We gave Saddam satellite imagery of the Iranian bases to assist them with
that war.  We sold weapons of mass destruction to both sides.  Saddam's
contention with Kuwait was that they were selling more oil than they were
supposed to under an agreement and was cutting into their profits.
If we let him attack Iran, perhaps he thought we wouldn't mind if he did the
same to Kuwait.  He did tell our ambassador that he was going to have to
take some kind of action if we didn't step in.
We could have averted the movement on Kuwait if we played our cards right.
Maybe we were just giving him enough rope and now we are moving in for the
lynching.

Guy Avenell

Since Iran was unfreindly to this country and Kuwait was on good terms
with us, we reacted exactly as I would expect.  How Saddam would consider
our reaction to his war on Kuwait to be the same as his war on Iran is
beyond me.

What WMD's did we sell to either side in the Iran/Iraq war?

Overselling oil is a common tactic among the members of OPEC.  It is
not an act of war.

As far as what he told our ambassador, just because someone rattles a
sabre does not mean it is anything more than a noise.  And even if we
need to act, it does not mean we are able to do it in the most
expedient time frame.

As far as 'giving him enough rope', I find it hard to believe this is
some kind of intricate diplomacy game.
This is what I think the game is.
Saddam has been contravening the treaty by developing poison gas, etc.
hoping no one will find out.
If someone finds out, he hope they will not do anything about it.
If someone tries to do something about it, he hopes 'diplomacy' will
prevent anyone from actually stopping him.
If someone does stop him, he hopes he can hide his remaining efforts
and appear as though he has been disarmed.
If we actually succeed in disarming him, he will wait until attention
is focused elsewhere adn start up again.

If there is an invasion, the last two moves in the game will be hard to
carry out, so it remains to be seen if Saddam is up to that kind of
brinkmanship.

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