Quote:
Originally Posted by ogon_bat
Up to this day it baffles me that U.S. citizens do not see how Saddam was played. He might have killed people on cold blood, but he stayed in power because he knew when to attack and when not to "Battles are decided by the quartermasters before the first shot is fired". US diplomacy deceived Saddam into thinking the USA would not support kuwait once it was invaded. Late 20th century was a time of satellite photographs on schedule and transatlantic telephone calls, there is no way the USA would not have known about saddam's plan (I read about Saddam tanks on the border in a local newspaper before the invasion) and warn him of the consequences. Bush needed Saddam to invade kuwait just like Roosevelt needed the japs to invade hawaii..
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According to Lawrence Freedman (
A Choice of Enemies), the US did actually know that Iraq was showing considerable signs of invading Kuwait and were actually worried about it. The reason they didn't act was because Egypt (Mubarak) and Saudi Arabia (King Hussain) were reassuring the US through regular phone conversations that Saddam was just bluffing.
He then goes on about a miscommunication between the US and Saddam that could've possibly been a factor into Saddam believing the US would not be harsh on Iraq if they invaded, but it's not the one Ledgem describes. It's the meeting between April Glaspie and Saddam that Lawrence talks about. He describes it as a communication error brought about due to knowledge of particular developments, not because of any cultural miscommunication.