In reference to the US helping Saddam. These are from declassified CIA documents. Dow Chemical sold 1.5 million dollars worth of pesticides that were in likelihood used as chemical weapons. Military intelligence was provided by the US to help Iraq coordinate chemical attacks.

Worth noting that Donald Rumsfeld, also mentioned in the above article, one of the architects of the second Iraq War went and met with Saddam to facilitate billions in dollars of loans to Saddam so that he could purchase military equipment. There's more in this article about the kinds of assistance the US provided. Article has sourcing.

Also of note:

In the early 1970s, Iraq nationalized U.S. petroleum interests and partnered with the Soviet Union to develop its oil capacity. U.S. officials covertly equipped Kurdish rebels in order to weaken the Iraqi government. Although Iraq neutralized the Kurdish problem through diplomacy with Iran, it criticized foreign powers that backed the Kurds and it displayed renewed anti-U.S. tendencies in its approach to Arab-Israeli issues in the late 1970s.

An overview of Iraq's communist history, and how the Kurds have been used as a wedge against Iraq becoming communist dating back to the late 50s. The US had contacts with Saddam as early as the late 50s in order to help the unpopular Ba'ath party gain power.