National Security Archive Update

National Security Archive Update, December 18, 2003

For more information: 202/994-7000
Thomas Blanton/Malcolm Byrne

THE SADDAM HUSSEIN SOURCEBOOK

* Saddam a "presentable young man" with "engaging smile,"
Let’s "do business," said British Embassy in 1969. *

* Rumsfeld met Saddam in 1984 with instructions to improve relations,
Despite chemical weapons use and sanctuary for terrorists. *

* U.S. construction giant Bechtel planned to evade 1988 CW sanctions, Now has biggest AID contract for reconstructing Iraq. *

* New declassified documents reveal secret U.S.-British-Iraq history;
"Saddam Hussein Sourcebook" published by National Security Archive. *

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/special/iraq/index.htm

Washington D.C., 18 December 2003 – Newly declassified documents
posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive show the British Embassy in Baghdad recommending Saddam Hussein to London in 1969 as a "presentable young man" with an "engaging smile," "with whom, if only one could see more of him, it would be possible to do business."

U.S. documents published in today’s Saddam Hussein Sourcebook quote Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1975 telling the Iraqi foreign minister "we do not think there is a basic clash of national interests between Iraq and the United States" (the Iraqi disagreed), and that Israeli influence on U.S. policy would diminish given "our new electoral law" which means "the influence of some who financed the elections before isn’t so great."

The newly declassified briefing notes for special envoy Donald Rumsfeld’s second trip to meet Saddam Hussein in March 1984 reveal Rumsfeld’s instructions to reinforce the message of U.S. interest in improved relations "at a pace of Iraq’s own choosing," and to emphasize that U.S. criticism of Saddam’s chemical weapons use versus Iran was not meant as a pro-Iranian or anti-Iraq gesture. Saturday, December 20, marks the 20th anniversary of Rumsfeld's famous handshake meeting with Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.

When the U.S. Senate passed economic sanctions on Iraq in 1988 for
Using poison gas against the Kurds, U.S. ambassador April Glaspie reported that the U.S. construction company Bechtel planned to employ "non-U.S. suppliers of technology and continue to do business in Iraq," according to a CONFIDENTIAL State Department cable. In October 2003, Bechtel landed the largest U.S. Agency for International Development contract to date for infrastructure repair work in Iraq, with an initial payment of $34.6 million and long-term value of up to $680 million.

The "Saddam Hussein Sourcebook" posted today also brings together five briefing books previously published by the National Security Archive into one searchable file of primary sources. These include "Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction," "Overhead Imagery of Iraq," "Alleged Iraqi War Criminals in 1992," "Operation Desert Storm," and "Shaking Hands with Saddam: U.S. Policy before the Gulf War."

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/special/iraq/index.htm

THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and
individuals.

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