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Despite U.S. support, Saddam Hussein
failed to seize any of Iran's oilfields, so he then turned his attention
to the oilfields of his southern neighbor.
Saddam Hussein: I decided to invade Kuwait!
Hussein apparently expected that the U.S. would also tacitly go along
with his invasion of Kuwait. For the U.S., however, Kuwait was very
different from Iran. The Kuwaiti emir was a loyal friend of the U.S. and
British oil companies and a close political ally of the United States.
George H. W. Bush worried that the huge Iraqi army had become a threat
to U.S. domination of the Middle East.
George H.W. Bush: "Our jobs, our way of life, our own freedom, and the
freedom of friendly countries around the world would all suffer if
control of the world's great oil reserves fell into the hands of Saddam
Hussein" -- George H. W. Bush, August 1990
Bush decided Hussein had to be punished for trespassing on an oil-rich
U.S. protectorate.
"He's going to get his ass kicked!" -- The Honorable George H. W. Bush,
December 1990 [61]
The Pentagon launched the most intensive bombing campaign in history
using conventional bombs, cluster bombs (designed to rip bodies apart),
napalm and phosphorous (which cling to and burn skin), and fuel-air
explosives (which have the impact of small nuclear bombs). Later, the
U.S. used munitions tipped with depleted uranium, which is now suspected
as a cause of cancer among both Iraqis and U.S. soldiers and their
children. Iraq was bombed back to a pre-industrial age and tens of
thousands were killed.
Nuke Baghdad! [62]
The war had a message for the world:
"What we say goes!"
AMERICAN IS NO. 1 -- AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT! -- George H. W. Bush,
February 1991 [63]
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