NYT-Iraqi Government, in Statement With Iran, Admits Fault for 1980's War

[maddezmom]

By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: May 20, 2005
BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 19 - In a move that is likely to inflame further Sunni Arab resentments, the Iraqi government publicly acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that Iraq was the aggressor in 1980 when it touched off a bloody eight-year war with Iran.


In a joint statement at the end of a three-day visit by the Iranian foreign minister, Kamal Kharazi, the new Shiite-led Iraqi government said that Saddam Hussein, the overthrown Iraqi leader, and other officials in his government must be put on trial for committing "military aggression against the people of Iraq, Iran and Kuwait," as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes.

It was an effort to bring to a close the bitter legacy of the war in which nearly a million people were estimated to have died and tens of thousands more were displaced as refugees.

An Iraqi Foreign Ministry official who helped write the communiqué, Labeed Abbawi, said the admission was intended not as an acknowledgement of guilt on the part of the Iraqi state or people, who also suffered staggering casualties in the war. Rather, he said, it was meant to lay the responsibility for the war squarely on Mr. Hussein and other leaders of his government, many of whom face trials later this year for their roles in the killing of Iraqis.

~snip~
more: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/20/international/middleeast/20iraq.html

[Tempest]

1. The neo-cons must be shitting their pants

It's finally dawning on them they just turned Iraq over to the Iranians.

[hector459]

2. Remember, the US backed Saddam in that war. Gave him arms and bio

weapons. Punishment for the student hostages taken in Iran. Saddam could not have done as much without our backing. I hope the Iranians remember that.

[Solon]

3. Actually to get technical...

The U.S. backed both sides, played them off after each other to weaken both. After all what was Iran-Contra but an arms deal.

[Roland99]

4. Surely this is a ploy, however wierd it may seem, by the Puppet Gov't

A ploy to lull Iran into more peaceful relations with Iraq?

[Judi Lynn]

5. I raq, Iran issue joint statement blaming Saddam for 1980-88 war, 1990 inv

I raq, Iran issue joint statement blaming Saddam for 1980-88 war, 1990 invasion of Kuwait
By Paul Garwood, Associated Press, 5/20/2005 06:09

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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) For the first time Iraq has joined with Iran in labeling Saddam Hussein and his henchmen as the military agressors of the 1980-88 war between the two countries and of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The joint statement, issued Thursday during Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi's historic trip to Iraq, comes as the Shiite Muslim-dominated governments of both countries try to forge better ties following Saddam's ouster two years ago.

The former Iraqi dictator, who was captured in December 2003, is facing charges including killing rival politicians during his 30-year rule, gassing Kurds, invading Kuwait in 1990 and suppressing Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in 1991. He is in U.S. military custody with several of his former top aides awaiting trial. No trial dates have been set.

Iraqis in the new government and Iran's Shiite-led theocracy have previously blamed the former Iraqi dictator for starting the bloody eight-year war against Iran, in which 1 million people died.
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/140/world/I_raq_Iran_issue_joint_stateme:.shtml

[Jacobin]

6. Um, sorry, that would be Saint Ronnie

who would be to blame.

[bigtree]

7. Iraq, Iran Forge Closer Ties

Iraq, Iran Forge Closer Ties
-Label Hussein As Military Agressor Of 1980-88 War

May 20, 2005 8:40 am US/Eastern

(CBS) For the first time Iraq has joined with Iran in labeling Saddam Hussein as the military aggressor of the 1980-88 war between the two countries and of Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The joint statement, issued Thursday during Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi's historic trip to Iraq, comes as the Shiite Muslim-dominated governments of both countries try to forge better ties following Saddam's ouster two years ago.

>>>>Views among Iraqi Shiites toward Iran range from hate to devotion. Despite 60 percent of Iraq's 26 million people being Shiite, many harbor resentment toward Iran over the war.

Some Iraqi Shiite leaders have previously said that their country should compensate Iran over the war, comments that have angered many Iraqis.

http://cbs4boston.com/news/topstories_story_140084157.html

[rodeodance]

8. an Iragi minister said that Iraq has more in common with Iran than

with the US--he said this last week.

[Boo Boo]

9. That won't piss off the Sunnis at all

Nope. Not one little bit.

[SHRED]

10. Survival

Now that our puppet, Saddam, is out of the way...here comes the fundie Islamic Nation that Osama dreams of.