Status PR Se Discute en Iraq

NR – El status de Puerto Rico se conoce muy bien en los Paises Comunistas y Anti-Americanos, en mis viajes por China, Egipto, Marruecos y otros sitios similares se discute, en la TV y en el Pueblo, continuamente el caso colonial de Puerto Rico. Por eso Cuba y Hugo Chavez se sabe financean a los Neo-Comunistas de Puerto Rico aliados al PPD.

Saddam discussed Puerto Rico status in wake of Iran-Contra scandal

By CB Online Staff – cbnews@caribbeanbusinesspr.com

Newly released documents from the regime of Saddam Hussein show that the issue of Puerto Rico’s status came up as the Iraqi strongman and his closest advisers sought to craft a response to the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s.
The top-level meeting came in mid November 1986, just two days after President Ronald Reagan disclosed that the White House had sent weapons and spare parts to Iran, which was at war with neighboring Iraq at the time.

While the Reagan administration had a variety of motives for the secret deal ¯ securing the release of American hostages in Lebanon, reaching out to Iran’s new regime and raising clandestine cash for Nicaraguan Contra rebels — Saddam apparently saw it as plot against Iraq, then a U.S. ally.

“It can only be a conspiracy against Iraq,” says Hussein in a transcript of the taped meeting, suggesting that the U.S. may be have been aiming to prolong the marathon Iran-Iraq war and ramp up Iraq’s already huge casualties.

“They like Iranians more than us, and most powerful nations also like them more than us. However, they do not like them because they are nicer than us or because they are better than we are. They only like them because (Iranians) can be pulled from the street into a car easily, unlike us,” Hussein says laughing as he appears to liken Iranians to streetwalkers.

“We welcomed them. Iraq has been friends with America for nearly two years, right?” Hussein says.

“So what happened? I am trying to understand exactly what happened here. What changed about our position on Zimbabwe, or the Palestinian issue, or whatever? I mean what happened? What’s the one illegal thing that the Americans got from us?” Hussein says.

Tariq Aziz, Iraq’s global emissary as Saddam’s longtime foreign minister, answers that the U.S. outreach to Iran may have been spurred by Iraq’s stated support for independence for Puerto Rico in the United Nations.

“Sir, we amended our position regarding Puerto Rico. Previously, we were the ones to go demand independence for Puerto Rico, but now we’re voting for it and we are not the ones demanding it,” a laughing Aziz responds (the transcriber indicates the foreign minister may have been joking).

“Last time I was there, sir, they asked me. They said why are you doing this? This is an internal affair. How come you’re voting for the independence of a section of the United States?” Aziz adds. “I said what are you taking about. We never change our foreign policy and we don’t jump from one place to another with it. If we want a new situation, we have to do it gradually and step-by-step. So I told him that we acted in a way that may hurt the United States, but it’s within our foreign policy.”

Hussein takes up the Puerto Rico issue before moving to more immediate concerns.

“So what’s Puerto Rico?” Hussein says. “I mean fine, whether we voted or we didn’t vote, why would we do it? It is not related to the politics of Iraq or the Arab world directly.”

The Iraqi leader continues: “If we completely closed the Puerto Rico issue before taking a position on it, or if we raised it on a large scale, it doesn’t have an impact on the core regional politics or Iraqi national politics,” Hussein says. “Rather, it is an issue of morality within our principles and within general humane principles.

Hussein then turns to the issues of national security and influence in the Middle East, with a nod to Cold War realpolitik.

“For Iran, their beneficial treatment can lead them to getting Americans, so it is normal for them (Americans) to care. Iran is also next to the Soviet Union. They share borders with the Soviets and they share borders with the oil-producing nations of the Gulf, while we share very small islands with the Gulf so this is the balance they have,” Hussein says.

We’ll send them a memo. We will write a strong letter, since this position has become openly known and official at the highest level in the nation. We must respond seriously, and our discussion with the Arabs, Europeans, and all those affected must be serious. We’ll be serious with anyone who influences American public opinion, in accordance with what we are stating in the statement and in the letter,” Hussein says.

The meeting transcript is part of a huge archive of documents and recorded meetings that U.S. forces captured after they invaded Iraq in 2003. Much of the collection remains under wraps by the federal government, but a small portion of it has been opened to outside researchers, including 20 transcripts and documents released this week.