The U.S. sold Iraq $200 million in helicopters which were used by the Iraqi military in the war. These were the only direct U.S.-Iraqi military sales and were valued to be about 0.6% of Iraq's conventional weapons imports during the war.[29] Ted Koppel of ABC Nightline however on June 9, 1992 reported: "It is becoming increasingly clear that George Bush Sr., operating largely behind the scenes throughout the 1980's, initiated and supported much of the financing, intelligence, and military help that built Saddam's Iraq into [an aggressive power]" And “Reagan/Bush administrations permitted — and frequently encouraged — the flow of money, agricultural credits, dual-use technology, chemicals, and weapons to Iraq.”
U.S. was also responsible for indirect transfer of arms to Iraq and Reagan Administration secretly began to allow Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt to transfer to Iraq U.S. howitzers, helicopters, bombs and other weapons.[30] Reagan personally asked Italy’s Prime Minister Guilio Andreotti to channel arms to Iraq.[31]
The U.S., UK, and Germany also provided "dual use" technology (computers, engines, etc) that allowed Iraq to expand its missile program and radar defenses. The U.S. Commerce department, in violation of procedure, gave out licenses to companies for $1.5 billion dual-use items to be sent to Iraq. The State Department was not informed of this. Over one billion of these authorized items were trucks that were never delivered. The rest consisted of advanced technology. Iraq's Soviet-made Scuds had their ranges expanded as a result.[32]
