Death Lobby CL

by Kenneth R. Timmerman

Book Overview

Six years of research and interviews with arms merchants reveal how Western governments transformed Iraq into a regional superpower by ignoring warnings of Iraq's true intentions and by selling... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395593050
• ISBN13: 9780395593059
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 443 Pages
• Weight: 1.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

FRANCE, GERMANY, RUSSIA AND OIL-FOR FOOD SCANDAL--WE SEE THE CONNECTION NOW!

This book was written initially after the first Gulf War Conflict and commented significantly on the assets that led to the empowerment of Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980's. It talks about Saddam's cozy relationship with France and how he acquired chemical weapons technology from the Germans. It also talks about his long-standing relationship with the Russians. Iraq's build up by the west alleviates many of the criticisms against the United States for its minor role in helping Saddam fight the Iranians and clearly explains America's reasons for attempting to subvert the expansionalism of Russian and Iranian influence in the Gulf. If you're interested in a book that explains some of the finer points of the banking scandal in Atlanta with BNL and what was termed Iraqgate in the early 1990's this book is for you. Justice was served in the United States and in 2003 it's obvious that the same United States over threw the government of Saddam Hussein. This book is most helpful in offering other suggestions on how to prevent another Saddam from rising up in the Middle East. It's unfortunate that the United States and the west could not adequately see that Saddam built an entire military infrastructure that if used for peaceful purposes as an industrial base could have been the most productive economy in the Middle East today, eclipsing its oil-only neighbors. Unfortunately, for the world, he chose to bully his neighbors, kill his own fellow citizens, and function as a tyrant. The world is a better place with out him at the helm of Iraq. With his trial concluding currently in Iraq it is interesting to note how all of this history plays into our understanding of Saddam Hussein. Good riddance and thank America and Great Britain for taking this person down. It is obvious after reading the book why the source of income was too good for France, Germany, and Russia to do such a thing.

The Military Build-Up of Iraq

From his repeated travels to Iraq KRT tells how they tried to become a regional superpower by buying weapons and technology from Germany, France, Britain, Italy, and America. The 1991 Gulf War destroyed many of the military weapons of Iraq, which were previously bought from the same Western powers. This eventually led to their conquest in 2003, and a return to their former colonial status. The book would be better with a chapter on Iraqi history from the 19th century, and a map showing the surrounding countries. Iraqi's oil resources are almost equal to Saudi Arabia (p.337). Around 1976 the USSR put an embargo on arms delivery to Iraq (p.x). This created a market for France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Australia, and the United States to sell tanks, jet fighters, chemical weapons, ballistic missiles, and nuclear supplies. KRT interviewed dozens of weapon designers, technicians, military trainers, intelligence analysts, diplomats, and other government officials for their information.There is a map of "Iraqi Weapons Plants" (p.xiv) that shows nine CBW facilities and nine nuclear sites. Were any found in 2003 after this book was printed?Chapter 1 gives a short history of Iraq from the 1950s through 1974. Saddam was an important figure during these political conflicts. The triumph of the Baath Party led to improved living standards for the Iraqi people (p.15). Chapter 2 tells how Saddam reversed the danger from the Kurdish revolt. After territorial concessions to the Shah of Iran, the Iranians stopped supplying arms to the Kurds, who were soon defeated. This convinced Iraq to not just acquire weapons, but the means to repair and rebuild them. Both France and Iraq sought to escape control by the superpowers. Iraq began to manufacture toluene (for TNT) and ethylene (for rocket fuel or mustard gas). Other contracts were for a new airport, subway system, telecommunications grid, nuclear plants, railroad lines, naval yards, radio and television broadcasting systems, etc (p.39). Yugoslavia, Brazil, and Egypt were very competitive in advanced technology (p.42). France got a contract to maintain Soviet equipment (p.46). When America and Britain turned down a pesticide plant, Belgium agreed to build a fertilizer plant (p.51).The rest of the book covers the events from 1979 (the overthrow of the Shah of Iran) to just before the Gulf War of 1991. The Epilogue asks "how to prevent another Iraq?". Or perhaps another third world country that wants to better itself and compete with first world countries? The 20th century has seen the decay and impoverishment of South American countries, and the rise of China and India. The solution seems to be keeping smaller countries disarmed and poor. If the Bankers can't do it, then the Military must. Invading a small country to collect debts for bankers is an old practice.Iraq is faced with the enmity of a larger Iran to its east, and a powerful Turkey to its north. Both were former conquerors of Arabia. The other Arab states are

Interesting Details

This book is everything you would want to know about how a country arms itself during a large scale land war and how the developed countries in the world bend over backwards to go around laws and social standards to make the fast buck. We have an almost overwhelming account of the arms companies that sold all type of weapons to Iraq, many of which were embargoed technology. I guess there is not a large-scale surprise of these issues, it does seam that the majority of the world that is using weapons day in and day out against their enemies rarely are the actual countries that create the devises. In one sense this could be a business case book on how to make money off of arms sales. The book is well written and engaging. It does a good job at laying out lots of detail but not making it dull. Overall an interesting book and should be read, now more then ever given that Iraq is probably doing some of these things right now.