"But we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border
disagreement with Kuwait." US Ambassador April Glaspie to Saddam Hussein
prior to the aggression of Iraq against Kuwait, as quoted from a
transcript supplied by Iraq to the New York Times. It is reported that
later Glaspie told a reporter to the effect that it had never been
considered that Saddam would take all of Kuwait. A journalist questioned
then as to what amount of Kuwait the Bush administration did expect
Saddam to take as a result of the implication that America took no
interest in the Iraq-Kuwait border conflict. No answer. If any of this
is true I have no idea. It may have been more a case of Glaspie not
being quite up to the task and her misunderstanding the depth of the
intentions behind Saddam's words. Regardless, the incident is often
cited as the US having given Saddam permission to invade and annex Kuwait.

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