TAKE A BAATH

TAKE A BAATH Pictured at left is Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein, the leader of the Baath political party and Iraqi president.

On Christmas, 1983 as an envoy for the Reagan/Bush White House Rumsfeld traveled to Iraq to officially restore relations between Iraq and the US. Rumsfeld arranged for US support of Iraq in it's war against Iran. "Support" included large scale intelligence sharing and sales of conventional weaponry, such as helicopters and cluster bombs. "Support" also included a green light for Iraq's acquisition of chemical and biological precursors from European and American companies. "Support" of Iraq also included public silence from the Reagan/Bush White House regarding Iraq's use of chemical weapons technology against Iran and the civilian Iraqi population. This weapons commerce is thought to be well documented in the 11,000 pages removed from the 15,000 page Iraqi Weapons Declaration by the U.S., prior to its delivery to the United Nations in 2003.

The image speaks for itself. The phrase "Take A Baath" (read bath) questions the moral relativity of political expedience in which "my enemy's enemy is my friend".