In the 1980s, after all, the U.S. encouraged Saddam to attack Iran, and supported his aggression with billions in subsidized food, weapons, and intelligence.
In those days, the Ayatollah Khomeini was Hitler, so the U.S. pressured the U.N. not to condemn Saddam's poison gas attacks on Iranian troops. The U.S. even protected Iraqi oil tankers. When the U.S.S. Vincennes' billion-dollar Aegis missile-aiming radar system shot down an Iranian jetliner, killing 290 civilians, it was on pro-Saddam duty.
On July 25th, after the massing of Iraqi troops on the Kuwaiti border, U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie told Saddam that regarding a possible invasion of Kuwait, that "the United States has no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait." "James Baker has directed our official spokesmen to emphasize this."
On July 26th, the Washington Post reported that "some officials" in the White House, Pentagon, and State Department "asserted yesterday that an Iraq attack on Kuwait would not draw a U.S. military response."
On July 30th, assistant secretary of state John Kelly confirmed to the House Middle East subcommittee, in response to a question by Lee Hamilton (D-IN), that nothing obligated us to engage U.S. forces there."
When Saddam, acting on the winks and nods, invaded Kuwait on August 2, he went from ally to Adolf overnight. Bush poured troops into Saudi Arabia, but to do so, he had to twist the Saudis' arm with angry visits from Dick Cheney and others.
Unnamed Defense Department officials were quoted as complaining about Saudi "wimps who don't want to defend themselves." The pressure worked, of course, and now – as Baker crows – the U.S. will protect its kings and kinglets with a "new regional security arrangement," courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer.
Bush's lying lips told us the troops were there for purely defensive purposes; meanwhile he and Baker worked busily, checkbooks in hand, getting U.N. members to authorize an attack. Then, right after the November election, Bush doubled the number of troops, forbade rotations, went on the offensive, and announced that he would attack if Saddam weren't out unconditionally by January 15th.
For home consumption, Bush announced that Baker would go to Baghdad, and travel the "last mile for peace," on "any date between now and the U.N. deadline of January 15th" that Iraq picked. But the offer was fraudulent. When Saddam said OK, and picked January 12th, Bush denounced him and cancelled the deal.
Advised by the psychological warfare branch of his old agency, the CIA, Bush set out to humiliate Saddam, to make sure that "Arab psychology" would prevent a pullout. That's why Bush talked about "kicking his ass," deliberately mispronounced his name (it's SaDOM, not SADem), and always used contemptuous language.
Meanwhile, all peace overtures, including the harmless idea of a Middle Eastern peace conference (which an allegedly sacred U.N. resolution has long called for), were dismissed as "rewarding aggression."
Yes, Saddam is a thug, like most of the Third World pals of the U.S. government. Yet there are real border questions between Iraq and Kuwait, as a result of British duplicity. And even the State Department admits that the Kuwaiti kleptocracy – the Bush-blessed "legitimate government" – was drilling diagonally underneath the border and stealing Iraq's oil.
Kuwait had also, apparently at U.S. behest, broken the OPEC production agreement by massively increasing its oil production over the previous six months. This lowered the price at a time when Iraq needed more money for reconstruction after the Iranian war.
There would have been, in a less-bellicose administration, plenty of room for negotiation. In fact, Iraq privately expressed a willingness to leave Kuwait the weekend of August 4–5 – having, in its view, "taught Kuwait a lesson." It asked, however, that it not be condemned by the Arab League and the U.S. Immediately, Bush gave a denunciatory speech, and Baker pressured the Arab League to condemn Iraq. We were off to the races.
Bush denounced Saddam again and again as "The Dictator" and "The Aggressor." This is the same Bush who just gave himself, by executive fiat, dictatorial war powers over the American economy.
History Repeating, But Faster, Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
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