@@ Top 10 ways the U.S. enabled Saddam - U.S. official says CIA aided Ba'athists @@

Informed Comment
December 30, 2006

For Whom the Bell Tolls:

Top Ten Ways the U.S. Enabled Saddam

Ex-U.S. Official Says CIA Aided Ba'athists

Dr. Juan Cole

CIA involvement in the 1959 assassination attempt is plausible. Historian David Wise says there is evidence in the U.S. archives that the CIA's "Health Alteration Committee" tried again to have Abdul Karim Qasim assassinated in 1960 by "sending the Iraqi leader a poisoned monogrammed handkerchief".

Initially, the U.S. used the Ba'ath Party as a nationalist foil to the Communists. Then Washington used it against Iran.

http://www.juancole.com/2006/12/for-whom-bell-tolls-top-ten-ways-us.html