So, why did we sell nuke material to Iran?

[kimchi]

I remembered reading in a British paper about how the US armed the Nazis (Allies were ordered not to bomb GM & GE factories in Germany making German tanks) and how the US & Rumsfeld armed Saddam Hussein and the Taliban back in the 80s (all well documented).

Donald Rumsfeld was also a director of ABB which sold nuclear equipment to North Korea

[ QUOTE ]
2000: director of a company which wins $200m contract to sell nuclear reactors to North Korea
2002: declares North Korea a terrorist state, part of the axis of evil and a target for regime change


[/ QUOTE ]

And just as the US government was buttering up the public for a war with Iraq, part of a North Korean missile were found in Alaska, but they wanted to sweep that one under the carpet

[ QUOTE ]
A recent report that a long-range missile fired from North Korea turned up in Alaska should make Americans reevaluate committing to a war with Iraq......The Bush administration is ignoring reports from South Korea and Japan that the North Koreans have test-fired a nuclear-capable, intercontinental ballistic missile, which landed in or near the state of Alaska



[/ QUOTE ]

I also remember reading how we sold arms to Iran, and after some brief digging, I found this BBC News story published a year after 9-11.

[ QUOTE ]
British officials have approved the export of key components needed to make nuclear weapons to Iran and other countries known to be developing such weapons......The programme has also interviewed a leading nuclear weapons expert in the UK who says that the Beryllium and other items which the DTI has licensed to Iran add up to a shopping list for a nuclear weapons programme.



[/ QUOTE ]

So why do we keep preparing nations for war so that we can then have a war with them?

Whatever happened to The British Empire's tactics of only invading nations of 3 foot-high pigmys armed only with watermelons and receding gums?

I suppose we need a reason to invade countries (fabricated stories of WMD for example) such as a real threat of nuclear weapons produced with our assistance. The ultimate goal is maybe regime change. It's happened in many countries including Afganistan and Iraq nost recently.

I can't make sense of any of this. There must be another agenda to justify arming our enemies.

[MidGe]

Probably for the same reasons the US armed Iraq and supported Hussein's regime.

Better start taking US foreign policy as coherent, and not just ad hoc!

[bobman0330]

I'm pretty sure the US was involved in supplying nuclear reactors to NK because it was part of the '94 Agreed Framework, the diplomatic solution that was intended to prevent them from getting nuclear weapons.

[iron81]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm pretty sure the US was involved in supplying nuclear reactors to NK because it was part of the '94 Agreed Framework, the diplomatic solution that was intended to prevent them from getting nuclear weapons.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Felix_Nietzsche]

Because Clinton is an idiot....
"The reactor deal was part of President Bill Clinton's policy of persuading the North Korean regime to positively engage with the west."

[Mempho]

[ QUOTE ]
Because Clinton is an idiot....
"The reactor deal was part of President Bill Clinton's policy of persuading the North Korean regime to positively engage with the west."

[/ QUOTE ]

He's a Rhodes scholar. It was part of a greater plan.

[Sayitloudernow]

IIRC pretty much all of Irans airforce is made up of fairly modern American planes. I can't say I understand much of that.

[ikestoys]

[ QUOTE ]
IIRC pretty much all of Irans airforce is made up of fairly modern American planes. I can't say I understand much of that.

[/ QUOTE ]

fairly modern!= 1970

[warrantofice]

I thought it had something to do with the new Free Trade Policy

[Felix_Nietzsche]

F14 Fighters, a US Navy Fighter
They were sold to our ally the Shah of Iran. But then that nitwit Jimmy Carter got elected, undermined the Shah's regime, then the terrorist theocracy took over.