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@@ -17,15 +17,15 @@ Iraq occupies the territory of ancient [[Mesopotamia]] between the [[Tigris Rive
 
 ### CIA and the Ba'ath Party
 
-Qassem's government included significant participation by the [[Iraqi Communist Party]], which alarmed [[Central Intelligence Agency]] planners during the Cold War. CIA support for the [[Ba'ath Party]] in Iraq was documented in subsequent investigations. In 1959, a young [[Saddam Hussein]] participated in a failed CIA-linked assassination attempt against Qassem.
+Qassem's government included significant participation by the [[Iraqi Communist Party]], which alarmed [[Central Intelligence Agency]] planners during the Cold War. CIA support for the [[Ba'ath Party]] in Iraq was documented in subsequent investigations. On October 7, 1959 Qassem was wounded in the shoulder in an assassination attempt. The journalist Richard Sale reported in 2003, citing unnamed former U.S. intelligence and diplomatic officials and the writer Adel Darwish, that a young [[Saddam Hussein]] was part of a "CIA-authorized six-man squad" tasked with killing Qasim and was later paid and trained by the CIA in Beirut and watched over in Cairo; the CIA declined to comment, and the historian Bryan Gibson has cited declassified records showing that on October 1, 1959 [[Allen Dulles]] told the National Security Council only that an attempt might be made in the next two months.[^2]
 
-The Ba'ath Party seized power on February 8, 1963, in a coup that the CIA had advance knowledge of and facilitated. The incoming Ba'athist government received from the CIA lists of suspected communists and leftists; those lists were used to direct the killing of thousands of political opponents in the weeks following the coup. The Ba'ath lost power later in 1963 but returned in a second coup on July 17, 1968, establishing the regime that would govern until 2003.[^2]
+On February 8, 1963 Qassem was overthrown and killed in a coup led by the Ba'ath Party. White House aide Robert Komer told President [[John F. Kennedy]] the Iraqi revolution was "almost certainly a net gain for our side," and Secretary of State [[Dean Rusk]] asked on February 9 for authority to recognize the new regime. The role of the CIA is disputed: Roger Morris, a former National Security Council staff member, said the CIA chose the Ba'ath Party "as its instrument" and was behind the coup; a former very senior CIA official told United Press International the Agency was "absolutely stunned"; and the same report cited unnamed former U.S. intelligence officials as saying the CIA gave Iraqi National Guardsmen lists of suspected communists, who were then shot.[^2] The Ba'ath lost power later in 1963 but returned in a second coup on July 17, 1968, establishing the regime that would govern until 2003.[^1]
 
-Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr served as president until [[Saddam Hussein]] forced his resignation on July 16, 1979. Saddam assumed the presidency and within days held a party congress at which he personally identified and had arrested dozens of alleged conspirators; hundreds of senior party figures were subsequently executed.
+Ahmad Hassan al-Bakr served as president until Saddam Hussein forced his resignation on July 16, 1979. Saddam assumed the presidency and within days held a party congress at which he personally identified and had arrested dozens of alleged conspirators; hundreds of senior party figures were subsequently executed.
 
 ### Iran-Iraq War and Western Support
 
-Iraq invaded [[Iran]] in September 1980 following the instability created by the [[Iranian Revolution]]. The eight-year [[Iran-Iraq War]] (1980-1988) killed an estimated half-million to one million people and devastated the economies of both countries. The [[Reagan administration]] tilted toward Iraq from 1982, providing CIA satellite intelligence, agricultural credits, arms, and dual-use technology to Baghdad - while simultaneously running the covert arms-for-hostages pipeline to Iran that became the [[Iran-Contra Affair]].[^2]
+Iraq invaded Iran in September 1980 following the instability created by the [[Iranian Revolution]]. The eight-year [[Iran-Iraq War]] (1980-1988) killed an estimated half-million to one million people and devastated the economies of both countries. The [[Reagan administration]] tilted toward Iraq from 1982. A State Department memorandum of October 7, 1983 stated that the policy of strict neutrality had been modified, except for arms sales, since the summer of 1982, and assumed that tactical intelligence would continue; a presidential directive of April 5, 1984 (NSDD 139) ordered a plan to prevent Iraq's defeat; and on November 29, 1984 Secretary of State [[George Shultz]] told Tariq Aziz that superior intelligence must be an important factor in Iraq's defense. Meanwhile the administration ran the covert arms-for-hostages pipeline to Iran that became the [[Iran-Contra Affair]].[^2]
 
 [[Donald Rumsfeld]] visited Saddam Hussein in December 1983 as a special envoy, cementing the relationship at a moment when U.S. intelligence knew Iraq was using chemical weapons against Iranian troops. The financial structure supporting Iraqi arms procurement implicated [[Banca Nazionale del Lavoro]]'s [[Atlanta]] branch in what became the [[BNL scandal]]. Chilean arms manufacturer [[Carlos Cardoen]] supplied cluster munitions to Iraq through CIA-connected channels. [[PROMIS]] software was allegedly sold to Iraqi intelligence in backdoor-equipped form.[^3]
 
@@ -42,5 +42,5 @@ The subsequent occupation produced the [[Abu Ghraib]] prisoner abuse scandal and
 ### Footnotes
 
 [^1]: "Iraq," *Encyclopaedia Britannica.* https://www.britannica.com/place/Iraq
-[^2]: "CIA activities in Iraq," Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Iraq
+[^2]: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, vol. XVIII, Near East, 1962-1963, documents 153 and 154 (February 8 and 9, 1963), https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1961-63v18 ; Richard Sale, "Exclusive: Saddam key in early CIA plot," United Press International, April 10, 2003, https://www.upi.com/Exclusive-Saddam-key-in-early-CIA-plot/65571050017416/ ; Joyce Battle, ed., "Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 82, February 25, 2003, https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/
 [^3]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq.* Bantam Books, 1993.