The Relations Between The USA and Iraq
technology to that country. 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 that Iraq might
actually lose. For 5 years the United States supported Iraqis, hoping that they will succeed and Iran
will fall. On 17 May 1987, an Iraqi bomber attacked a US warship and sank it. However, U.S.
attention was focused on isolating Iran and Iraq was left unpunished. On 20 August 1988 Iran
accepted the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 598 and peace was restored.
After the Iraq War
On 1 September 2010 the United States changed commanders in Iraq in a ceremony that
began the final phase of its military involvement in the country
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