Rumsfeld 'aided Saddam'By Wiliam LowtherJanuary 01, 2003US...

Rumsfeld 'aided Saddam'
By Wiliam Lowther
January 01, 2003

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld helped Saddam Hussein build up his arsenal of deadly chemical and biological weapons, the Washington Post has reported.

As an envoy from President Ronald Reagan 19 years ago, Mr Rumsfeld had a secret meeting with the Iraqi dictator and arranged military assistance for his war with Iran, say recently released documents.

The CIA had already warned Iraq was using chemical weapons almost daily.

But Mr Rumsfeld, at the time a successful executive in the pharmaceutical industry, still made it possible for Saddam to buy supplies from US companies.

They included viruses such as anthrax and bubonic plague, says the Washington Post.

The extraordinary details have come to light because thousands of State Department documents dealing with the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war have just been declassified and released under the Freedom of Information Act.

At the very least, it is highly embarrassing for 70-year-old Mr Rumsfeld, who is the most powerful and vocal of all the hawks surrounding President George W. Bush.

He bitterly condemns Saddam as a ruthless and brutal monster and frequently backs up his words by citing the use of the weapons that it now appears he helped to supply.