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Article: DON'T SADDLE IRAQI PEOPLE WITH SADDAM'S BLOODY DEBTS.(Opinion)
- Article from:
- The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY)
- Article date:
- December 18, 2005
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Byline: Ed Kinane; Human rights activist; Syracuse
When Saddam Hussein grabbed power in 1979, Iraq had no long-term foreign debt. Cash reserves were $36 billion. Iraq had high literacy and public universities; it had extensive socialized health care. It was becoming a "first world" nation.
Soon, however, this violent, cunning despot began squandering that wealth. Borrowing tens of billions of dollars, he built up a vast military and security apparatus. In 1980 - with U.S. blessing - Saddam invaded his neighbor, the Ayatollah Khomeini's oil-rich Iran.
To Saddam's utter surprise, that war wasn't over in a few weeks. It became an eight-year ...