When he launched his brutal invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein shocked the world.  As his forces callously swept over the small neighboring state, he also deliberately smashed a budding rapprochement with the United States.  Although Saddam’s government had been peddling regional stability as an objective, it viciously repudiated that policy when it went to war. American intelligence officers were stunned and mortified.  Their analyses of Hussein’s intentions regarding Kuwait had been wrong.  No one had seen the invasion coming – not even the Kuwaiti leaders fleeing in terror toward the Saudi border.            

During the early 1980s, Iraq’s emissaries to Washington began pushing to improve relations with the United States.  They said Iraq wanted to end the war with Iran.  In their newly found desire to promote regional stability, the Iraqis expressed a willingness to support whatever agreement the Israelis and Palestinians worked out.  Had the bitter war with Iran forced Saddam Hussein to alter his policies?  An emphasis on economic development, the calls for regional peace and closer cooperation with the United States were taken as signs that the government of a war-weary Iraq was bending to reality.

More of Karl’s unique first-hand perspective of the history of the Iraq conflict after the click…