America and Iraq: The Economic Background of the Conflict, by Guest Commentator Karl Reiner
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…