One way for the US economy to escape its doldrums will be for the country to expand its exports. Everyone’s great American hero, President Ronald Reagan, knew that.

Declassified US government documents show that in the 1980s while Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was involved in the genocide against his country’s Kurdish population (using poison gas), the US opposed punishing Iraq with a trade embargo.

The reason was simple. It was cultivating Iraq as an ally against Iran and as a market for US farm exports.

According to the documents, the Reagan administration “got carried away with their own propaganda. They began to believe that Saddam Hussein could be a reliable partner.”

Kinda makes you wonder if Osama bin Laden were to come out of hiding and start his own country if the US wouldn’t try to, once again, be his friend… make him a trading partner.

Source: Be Careful What You Export