WingFlaps wrote:
On Feb 29, 3:38 am, Gig 601XL Builder
wrote:
WingFlaps wrote:

Sounds a bit like the Iraq that existed before the US told Saddam it
was OK to bring Kuwait back into greater Iraq doncha think?
Cheers
Bull$hit myth.

In the version published by The New York Times on
September 23, 1990, Glaspie expressed concern over the troop buildup to
Saddam Hussein:

"We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border
disagreement with Kuwait. I was in the American Embassy in Kuwait during
the late '60s. The instruction we had during this period was that we
should express no opinion on this issue and that the issue is not
associated with America".

Yes that's about the core of the problem but this quote is not what
was actually said but rather the carefully spun recollections of a
(failed) diplomat. Despite this seeming indifference to the rising
tension between the corrupt Kuwait and Iraq, in June 1990 General
Norman Schwarzkopf was conducting sophisticated war games pitting
thousands of U.S. troops against Iraqi armored divisions. Some say
that the US wanted the war as an excuse to bring the Arab states into
line -I doubt we will ever know the real truth.

Of course Schwartzkopf was war gaming US v Iraq. He was also war gaming
US v Iran, US & Israel v just about anyone with a towel on their head.
What do you expect the commander of CentCom to do when there isn't a war
on?



My point was that before Iraq was destroyed, Iraq was a modern,
secular state, with most advanced status of women in the region, non-
sectarian Universities and extensive religious freedoms, high rates of
economic growth, and some of the highest standards of living, health
and literacy rates in the Arab world. Free speech was allowed, as long
as it was not directed against the regime.


I think that last sentence says a bunch.