[lbo-talk] Two Takes

[Brad DeLong]

>Brad DeLong wrote:
>
>>Self-emancipation is really hard. To believe that the Iraqis could 
>>have done it by themselves in less than decades is, IMHO, an act of 
>>self-deception.
>
>So was the U.S. right to support Saddam from 1959-1990?
>
>Doug

Remember the cold war? U.S. proxy Iran vs. Soviet proxy Iraq? U.S. 
fear of Arab socialism? The U.S. viewed Ba'ath regimes as enemies. 
After the Iranian Revolution, the Brzezinskis and the Haigs and the 
Clarks and the Shultzes viewed Iran as a bigger enemy--and were happy 
when they fought and hoped that Iraq would win.

But "support"? In more than a 
the-enemy-of-my-big-enemy-has-a-few-friendlike-qualities?

Brad DeLong