The United States gave Iraq vital battle-planning help during its war with Iran as part of a secret program under President Ronald Reagan, even though U.S. intelligence agencies knew the Iraqis would unleash chemical weapons, The New York Times reported on its Web site on Saturday. The highly classified covert program involved more than 60 officers of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency who provided detailed information on Iranian military deployments, tactical planning for battles, plans for air strikes and bomb-damage assessments for Iraq. The Times said it based its report on comments by senior U.S. military officers with direct knowledge of the program, most of whom agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity.
If it was highly classified, why are they reporting it? Oh, hell. Why bother asking?
In the Iran-Iraq War, the Iraqis were perceived as presenting the lesser of two evils. Iran had the advantage of population and of industrial base — Sammy never has been much on real economic development, even when it involves guns and ammunition, and the gains under the Shah hadn't yet been dissipated by the ayatollahs. We had just months before gone through the Iran hostage crisis, so had we supported Iran, even though Sammy was clearly the aggressor, the American public would have spent a lot of time asking each other "Wot the hell is this?" So at that time, in under those circumstances, a moderate amount of discreet support to Iraq made sense. If the same circumstances were in force twenty years later, it would still make sense. The Times article is a cheap shot. 
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