Gulf War 2 a Bush Disaster? So was Gulf War 1.
In light of the shocking advances of the Islamic State, the sense that Iraq is coming apart at the seams despite the huge toll of lives and treasure squandered over more than a decade, it's clear that George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003 was the most fateful foreign policy blunder ever made by an American leader.
What's remarkable, however, is that critics of George W.'s actions overlook the fact that it was his father, George H.W.Bush, who, in 1990, set the stage for his son's disastrous moves 13 years later.
It was Papa Bush, after all, who sent American troops halfway around the world to launch the First Gulf War--an error of tragic proportions; responsible in its own way for much of the horror that afflicts the Greater Middle East (and America) to this day.
Ironically, it happened just as the U.S. seemed about to become king of the global roost---the greatest military power the planet had ever known. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was no power around to challenge U.S. hegemony. It was left to America to blight its own future.
What is also extraordinary about the First Gulf War is that--like the outbreak of World War I--it was all so unnecessary--the result of feckless leadership, inept diplomacy and shocking miscalculations by both leaders--Saddam Hussein and George H.W. Bush. (I dealt with this at length in my book, "
Web of Deceit, The History of Western Complicity in Iraq, from Churchill to Kennedy to George w.Bush."
Saddam's ignorance can be understood: a brutal dictator, surrounded for the most part by sycophants, the Iraqi president knew little of the outside world. George H.W. Bush on the other hand, had been Ambassador to China, head of the CIA, had an impressive stable of experienced advisors and could draw upon the U.S.'s vast intelligence capacities.
The problem, however, in the summer of 1990 was that Bush and his top aides were obsessed by the disintegrating Soviet empire. They were largely oblivious to the political storm that was brewing in the Gulf between Saddam Hussein and the leaders of Kuwait.
Saddam had just "won" an incredibly bloody nine-year war with Iran, only to find himself in a mounting feud with his immensely wealthy Gulf neighbor, Kuwait. Saddam's charges against the Kuwaitis were not at all unreasonable.
For starters, they were beggaring Iraq's ravaged economy by manipulating the price of oil. They were also demanding that the bankrupt Iraq pay back huge loans Kuwait had made to help finance Baghdad's sanguinary war against Iran.
As Saddam saw it, by attacking revolutionary Iran, he had been defending Kuwait's interests as well. But now that Iran was defeated and Iraq was bled white, the Kuwaitis wanted their money back.
The Kuwaitis dismissed Saddam's claims and continued to demand their loans be repaid. Riled by what he saw as their arrogant, aggressive stance, Saddam became increasingly belligerent.
At the same time, however, as he was mobilizing his troops, the Iraqi dictator was attempting to figure out how the U.S. would react if he actually proceeded to invade Kuwait. He
never got a clear signal.
The blame for that is usually laid at the feet of America's ambassador at the time, April Glaspie. Saddam called her to the Foreign Ministry, railed about the Kuwaitis, and made vague references to his aggressive plans. She replied with the standard line, that the U.S. had no interest in border disputes between Iraq and Kuwait. Washington hoped that everything could be settled peacefully.
But by not flashing a red light, Ambassador Glaspie was simply relaying the very confused and self-contradictory policies of the George H.W. Bush administration itself.
MUCH MORE: Gulf War 2 a Bush Disaster? So was Gulf War 1. Barry Lando
Below is a
transcript of the meeting on July 25, 1990 between then-US Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie and President Saddam Hussein that the Iraqi leader interpreted as a green light from Washington for his invasion of Kuwait eight days later. It speaks for itself. Saddam was shafted by the Bushes - TWICE.
rightwinger
Transcript