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April
in July
On
July 25, 1990, eight days before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, a quiet,
largely unreported meeting took
place between Saddam Hussein and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie
at the Presidential Palace in Baghdad, which has since been destroyed
by the war. The transcript of this meeting is as follows:
U.S. Ambassador Glaspie:
"I have direct instructions
from President Bush to improve our relations with Iraq. We have considerable
sympathy for your quest for higher oil prices, the immediate cause of
your confrontation with Kuwait. (pause) As you know, I have lived here
for years and admire your extraordinary efforts to rebuild your country.
We know you need funds. We understand that, and our opinion is that
you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. (pause) We
can see that you have deployed massive numbers of troops in the south.
Normally that would be none of our business, but when this happens in
the context of your other threats against Kuwait, then it would be reasonable
for us to be concerned. For this reason, I have received an instruction
to ask you, in the spirit of friendship - not confrontation - regarding
your intentions: Why are your troops massed so very close to Kuwait's
borders?"
Saddam Hussein:
"As you know, for
years now I have made every effort to reach a settlement on our dispute
with Kuwait. There is to be a meeting in two days; I am prepared to
give negotiations only this one more brief chance. (pause) When we [the
Iraqis] meet [with the Kuwaitis] and we see there is hope, then nothing
will happen. But if we are unable to find a solution, then it will be
natural that Iraq will not accept death."
U.S. Ambassador Glaspie:
"What solutions
would be acceptable?"
Saddam Hussein:
"If we could keep
the whole of the Shatt al Arab - our strategic goal in our war with
Iran - we will make concessions (to the Kuwaitis). But, if we are forced
to choose between keeping half of the Shatt and the whole of Iraq (which,
in Saddam's view, includes Kuwait) then we will give up all of the Shatt
to defend our claims on Kuwait to keep the whole of Iraq in the shape
we wish it to be. (pause) What is the United States' opinion on this?"
(Pause, then Ambassador
Glaspie speaks carefully)
U.S. Ambassador Glaspie:
"We
have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with
Kuwait. Secretary (of State James) Baker has directed me to emphasize
the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960's that the Kuwait issue
is not associated with America."
(Saddam smiles.)
-------------------------------------------------------------
The
Green Light and the Limousine
At a Washington press
conference called the next day, State Department spokesperson Margaret
Tutweiler was asked by journalists:
"Has the United
States sent any type of diplomatic message to the Iraqis about putting
30,000 troops on the border with Kuwait? Has there been any type of
protest communicated from the United States government?"
to which she responded:
"I'm
entirely unaware of any such protest."
On July 31st, two days
before the Iraqi invasion, John Kelly, Assistant Secretary of State
for Near Eastern affairs, testified to Congress that the
"United
States has no commitment to defend Kuwait and the U.S. has no intention
of defending Kuwait if it is attacked by Iraq."
Eight days later, (8
days after the Hussein-Glaspie meeting) on August 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein's
massed troops invaded and occupied Kuwait (ironically, this was done
in a method historically similar to the American anexation of Texas).
One month later in Baghdad, British
journalists obtained the tape and transcript of the Hussein-Glaspie
meeting on July 25, 1990.
In order to verify this astounding information, they attempted to confront
Ms. Glaspie as she was leaving the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
Journalist 1:
"Are the transcripts
(holding them up) correct, Madam Ambassador?"
(Ambassador Glaspie does
not respond)
Journalist 2:
"You
knew Saddam was going to invade (Kuwait), but you
didn't warn him not to. You didn't tell him America would
defend Kuwait. You told him the opposite - that America was not associated
with Kuwait."
Journalist 1:
"You
encouraged this aggression - his invasion. What were you thinking?"
U.S. Ambassador Glaspie:
"Obviously,
I didn't think, and nobody else did, that the Iraqis were
going to take ALL of Kuwait."
Journalist 1:
"You
thought he was just going to take SOME of it? But how COULD YOU?!
Saddam told you that, if negotiations failed, he would give up his Iran
(Shatt al Arab Waterway) goal for the "WHOLE of Iraq, in the shape
we wish it to be." You KNOW that includes Kuwait, which the Iraqis
have always viewed as an historic part of their country!"
(Ambassador Glaspie says
nothing, pushing past the two journalists to leave)
"America
green-lighted the invasion. At a minimum, you admit signalling Saddam
that some aggression was okay - that the U.S. would not oppose
a grab of the al-Rumalya oil field, the disputed border strip and the
Gulf Islands (including Bubiyan) - territories claimed by Iraq?"
(Again, Ambassador Glaspie
says nothing as a limousine door closes behind her and the car drives
off.)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Ross
Perot gets to The National Honor
Two years later, during
NBC News Decision '92's 3rd round of The Presidential Debate, 1992 presidential
candidate Ross Perot was quoted as saying:
"...we
told him he could take the northern part of Kuwait; and when
he took the whole thing we went nuts. And if we didn't tell him that,
why won't we even let the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee see the written instructions
for Ambassador Glaspie? - "
At this point, he was
interrupted by former president George
Bush who yelled:
""
I've got to reply on that. That gets to the
National Honour!... That is absolutely absurd!
Later on in the debate,
President Bill
Clinton stated:
"...Several government
departments, several, had information that he was converting our aid
to military purposes and trying to develop weapons of mass destruction,
but in late '89 the President signed a secret policy saying we were
going to continue to try to improve relations with him, and we
sent him some sort of communication on the eve of his invasion of Kuwait
that we still wanted better relations..."
On August 23rd, Iraq
offered to withdraw in return for the lifting of economic sanctions,
guaranteed access to the Gulf, and full control of the Rumalyah oil
field. The proposal was not accepted. In late February, the Soviets
negotiated a peace proposal involving a three-week withdrawal period
on the part of the Iraqis, in exchange for removal of the sanctions.
George Bush did not accept.
It soon became reported
in American newspapers, magazines, and television media that the Iraqis
had the world's fourth-largest army with estimates of up to a million
soldiers, including the battle-hardened elite republican guard. Later,
estimates were reduced to 2-3 hundred thousand Iraqi soldiers. By the
end of the war, this number was further reduced to a hundred-thousand
untrained troops, most of whom were forced to maintain their positions.
This is ironic, considering that in the fall of 1990, after the start
of the war, Canadian military analyst Gwynne Dyer remarked that "Saddam
Hussein was not a problem that kept anybody awake in July."
Three successive American administrations did nothing from 1980 to 1988,
when Saddam Hussein was responsible for killing over 150,000 Iranians
and 13,000 of his own civilians including approximately 4,000 unarmed
Kurds.
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