WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- One of the United States' current hawks, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was active in improving relations with Iraq in 1984, the New York Times said Tuesday.
As a special envoy for the Reagan administration, Rumsfeld traveled to Iraq to persuade officials the United States was eager to improve ties with President Saddam Hussein despite his use of chemical weapons, newly declassified documents show.
Rumsfeld, who ran a pharmaceutical company at the time, was tapped by Secretary of State George Shultz to reinforce a message that a recent move to condemn Iraq's use of chemical weapons was strictly in principle and that the U.S. priority was to prevent an Iranian victory in the Iran-Iraq war and to improve bilateral ties.
During that war, the United States provided Iraq with combat planning assistance, even after Saddam's use of chemical weapons was widely known.
The highly classified program involved more than 60 officers of the Defense Intelligence Agency, who shared intelligence on Iranian deployments, bomb-damage assessments and other crucial information with Iraq, the newspaper said.
