Great stuff from Carl at No Oil For Pacifists (found through Richard D.) on the source of Iraq's arms during the 70's and 80s'. These two charts tell the story (the details comes from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and cover the period 1973 to 1990). The US was responsible for approximately 1% of Iraq's weapons, about the same as Denmark's contribution. The USSR – 57%, France – 13%, China – 12%.
There is this unspoken assumption today that during the Cold War every dictator was somehow in the pay of the United States. Total nonsense, of course, but a lot misty-eyed Sovietphiles are just incapable of rational thought when it comes to the Cold War.
