That was a bit later, before then we had this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_support_for_Iraq_...

hence the "(2003-)", although arguably it'd be more correct to say "(2003-2009)"

Ok. With Iraq in the list above I specifically meant the period when Saddam was being propped up by the US as an example of realpolitik, not the situation later on.