According to reporting from the New York Times, Saddam Hussein was a tad bit confused about the whole Reagan Iran-Contra affair.
On Nov. 15, 1986, Saddam Hussein gathered his most senior aides for an important strategy session. Two days earlier, President Ronald Reagan had acknowledged in a televised address that his administration had sent weapons and spare parts to Iran.
“It can only be a conspiracy against Iraq,” said Mr. Hussein, who inferred darkly that the United States was trying to prolong the Iran-Iraq war, already in its sixth year, and increase Iraq’s enormous casualties.
In truth, the Reagan administration had arranged the arms shipment for a variety of reasons that had little to do with Iraq: to secure the release of American hostages in Lebanon, to open a private channel to the new leadership in Tehran and to generate secret profits that could be sent to Nicaraguan rebels.
What's so hard to understand? At the same time that the US was supporting Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War, the Reagan administration had Israel sell weapons to Iran. The US would then take the payment that Israel received from Iran and in return resupply the Israelis with more up to date military hardware
The Iranians would convince Hezbollah to release Americans hostages in Lebanon. Later Oliver North and the US sold weapons directly to the Iranians and redirected a portion of the proceeds from the weapon sales to fund the Contras based in Honduras and Costa Rica. And the Contras, of course, were fighting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.
Oh, and by the way, the Iranian were also providing the Sandinistas with some support at the time. So you had the US supplying the Iraqis and Iranians and the Iranians funding the Contras (indirectly) and Sandnistas (directly).
Who isn't confused? Reagan allegedly didn't even know everything that he and his administration were up to.
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