Domingo Soto: Because Freedom Isn't Dumb

RUMSFIELD WAS SENT TO APPEASE SADDAM IN 1984
Donald Rumsfeld went to Baghdad in March 1984 with instructions to deliver a private message about weapons of mass destruction: that the United States' public criticism of Iraq for using chemical weapons would not derail Washington's attempts to forge a better relationship, according to newly declassified documents.
Mr Rumsfeld's earlier trip to Baghdad, in December 1983, has been widely reported as having helped persuade Iraq to resume diplomatic ties with the US. An explicit purpose of Mr Rumsfeld's return trip in March 1984, the documents reveal, was to ease the strain created by a US condemnation of chemical weapons.
(SYDNEY MORNING HERALD)