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In fact, there's evidence that the U.S.
may have provoked and then lured Iraq into invading Kuwait, to have a
pretext for U.S. intervention. The U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait
combined to put severe economic pressure on Iraq, which is the reason
Iraq began thinking about an invasion in the first place. Then, when
Saddam Hussein informed the U.S. about his plans, Washington virtually
gave him the green light.
U.S. Embassy: "We have no opinion on ... your border dispute with
Kuwait."
Saddam Hussein: "I was hoping you'd say that." [60]
(U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie, to Saddam Hussein, July 1990. To make
sure there was no confusion, she added, "James Baker has directed our
official spokesmen to emphasize this instruction.")
Then, after the invasion, Bush immediately began to prepare for a
massive war and blocked all possibilities for a negotiated solution. He
rejected Iraq's offer to withdraw from Kuwait in exchange for convening
a Middle East peace conference (which was mainly a face-saving request).
[61]
"He's going to get his ass kicked!" (George Bush, December 1990)
Bush knew the conflict could be settled through negotiations. But no
negotiated settlement would ever have been acceptable. He needed a
"decisive and rapid" victory. Iraq had to be bombed back to a
pre-industrial age. Tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers had to be
incinerated. The war had a message for the world:
[Bush says:] "What we say goes!" AMERICA IS NO 1 -- AND DON'T YOU FORGET
IT!
[Bush says:] Boy, we've got some impressive weapons! Have a nice day! -
George
Bush launched the most intensive bombing campaign in history using
conventional bombs, cluster bombs (which rip bodies apart), napalm and
phosphorous bombs (which cling to and burn skin) and fuel air explosives
(which are like small nuclear bombs). Later, the U.S. used munitions
tipped with "depleted uranium," which is now suspected as a cause of
cancer among both Iraqis and U.S. soldiers and birth defects among their
children. [62]
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