Washington has again shown that all is fair in war and business, calling for the extradition of a Chilean ex-arms dealer who sold cluster bombs to Iraq in the ‘80s, despite claims the CIA supported and approved the deals.

Before being inducted into Bush’s ‘Axis of Evil’, Iraq’s war with neighboring Iran made it a useful proxy to help Washington crush the nascent revolutionary government in Tehran. To accomplish the task, Baghdad needed bombs, and wealthy businessman Carlos Cardoen happened to have supplies in stock.

According to former National Security official Howard Teicher, part of the reason Cardoen found himself in the right place at the right time to seal the lucrative deal was that the CIA had stepped in to help manufacture and facilitate the sale of cluster bombs to the Iraqi government.

However, as times changed and US relations with Iraq went south, weapons sold to Saddam Hussein ended up being turned on Washington during the Gulf War, at which point helping equip the now enemy-regime became a criminal act. That is how 76-year-old Cardoen found himself in US officials’ crosshairs since 1993, despite his claims to innocence, and the possible role the CIA itself played in helping him make his fortune.

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