Tell me more ×  If I remember correctly that the U.S did switch
sides between sides supporting both Iraq and Iran at some point
due to some sort of Cold War Reason. So my question is did the
U.S. back empowerment of both the Shah of Iran and Saddam
Hussein?  share|improve this question A trivial search on
wikipedia would reveal an answer to the question as stated.
Perhaps I don't understand the subtlety of the question? –  Mark
C. Wallace Feb 25 at 19:19 add comment  1 Answer  up vote 3 down
vote accepted  The U.S. and Iran were originally allies when the
shah they supported was in power. the Iran hostage crisis and
subsequent revolution changed this by removing the shah from
power and installing the Ayatollah as the new leader of Iran who
was fiercely anti American.  Iraq was supported by the Soviets,
however the Iran-Iraq War was taking place during the decline of
the USSR and so Saddam was seeing less support from his Soviet
allies and losing the war, so he was keen to switch sides and
the U.S. was willing