraqi arsenal, $25 billion out of $42 billion Iraq spent between 1979 and 1990 (They years Saddam was in power, but before the UN weapons embargo was imposed).

BRTD's claim was that the US sold Saddam "tons of weapons," not that the US was Saddam's "top supplier of weapons."  Comparing the US and the Soviet Union won't change anything.

US weapons transacxtion with Iraq accounted for 0.05% of Iraq's weapons purchases.  We sold them transport helicopters that did not even carry armaments.

I bet those helicopters weighed tons, though.

It's amazing how hard the left finds accepting the simple fact that the US was not a major supplier of weapons to Iraq.

If you want to talk about supplying military intelligence, then you have a case.

If you want to claim that these should not count as weapons for the purposes of this discussion, then you do not have a case.

[minionofmidas]

Since when is Islam Karimov waging a war with one of America's opponents?

[minionofmidas]

Since when is Islam Karimov waging a war with one of America's opponents?

We used Uzbekistan as a staging area for going into Afghanistan.  We gave their "law enforcement" services $79 million in 2002.

Yes, I know that. Still not quite the same situation.