The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq

by Steve Coll

The administration embraced flawed intelligence reports from both the D.I.A. and the C.I.A. that both Iraq and Iran had resorted to gas. On March 23, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said that while Iraq had committed a “grave violation” of the Geneva Protocol at Halabja, Iran “may also have used chemical artillery shells in this fighting.”[6] This was misleading at best. The question of whether Iran had used chemical weapons against Iraq at any point in the war—apart from smoke or tear gas—would remain controversial. It is clear, however, that the impression publicized by the Reagan administration after Halabja—that the use of gas by Iraq and Iran in that atrocity might be militarily and morally equivalent—was false. This line was supported by Pat Lang, the Middle East analyst at the D.I.A. who was deeply involved in the intelligence liaison with Baghdad and who “insisted” that Iran share blame for Halabja. “Who defended the Iraqis?” Lang recalled. “I did.” The “both sides do it” narrative settled like fog over a war the world mainly ignored.