Arming Iraq: How the U.S. and Britain Secretly Built Saddam's War Machine (New England Series In Transnat'l Crime)

Mark Phythian

ISBN 10: 1555532853 / ISBN 13: 9781555532857

Published by Northeastern University Press, 1996

Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G1555532853I3N10

Synopsis:

Although the United States and Britain maintained a public stance of neutrality in the Iran-Iraq war, Mark Phythian demonstrates that the governments encouraged and facilitated the illegal supply of weapons to Iraq, and to a lesser extent Iran, in order to tilt the war in Baghdad's favor. The objectives of the covert policy agenda were: to keep Iran and Iraq at war so neither country could dominate oil supply or threaten the lower Gulf states, to promote domestic industries and trade, and to secure intelligence information. While the United States and other countries believed they were exploiting Iraq for their own purposes, the strategy backfired and the policy instead fueled the very conflict it was intended to contain, fortified Saddam Hussein's power, and led to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War.
This disquieting look at the duplicity of the American and British governments and their covert role in arming Iraq provides important lessons for reshaping both foreign policy and arms export policy to control the dangerous proliferation of weapons in regions throughout the world.

About the Author: Mark Phythian is Lecturer in Politics in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Wolverhampton, England.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Arming Iraq: How the U.S. and Britain ...
Publisher: Northeastern University Press
Publication Date: 1996
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket