Documents: Rumsfeld Made Iraq Overture in �84 Despite Chemical Raids

"As a special envoy for the Reagan administration in 1984, Donald H. Rumsfeld, now the defense secretary, traveled to Iraq to persuade officials there that the United States was eager to improve ties with President Saddam Hussein despite his use of chemical weapons, newly declassified documents show."

To anyone who has been following US ties with Iraq in the past, this is not news. It's a well-known fact that the US takes up ties with political leaders who practice the worst kinds of atrocities but in order to take a hold on foreign politics. The US relations with the Shah of Iran is a good example, followed by its relation with Hussein once Khomeini was in power. US relations with the Romanian autocrat Ceausescu, a truly brutal dictator in a European country, were a counterweight in the region to the Soviet Union. And let's not forget who made Bin Laden what he is today. (I won't dilute this otherwise universally acceptable argument by mentioning Israel.)

The real news is that the NYTimes is making it news.