Did The U.S. Provide Intelligence To Iraq That Helped Them Launch Chemical Attacks Against Iran During Their 1980-1988 War?

Then-Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (at right) behind an artillery piece during the Iraq-Iran war. (An undated photo from the 1980s.) Reuters/Landov

Exclusive: CIA Files Prove America Helped Saddam as He Gassed Iran -- Shane Harris and matthew M. Aid, Foreign Policy

The U.S. knew Hussein was launching some of the worst chemical attacks in history -- and still gave him a hand.

The U.S. government may be considering military action in response to chemical strikes near Damascus. But a generation ago, America's military and intelligence communities knew about and did nothing to stop a series of nerve gas attacks far more devastating than anything Syria has seen, Foreign Policy has learned.

In 1988, during the waning days of Iraq's war with Iran, the United States learned through satellite imagery that Iran was about to gain a major strategic advantage by exploiting a hole in Iraqi defenses. U.S. intelligence officials conveyed the location of the Iranian troops to Iraq, fully aware that Hussein's military would attack with chemical weapons, including sarin, a lethal nerve agent.

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More News On Reports That The U.S. Help Iraq With Chemical Attacks Against Iran During Their 1980-1988 War?

CIA 'helped Saddam Hussein carry out chemical weapons attack on Iran' in 1988 under Ronald Reagan -- Daily Mail
U.S. Gave Iraq Intel, Ignored Chemical Attacks In 1980s, Report Says -- Huffington Post/AFP
New Docs Detail U.S. Involvement in Saddam's Nerve Gas Attacks -- Atlantic Wire
CIA Files Show U.S. Played Role in Iraq’s Chemical Attacks on Iran -- New York Magazine
New Details On How U.S. 'Helped Saddam As He Gassed Iran' -- NPR
How the U.S. helped Saddam Hussein use chemical weapons against Iran -- Harold Maass, The Week
What Complicity in Iraq's Chemical-Weapons Use Says About America -- Conor Friedersdorf, The Atlantic