Why did United States support for Saddam during the Iran–Iraq war?

Question

According Wikipedia:
The United States supported Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War as a counterbalance to post-revolutionary Iran. This support included several billion dollars worth of economic aid, the sale of dual-use technology, non-U.S. origin weaponry, military intelligence, Special Operations training, and direct involvement in warfare against Iran as well.
Support from the U.S. for Iraq was not a secret and was frequently discussed in open session of the Senate and House of Representatives, although the public and news media paid little attention. On June 9, 1992, Ted Koppel reported on ABC's Nightline, "It is becoming increasingly clear that George Bush, operating largely behind the scenes throughout the 1980s, initiated and supported much of the financing, intelligence, and military help that built Saddam's Iraq into" the power it became,[and "Reagan/Bush administrations permitted – and frequently encouraged – the flow of money, agricultural credits, dual-use technology, chemicals, and weapons to Iraq.
Starting in 1982 with Iranian success on the battlefield, the United States made its backing of Iraq more pronounced, normalizing relations with the government, supplying it with economic aid, counter-insurgency training, operational intelligence on the battlefield, and weapons.
President Ronald Reagan initiated a strategic opening to Iraq, signing National Security Decision Directive 4-82 and selecting Donald Rumsfeld as his emissary to Hussein, whom he visited in December 1983 and March 1984. According to U.S. ambassador Peter W. Galbraith, far from winning the conflict, "the Reagan administration was afraid Iraq might actually lose."
T]he United States actively supported the Iraqi war effort by supplying the Iraqis with billions of dollars of credits, by providing U.S. military intelligence and advice to the Iraqis, and by closely monitoring third country arms sales to Iraq to make sure that Iraq had the military weaponry required. The United States also provided strategic operational advice to the Iraqis to better use their assets in combat.

Answer 1

at that time we would have done anything to get Iran indirectly, we should of let them slug it out, as both gave us the one finger salute

Answer 2

Arab nationalism created Saddam. He neither asked, needed nor got any help from the United States as he rose to power in the Baath party. When he took over in 1979, he promptly went to war with Iran a year later. Even before that, public opinion, and public policy, regarding Saddam (the bloody minded head of the secret police) was negative. You can go read it in the contemporary papers. Despite most Americans feeling OK about Iran getting hammered by Iraq (because Iran had held our embassy staff hostage for over a year), there was no move to provide Iraq with weapons. When the Iraqis looked like they might fold, and Iran's then fearsome Islamic Jihad (against less observant Moslems, and mostly against America, the Great Satan) might spread, the U.S. provided Iraq with satellite photos of Iranian military positions. After that war ended in a draw in 1988, the U.S. believed Saddam's pronouncements that he had seen the light and would rein in his aggressive impulses.

Answer 3

Saddam Hussein was set up. When Bush Jr. illegally invaded Iraq and Saddam Hussein was supposedly "found" in a "rabbit hole" we were told, the Kurd man used by the military as an interpreter (who told TV cameras he had "lost my entire family under Hussein") claims a "drugged" Saddam said, "America, why?" shortly before he was taken into custody. There was some suggestion at the time that Saddam Hussein had been drugged and planted in this hole in order to create a publicized "find". Afterwards, the camera crew followed the interpreter who'd been assigned by the pentagon, the Kurdish man who'd claimed to have lost his entire family under Saddam, as he was greeted by a horde of people in a "welcome home" celebration---people he introduced as "my family". The whole Gulf War was built on a Bush Sr. lie. A young Kuwaiti woman (supposedly an ordinary Kuwaiti citizen, according to Bush Sr.) went on national TV to say that Saddam's soldiers were "coming across the borders at night to steal incubators for uranium, leaving the babies on the floor"---a claim "60 Minutes" later proved to be false. During the presidential campaign against Ross Perot and Bill Clinton, Bush was slipping in the polls and decided to play the foreign policy card, so he first tricked Saddam Hussein into moving closer to the border of Kuwait (which Hussein spoke of during his trial later), then Bush Sr. used the "Kuwaiti citizen's" testimony to convince Congress to declare war, pretending she was a stranger to him. Turns out, as "60 Minutes" exposed, she was the Kuwaiti Ambassador's daughter who had been at the White House more than once. "60 Minutes" also uncovered the fact that Bush/Quayle White House had hired a Washington-based publicity firm to paint Saddam Hussein as a villain to the American people as part of the Bush plan to declare war. You're the first person I've seen who has investigated this travesty by Reagan/Bush, then Bush/Quayle, and finally Bush/Cheney. I hope the truth keeps getting brought to light---both Bush presidents and their administrations are war criminals.

Answer 4

Remember the Golden Rule - whoever has the Gold makes the rules. Saddam bought weapons from the US therefore the US supported Saddam.

Answer 5

Saddam was a secular dictator who kept the fundamentalists under control. Iran was run by the fundamentalist who threw out the secular dictator America had installed in Iran after they elected someone who wanted to keep their own oil.

Answer 6

you are right. We should withdraw from interfering in any nation. We need to pay attention to our country and keep our money, instead of giving money to the IMF(international money fund) giving money to countries that laugh at us.

Answer 7

We used him to do our bidding against Iran.