American Decades
Bush's Gulf War
Kuwait.
On 2 August 1990 the Iraqi army moved into neighboring Kuwait and seized control of the oil-rich sheikdom. The United States and Western Europe were caught off guard by the unprovoked action, which threatened not only the world supply of oil but also the stability of the Middle East. These Western nations immediately sought a United Nations (U.N.) resolution condemning the action of Iraq. Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi leader, was surprised by the Western reaction, because scarcely a week earlier (25 July 1990) U.S. ambassador April C. Glaspie had told him that the Iraq/Kuwait border dispute was an Arab, not American, issue. This interchange, a classic case of cultural miscommunication, ultimately resulted in war. Hussein thought he had been clear about his intentions; the ambassador thought Hussein was merely restating an old internal dispute. Once Iraq acted, however, the West could not ignore the situation.
Desert...
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1990's Government and Politics
