is it true that the US helped bring Saddam into power a couple of decades ago?

[Pyramix]

is it?

 

[Grasshopper27]

No, it isn't...

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: Pyramix
is it?

He pretty much came to power all by himself.

 

[RSMemphis]

Don't take our word for it:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-11-24-saddam-cover-usat_x.htm

Partly because of that, for years U.S. presidents regarded Saddam as a secular Mideast leader who could act as a counterweight to radical Muslim clerics who seized power in 1979 in neighboring Iran. Washington, which viewed Iran as a bigger danger in the 1980s, tilted toward Saddam through his eight-year war against Tehran.

Edit: To clear it up a bit, no the US did not put him into power, yes, they gave him "help" (read weapons) to "counter" Iran.

 

[woodie1]

Don't know how much help we provided but some of his weapons are/were from us.

 

[her209]

yeah, we gave iraq wmd when iraq was in a war with iran.

 

[huey1124]

hmmm... reminds me of Manuel Noriega, sort of.

 

[charrison]

1979 16 July - President Al-Bakr resigns and is succeeded by Vice-President Saddam Hussein.

 

[Nemesis77]

No, but USA has done something lime that in the past. For example, USA was the mastermind behind Chiles military coup that ousted the democratically elected left-wing government led by Salvador Allende. He was replaced by General (Dictator) Augusto Pinochet.

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