[marron]

It is important to remember that Iraq was essentially a Warsaw Pact nation. Its army was armed and trained by the Soviets, who were embedded in its high command and its intelligence services.

So, while we did give aid to Saddam during the Iran Iraq war, it is wrong to say, as some do, that we created Saddam. Trying to peel him away from the Soviets was a major goal during the Cold War, and explains some of our support for him against Iran (that, and Iranian treatment of our embassy personnel).

But when we fought him in Gulf War 1, we were fighting Warsaw Pact weapons and doctrine. Our rapid victory was a final humiliation of the crumbling Soviet Union.

[monday]

"But when we fought him in Gulf War 1, we were fighting Warsaw Pact weapons and doctrine. Our rapid victory was a final humiliation of the crumbling Soviet Union."

It might have been if the Soviet Union hadn't ceased to exist two years before. Let me refresh your memory. The Soviet Union breathed it's last in 1989 during Reagans second term. Gulf War 1 was in 1991 during G Bushes term.