Knowledge Tree
Relations (1)
related 4.70 — strongly supporting 25 facts
Saddam Hussein is directly linked to Kuwait as the leader who ordered its invasion and subsequent occupation, an event documented in [1], [2], and [3]. His diplomatic interactions regarding the status of Kuwait, including negotiations and threats, are extensively detailed in [4], [5], [6], and [7].
Facts (25)
Sources
The Persian Gulf TV War by Douglas Kellner (http://www.gseis.ucla ... pages.gseis.ucla.edu 25 facts
quoteSaddam Hussein stated regarding the Iraqi intervention in Kuwait: "as soon as the situation settles down and the evil grip is loosened on Arab Kuwait."
claimPresidential press secretary Marlin Fitzwater claimed that during a meeting with U.S. chargé d'affaires Joseph Wilson, Saddam Hussein indicated he had no intention of leaving Kuwait.
claimA front-page story in the Washington Post concerning a meeting between Saddam Hussein and Joe Wilson, which alleged Iraq's refusal to negotiate or leave Kuwait, was used to legitimate U.S. policy.
claimThe Washington Post's August 7, 1990, edition featured a banner headline stating 'Saddam says Seizure of Kuwait Is Permanent.'
accountSaddam Hussein told UN Secretary General Pérez de Cuéllar in Baghdad that he would withdraw from Kuwait on August 5, 1990, provided that a mini-summit planned for August 4 in Jeddah was successful.
accountWashington Post columnist Jim Hoagland criticized Saddam Hussein's claim that dispossessed Arabs would profit from the seizure of Kuwait's oil in an August 9, 1990, article.
accountYasir Arafat delivered a letter from Saddam Hussein to a Palestinian businessman with White House contacts, addressed to George Bush, which confirmed that Iraq was ready to withdraw from Kuwait provided that its problems with Kuwait were resolved first.
claimThe Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) asserted that Saddam Hussein was prepared to invade Kuwait prior to the actual invasion, yet the George H.W. Bush administration did not take action.
accountOn July 31, 1990, Defense Intelligence Agency analyst Pat Lang wrote a memo warning top policy makers that Saddam Hussein intended to invade Kuwait, which he intended as a 'thunderclap' but which drew virtually no reaction.
accountFormer national security adviser Robert McFarlane cited a Washington Post story as evidence that Saddam Hussein was not going to leave Kuwait and that U.S. military intervention in Saudi Arabia was necessary.
accountThe London-based Mideast Mirror reported that King Hussein of Jordan brought a peace proposal from Iraq to President George H.W. Bush, in which Saddam Hussein expressed willingness to negotiate a withdrawal of Iraqi troops from Kuwait, provided that U.N. sanctions were lifted and the U.S. military buildup in Saudi Arabia ended, with the exception of the restoration of the al-Sabah clan in Kuwait.
claimEmery (1991) claims, based on interviews with King Hussein of Jordan and other Arab sources, that Saddam Hussein was prepared to negotiate a solution to the Gulf crisis and withdraw from Kuwait, but the United States blocked these early negotiation attempts.
quoteEdward Herman expressed his view in Z Magazine that the Bush administration invited Saddam Hussein into Kuwait through 'sheer incompetence,' but also saw an opportunity to set him up as a 'naked aggressor who must be taught a lesson.'
claimThe United States government rejected Saddam Hussein's proposal for an Arab-only resolution to the Kuwait crisis, despite the United States' own historical policy of opposing outside interference in Latin America and the Caribbean.
quotePatrick Tyler wrote in a Washington Post summary article: "The initial move to seize Kuwait was relatively painless. But the next step that Saddam reportedly threatened yesterday--a possible invasion of Saudi Arabia--would pose immense difficulties for the Iraqi leader, forcing his army to operate far from home, at the end of long supply lines, in the intense summer heat of the desert" (p. A9).
accountFollowing the invasion of Kuwait, Saddam Hussein threatened to turn the Gulf into "a graveyard for those who think of committing aggression" while simultaneously emphasizing the temporary nature of the Iraqi intervention.
accountOn August 7, 1990, State Department spokesperson Margaret Tutweiler described Iraqi troops as massing on the border and presented Joseph Wilson's meeting with Saddam Hussein negatively, reinforcing the narrative that Iraq would not leave Kuwait, would not negotiate, and was about to invade Saudi Arabia.
claimSaddam Hussein miscalculated the international response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, believing that Western powers would allow the seizure because they had previously provided military support, technology, and economic arrangements to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War.
claimU.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie told Saddam Hussein that the United States had 'no opinion' on the border dispute and other disputes between Iraq and Kuwait.
accountOn August 19, 1990, Saddam Hussein proposed that the status of Kuwait be resolved exclusively by Arab states without external interference, citing the Syrian occupation of Lebanon and Morocco's actions in Western Sahara as precedents.
claimIn a Washington Post column titled 'Force Hussein to Withdraw,' Jim Hoagland asserted that Saddam Hussein had gone to war to gain control of the oil fields of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
perspectiveGeorge Bush used the Gulf War crisis to divert attention from domestic economic problems by scapegoating Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait for rising oil prices and economic instability.
accountIn her March 1991 testimony, U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie claimed she had taken a tough approach with Saddam Hussein and that transcripts of her conversation with him omitted passages where she emphasized a 'vital' U.S. relationship with Kuwait and warned against settling disputes through non-peaceful means.
accountDuring a PBS discussion on August 7, 1990, co-anchor Judy Woodruff stated that Saddam Hussein was quoted in a Washington Post story as saying the invasion of Kuwait was irreversible and permanent.
claimSalinger and Laurent argue that U.S. officials April Glaspie and John Kelly inadvertently or intentionally gave Saddam Hussein a 'green light' to invade Kuwait.