Glenn Kessler (journalist) neoconservative propaganda but his reporting turned out to be correct and apologies were later offered. In a lengthy article, Kessler also revealed the Bush administration's internal decision-making that led to the Iraq war. He traveled with three different Secretaries of State – Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton – and for several years wrote a blog about his experiences on those trips. An article he wrote on apparent tensions between Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during a 2006 trip to Iraq was later denounced by Rumsfeld as "just fairly typical Washington Post stuff." Kessler joined "The Washington Post"
Soviet involvement in the Iran–Iraq War been more due to Soviet irritation at the war than a serious attempt to harm Iraq: Iran was not seen as pro-Soviet. France supported Iraq as the second greatest military supplier, and tended to supply higher-technology equipment than the Soviets. Iraqi leaders were inclined to blame their Soviet-supplied equipment for failings rather than admit their own organizational and training problems. While Soviet equipment may have been inferior to others, it was effective when handled properly, but the Iraqis supplemented or replaced it with French equipment. The competition between France and the Soviet Union as an arms supplier was a continuing