Word: saddamism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Saddam reigned over the region's dominant military power, an emerging political force and a country whose rich oil fields promised to make it an economic giant. Already, 8% of America's petroleum came from Iraqi wells, and American corporations were eager to help rebuild Iraq's shattered infrastructure. The Bush Administration decided to edge still closer to Iraq and to deal with the issue of Saddam's egregious human-rights record by using private pressure and the benefits of trade to gently prod him along a more responsible path...
...spring of 1990 Saddam had become more bellicose. He threatened to incinerate half of Israel if attacked. He moved Scud missiles to the border with Jordan, within striking range of Israel. He railed against the long- established U.S. naval presence in the gulf. He had an Iranian-born British journalist executed as a spy. He attempted to smuggle in triggering devices used in nuclear weapons...
...Republicans Bob Dole of Kansas, Charles Grassley of Iowa, Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Frank Murkowski of Alaska as well as Democrats Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio and James McClure of Idaho. The group was taken to a hotel along the Tigris River, ushered into a suite and presented to Saddam. They were asked to surrender their tape recorders and cameras...
...meeting drew much attention in the U.S. 10 months later after Baghdad released a partial transcript of the conversation. When Saddam raised the issue of the 1981 Israeli bombing of an Iraqi nuclear reactor, Dole reminded him, "We condemned the Israeli attack." Simpson, in particular, came off badly: "I believe that your problems lie with the Western media and not with the U.S. government," he advised Saddam...
Simpson does not deny making the remark but says the transcript reflects only 15 minutes of a three-hour meeting and omits the Senators' remonstrations with Saddam about the use of poison gas by Iraq, its efforts to build super- long-range artillery weapons and its threats against Israel. Saddam offered to take the group via helicopter to the Kurdish region. "I will show you that I am beloved by the Kurds," he said. Outside in the hotel parking lot, five helicopters were ready. When the Senators declined, uniformed officers in the room laughed derisively, Simpson says. (Later the Senators...