The honeymoon between Iraq and the U.S. began to wane in 1986, during the Iran-Contra Scandal, when it was learned that, throughout the previous two years, in exchange for hostages held by Iran, the U.S. supplied them with weapons to use against Saddam. Burgeoning tensions between Iraq and the U.S. became all the more apparent when, in May 1987, Iraq bombed a U.S. Naval ship in the Persian Gulf that had been mistaken for an Iranian commercial vessel, leaving 37 American crew members dead and dozens injured. While the White House officially chalked it up to an unfortunate accident, Reagan
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