Likely Iraq was finally disarmed by about 1996... albeit unwillingly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_biological_weapons_program#2003_invasion_of_Iraq
When I claim Iraq was disarmed, I mean UNSCOM had found and destroyed every WMD stockpile, cache, factory, lab, research paper, computer files...
Iraq finally started cooperating in 1997 because they had nothing to hide. But by that time, UNSCOM had stopped looking for WMDs and moved on to spying. The US/UK bombed Iraq in 1998 using UNSCOM gathered intel. The US kept insisting Iraq prove the non-existence of their WMDs (logical impossibility) right up until they invaded in 2003. Economic sanctions imposed on Iraq long after Iraq no longer possessed WMDs killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians from easily treated diseases and malnutrition.
Chief UN Weapon Inspector Blix's March 7, 2003 report to the UNSC clearly shows that the US could not justify war:
...How much time would it take to resolve the key remaining disarmament tasks? While cooperation can and is to be immediate, disarmament and at any rate the verification of it cannot be instant. Even with a proactive Iraqi attitude, induced by continued outside pressure, it would still take some time to verify sites and items, analyse documents, interview relevant persons, and draw conclusions. It would not take years, nor weeks, but months. Neither governments nor inspectors would want disarmament inspection to go on forever. However, it must be remembered that in accordance with the governing resolutions, a sustained inspection and monitoring system is to remain in place after verified disarmament to give confidence and to strike an alarm, if signs were seen of the revival of any proscribed weapons programmes.
Security Council 7 March 2003
Cliffy, that is ridiculous.
The First Gulf War was between August of 1990 and March of 1991.....but your source claims the USA was selling Iraq WMDs right up until 1992.
'Common Dreams" is SO far out to lunch............. [/FONT]
You are right, Common Dreams is out to lunch. But an antidote isn't a CW.
The US support Iraq's CW and BW programs during the Reagan era and the Iran/Iraq war, mid 1980's and after Iraq was condemned at the UN for using CWs against Kurdish civilians.
between 1985 and 1989, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control sent Iraq 14 agents "with biological warfare significance,".
Perspective: How Iraq built its weapons programs
Support to Iraq was given via technological aid, intelligence, the sale of dual-use and military equipment, satellite intelligence, and chemical weapons.
Iran
The Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988 was a United States Senate bill to punish Iraq for chemical weapons attacks on the Kurds at Halabja during the Iran–Iraq War. It was defeated after intense lobbying of Congress by the Reagan-Bush White House which then supported Iraq's Saddam Hussein as a counterbalance to post-revolutionary Iran.
Prevention of Genocide Act of 1988 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
US President Ronald Reagan veto'd this bill because he opposed joining the international WMD embargo against Iraq claiming that such action would harm US exports to Iraq and American interests in the region. I understand many US companies made a killing off the Iran/Iraq war.