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Iraq Nexis - Third Debate 1990 [OA 8483]
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323154382
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Iraq Nexis - Third Debate 1990 [OA 8483]
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Records of the White House Office of Speechwriting (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Speech Backup Alphabetical Files
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
S
S
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Speech File Backup Files
Subseries:
Alpha File, 1987-1991
OA/ID Number:
13844
Folder ID Number:
13844-009
Folder Title:
Iraq Nexis-Third Debate, 1990
Stack:
Row:
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
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26
23
3
1
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The Washington Post, July 26, 1990
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
"He very, very much wants to avoid a problem with us," " one administration
official said.
Glaspie's meeting with Saddam Hussein was called on such short notice that
she was not able to confer with senior U.S. officials about the tone of her
message, but one administration official said Glaspie challenged Saddam
Hussein's use of military intimidation against his Arab neighbors in what is
essentially an economic and political dispute.
The U.S. envoy apparently got no specific explanation from Saddam Hussein
about why he sent troops to the border, but was subjected instead to a
"diatribe" about alleged Kuwaiti wrongs. Glaspie requested that Iraq's
propaganda attacks against Kuwait cease, and one U.S. official said later that
Baghdad radio and television had stopped airing the attacks by midday yesterday.
Saddam Hussein's sudden message to Washington followed a tense military
buildup in the gulf. Iraq now has more than 30,000 troops on the Kuwaiti
border with ammunition and supplies for 30 days of combat, U.S. officials said
yesterday. Kuwait has mobilized its 20,000-man military.
Meanwhile, two U.S. warships are steaming in the waters off Kuwait to
establish an American naval "presence" in the northern gulf, U.S. officials
said. One was the USS LaSalle, flagship of the Joint Task Force Middle East.
Four other U.S. warships were maneuvering in the southern gulf with military
aircraft from the UAE in the first joint exercise ever requested and approved by
that government.
One sign of the jitters in the region was that UAE officials yesterday denied
they were cooperating with the United States.
Administration officials yesterday expressed the hope that Saddam Hussein's
message to Bush marked the beginning of the end of a crisis that caught the West
by surprise and triggered a debate within the administration on the extent of
its commitments in the Persian Gulf.
Some officials asserted yesterday that an Iraqi attack on Kuwait would not
draw a U.S. military response, but the United States would join in condemning
such a move and would work diplomatically to force Iraq's withdrawal.
The U.S. Central Command, which responds to crises in the Middle East, was
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flow of oil and commerce through the waterway and avoid netting drawn into a
military commitment to defend Kuwait.
One official asserted that since the prevailing administration view was that
Saddam Hussein was bullying Kuwait and had no intention of invasion, it would
have been unwise to draw a "red line," the crossing of which would provoke a
U.S. military response.
By deploying limited U.S. naval forces in the gulf for emergency maneuvers,
the official said, the United States demonstrated that it was willing to
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USA TODAY
July 26, 1990, Thursday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS
LENGTH: 227 words
HEADLINE: Iraq envoy keeps cool in Mideast hot seat
BYLINE: Johanna Neuman
BODY:
April Catherine Glaspie, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, was on the hot seat
Wednesday as Iraq's belligerent President Saddam Hussein called her to his
office in Baghdad.
A week after massing troops on Kuwait's border in a dispute over oil
production and prices, Hussein - who aspires to be leader of the Arab world -
just wanted to assure the United States he means no harm.
Glaspie, a 48-year-old career diplomat who was born in in Vancouver, British
Columbia, is accustomed to hearing, deciphering and communicating messages in
the Mideast's murky politics.
Fluent in Arabic and French, Glaspie was the first woman named U.S.
ambassador to any Mideast country. Named by President Reagan in 1987 and
continued in office by President Bush, she is also one of only a handful of
female ambassadors representing the United States abroad.
' ' A genuine heroine,' said former secretary of state George Shultz after her
contacts with Syrian President Hafez Assad helped free U.S. hostages in the June
1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847.
A graduate of Mills College, with a masters degree in international relations
from Johns Hopkins University, Glaspie joined the foreign service in 1966 and
has been posted in Cairo, London, Tunisia and Syria. Before being named
ambassador, she headed the State Department's office of Jordan, Lebanon and
Syrian Affairs.
TYPE: Newsmakers
SUBJECT: DIPLOMAT; FOREIGN COUNTRY
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1990 USA TODAY, July 26, 1990
Glaspie, a 48-year-old career diplomat who was born in in Vancouver, British
Columbia, is accustomed to hearing, deciphering and communicating messages in
the Mideast's murky politics.
Fluent in Arabic and French, Glaspie was the first woman named U.S.
ambassador to any Mideast country. Named by President Reagan in 1987 and
continued in office by President Bush, she is also one of only a handful of
female ambassadors representing the United States abroad.
''A genuine heroine, said former secretary of state George Shultz after her
contacts with Syrian President Hafez Assad helped free U.S. hostages in the June
1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847.
A graduate of Mills College, with a masters degree in international relations
from Johns Hopkins University, Glaspie joined the foreign service in 1966 and
has been posted in Cairo, London, Tunisia and Syria. Before being named
ambassador, she headed the State Department's office of Jordan, Lebanon and
Syrian Affairs.
1990 USA TODAY, July 26, 1990
Earlier, Hussein - annoyed that the United States has come to Kuwait's aid in
the oil spat that led him to deploy troops - called in U.S. Ambassador April
Glaspie for talks. The message he wanted to deliver: assurance he won't be
aggressive toward Kuwait.
One day after the Pentagon announced an exercise by six Navy ships in the
area, Egypt's Mubarak called on the United States not to 'escalate the issue
between two brotherly Arab states.
But Mubarak also appealed to the two nations to compromise, ''50 that we
don't force any foreign power to play with us.
Hussein's military threat may be receding, but Judith Kipper of the Brookings
Institution predicted trouble ahead.
'When countries move troops to solve economic problems, that's not
bluster, she said. ''This kind of belligerency is very
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1990 USA TODAY, July 26, 1990
Earlier, Hussein - annoyed that the United States has come to Kuwait's aid in
the oil spat that led him to deploy troops - called in U.S. Ambassador April
Glaspie for talks. The message he wanted to deliver: assurance he won't be
aggressive toward Kuwait.
One day after the Pentagon announced an exercise by six Navy ships in the
area, Egypt's Mubarak called on the United States not to ''escalate the issue
between two brotherly Arab states.
But Mubarak also appealed to the two nations to compromise, ''so that we
don't force any foreign power to play with us.
Hussein's military threat may be receding, but Judith Kipper of the Brookings
Institution predicted trouble ahead.
'When countries move troops to solve economic problems, that's not
bluster, she said. ''This kind of belligerency is very
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The Washington Post, July 26, 1990
Washington that "nothing will happen" militarily for the duration of a mediation
effort that begins this weekend, the officials said. Saddam Hussein said that
after an initial mediation session in Saudi Arabia, the talks would move to
Baghdad, where Kuwait's crown prince will represent the sheikdom's ruling family
in direct negotiations with Iraqi officials.
However, neither Egyptian nor Saudi officials, under whose auspices the
mediation is taking place, mentioned in their public statements yesterday that
the venue for the talks would move to the Iraqi capital.
The Iraqi message was conveyed yesterday morning when Saddam Hussein summoned
U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie for a rare audience. During it, Saddam Hussein
said he felt "betrayed" that U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf had been deployed
for short-notice maneuvers intended, U.S. officials said, to head off Iraqi
aggression toward its much smaller neighbor.
Saddam Hussein told Glaspie that there was no need for a U.S. military
response and that he did not understand it. "We don't want war. We hate war, we
know what war does," Saddam Hussein said, according to sources familiar with
Glaspie's report. Saddam Hussein, in what one official described as B
"breast-beating" rendition of his grievances against Kuwait and Iraq's economic
plight, said his country did not have enough money to house all the children
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(c) 1990 The New York Times, July 26, 1990
an Arab League mediation effort.
Baghdad's Rising Status
Iraq also summoned the United States Ambassador in Baghdad, April Glaspie,
to a publicly announced meeting with President Hussein. [Bush Administration
officials in Washington said that in the meeting, Mr. Hussein asked that
President Bush be reassured that the Iraqi leader has peaceful intentions and
that he is not looking for a confrontation with the United States.] Much of
Iraq's action and polemics, several senior OPEC officials here said today, was
meant to scare Kuwait and the U.A.E. into limiting their oil output and thus to
nudge oil prices up, a result that seems to have been successfully achieved over
the last two days.
Several Arab OPEC officials here also conceded that, among other things,
Iraq's status in the Arab world has reached
asking OPEC for a $25 a barrel price,' said Fawzi al-Shakshuki, Libya's
Oil Minister.
More important, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates raised no objections to
the proposed OPEC accord on a new production ceiling that would limit their
LEVEL 1 - 15 OF 17 STORIES
Copyright 1990 Gannett Company Inc.
USA TODAY
July 26, 1990, Thursday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS
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HEADLINE: Iraq envoy keeps cool in Mideast hot seat
BYLINE: Johanna Neuman
April Catherine Glaspie, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, was on the hot seat
Wednesday as Iraq's belligerent President Saddam Hussein called her to his
office in Baghdad.
A week after massing troops on Kuwait's border in a dispute over oil
production and prices, Hussein - who aspires to be leader of the Arab world -
just wanted to assure the United States he means no harm.
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Sources in the Middle East credited intensive mediation Tuesday night by
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia for easing the
crisis atmosphere. Mubarak kept in contact with the Iraqis and Kuwaitis into
early Wednesday, they reported.
The announcement of direct Iraqi-Kuwaiti talks was made Wednesday by Mubarak
in Cairo amid an escalating anti-American campaign in Iraq's media. The
state-run newspaper said Iraq would not bow to U.S. pressure in the dispute.
In Baghdad, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein summoned U.S. Ambassador April
Glaspie for talks. Government radio gave no details of the meeting.
In Kuwait, diplomatic sources said Hussein assured Mubarak that be would not
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border
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pay compensation for $2.4 billion in 011 that Yaq claims Kuwait stole. The
Services of Mead Data Gentral+Incen was from the Rumaila oil field, which includes land claimed
hv both Iran and Kuwait
Moreover, Iraq wants Kuwait to write off billions of dollars in loans it
granted Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, and it wants the reopening of a border
air corridor.
LEVEL 1 - 13 OF 17 STORIES
Copyright 1990 The Times Mirror Company
Los Angeles Times
July 26, 1990, Thursday, Home Edition
SECTION: Part A; Page 1; Column 3; Foreign Desk
LENGTH: 1016 words
HEADLINE: IRAQ, KUWAIT AGREE TO TALKS IN GULF DISPUTE
BYLINE: By NICK B. WILLIAMS Jr., TIMES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NICOSIA, Cyprus
Official Iraqi radio said Wednesday that Hussein has summoned U.S. Ambassador
April C. Glaspie for talks, but no details were released.
Earlier in the day, Iraq kept up its martial drumbeat, with the government
daily A1 Jumhuriya charging that Kuwait "is implementing an American-Zionist
plot to show that America is playing the role of protector in the gulf."
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The Boston Globe, July 26, 1990
After traveling to Baghdad and Kuwait to mediate yesterday following talks in
Alexandria Monday with King Hussein of Jordan and Rariq Aziz, the Iraqi foreign
minister, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in Cairo yesterday that the
feuding Arab neighbors will address the crisis, probably beginning Saturday or
Sunday in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. Iraq accuses Kuwait of pumping oil far above its
quota in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in a deliberate
effort to keep world oil prices down and thwart Iraq's drive to recover from its
eight-year war with Iran.
Analysts here said the announcement of the talks
There were late reports yesterday that Iraqi troops might begin pulling back
from the border today in advance of the talks.
Also yesterday, a senior State Department official said, Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein summoned US ambassador April Glaspie to his palace - an unusual
event, since Hussein rarely meets with ambassadors and generally leaves contact
with Western nations to his foreign ministry - after the United States announced
it was conducting joint naval and air exercises with the United Arab Emirates,
another high-production oil state that Hussein has denounced recently. The
exercises were held to see if US planes could refuel UAE jet fighters.
The Boston Globe, July 26, 1990
The Iraqi government had earlier warned Kuwait's foreign minister that he
"and his American masters in the White House must know that Iraq will not
succumb and will not let anyone encroach upon its rights."
However, during the meeting with Glaspie, the State Department official
said, Hussein "was not confrontational,' and did not even repeat his oft-stated
public demand that the United States withdraw its naval presence from the
Persian Gulf.
The anger yesterday came from the United Arab Emirates. The emirates filed
a protest with the US ambassasdor over the Bush administration's public
announcement that they were engaged in joint military exercises with the United
States, a disclosure that could be embarrassing in some parts of the Arab world.
A spokesman for the emirates said, through the official WAM news agency,
that the exercise "is no more than part of a technical training program agreed
upon previously and does not have
Iraqi troops.
Anthony Cordesman, a professor at Georgetown University who has written
widely on the gulf, said the US Air Force also could send fighter-bombers into
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The Washington Post, July 31, 1990
Iraq, slightly larger than California, has a population of about 17 million,
compared to 2 million in Kuwait, which is the size of New Jersey.
The Jeddah talks will be hosted by Saudi King Fahd and are the result of
intense mediation by a number of Arab leaders who have streamed into Kuwait and
Baghdad seeking to ease the crisis.
Western diplomats and some Kuwaitis express pessimism that the talks, whose
agenda and duration are not known, will quickly resolve the bitter dispute,
which includes long-running Iraqi claims on parts of Kuwaiti territory.
Their pessimism, these sources say, stems from the harsh language Iraqi
officials have been using both publicly and privately against Kuwait and its
leaders, as well as Baghdad's apparent intention, backed up by the military
deployment, to get its way.
In a meeting in Baghdad last week with U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie,
Saddam predicted that "nothing will happen" during the mediation efforts.
"The Iraqis are pressuring too much," said Abdullah Anafisi, a former member
of Kuwait's parliament. "They are trying to humiliate Kuwait, and this we cannot
swallow."
1990 Los Angeles Times, July 27, 1990
At least the thunder had gone out of the confrontation, which began last week
with hard-edged threats by Hussein to punish Kuwait for allegedly conspiring
with Washington to bleed Baghdad by driving down oil prices. By this week, the
Iraqi attacks had become ugly and personal, accusing the Kuwaiti foreign
minister of being a "tool of America."
Press reports, confirmed by the State Department in Washington, said Iraq had
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In clear response, the United States announced that its seven-vessel qulf
flotilla had begun "short-notice maneuvers in the international waters of the
gulf, triggering an alarm in the Baghdad press about foreign power in an "Arab
sea. #
Hussein called in April Glaspie, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, on
Wednesday and told her that an American response was out of line and that the
naval deployment had betrayed him, according to reports from Washington.
However, the climate changed Thursday. In Geneva, Iraqi Oil Minister Issam
Abdul-Rahim Chalabi denied there had been a buildup of troops.
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(c) 1990 The Washington Post, August 3, 1990
revelations about Iraqi nuclear research. In April, Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) led a
group of senators to see Saddam, and once again the Iraqi professed goodwill to
Bush and to America and complained of an Israeli conspiracy to smite him.
Last week, after Saddam had put his invasion plan in motion by moving tens of
thousands of troops to the Kuwaiti border, he called in U.S. Ambassador April
Glaspie and assured her this was a dispute within the Arab "family" and should
not concern the United States, with which he wanted good relations. And he told
a would-be mediator, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, that he had "no
intention" of invading Kuwait.
Saddam is a man of peasant background who grew up in the heady and violent
politics of Arab nationalism. He participated in Iraq's revolt against the last
vestines of monarchy and British colonial nower on the Mesonotamian plain He
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his rule with a mixture of secret police crutality, Mafia-like family control OT
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The Boston Globe, August 2, 1990
debts and to relinquish some of its territory."
Iraq owes Kuwait about $ 15 billion it borrowed to help finance its
eight-year war with Iran.
The Iraqi walkout is bound to increase tensions in the gulf, where President
Saddam Hussein of Iraq has massed an estimated 100,000 troops on the border
with Kuwait.
A State Department official, speaking on background, noted yesterday that
Hussein had promised both President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and April Glaspie,
US ambassador to Iraq, only that he would "not take any military action until
after talks" with Kuwait.
The crisis between Iraq and Kuwait stems from Iraqi charges that Kuwait has
been stealing oil from fields on the disputed border. President Saddam Hussein
has also accused the Kuwaitis of systematically cheating on production quotas
set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, behavior Hussein says
was undertaken to thwart his efforts to rebuild his nation and army. Hussein
also has pressed territorial claims against Kuwait, a tiny state that Iraq has
long claimed is merely an extenstion of Iraq.
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(c) 1990 The Washington Post, August 7, 1990
"He does take risks, he calculates, but he understands little of the outside
world and the scope of measures that can be taken against him," one Saddam
watcher explained.
U.S. officials now looking back at his buildup and assault on his weaker
neighbor do not believe that Saddam moved with lengthy premeditation. Rather,
these officials say, the failure of Kuwait to adhere to its oil quota
commitments in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries incited Saddam
to think of drastic and permanent solutions.
Saddam positioned forces on the Iraqi border that clearly could overwhelm
Kuwait. U.S. intelligence analysts believed that this buildup was initially for
intimidation. Saddam made it clear in his meeting July 25 with April Glaspie,
the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, that he had major grievances against Kuwait and
that, while the mediation of Saudi Arabia was appreciated, he expected the
Kuwaiti crown prince to come to Baghdad and negotiate a settlement.
But during the first phase of talks in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, the Kuwaitis
made it clear they would not knuckle under to Iraqi pressure and would not
negotiate in a climate of intimidation.
1990 USA TODAY, August 3, 1990
wounded Saddam fled across the desert to Syria and then Egypt.
Saddam rose to power in 1968 as the enforcer behind a bloody coup and took
full control of the government in 1979.
Saddam often has been the target of international criticism, which he rarely
heeds.
Just last week, he flouted that disregard when he told Egypt's Hosni Mubarak
and U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie that he was only massing 100,000 troops on
Kuwait's border, not planning to invade.
Saddam 'has shown himself to be a ruthless leader willing to take on people
who have been his allies,' says Joseph Szyliowicz, Mideast expert at the
University of Denver.
Often compared to Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu - Friday a British newspaper
called him an ''Arab Hitler'' - Saddam used poison gas to decimate entire lands
populated by the Kurds on the Turkish border. The reason: They supported
Tehran in his war with Iran.
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LEVEL 1 - - 2 OF 17 STORIES
Copyright 1990 The Washington Post
The Washington Post
August 8, 1990, Wednesday, Final Edition
SECTION: FIRST SECTION; PAGE A1; CRISIS IN THE GULF; IRAQ'S INVASION OF KUWAIT
LENGTH: 1234 words
HEADLINE: U.S. Misjudgment of Saddam Seen;
Early Evidence of Bellicosity, Drive for Dominance Noted
SERIES: Occasional
BYLINE: David Hoffman, Washington Post Staff Writer
*** said in interviews, the administration appears to have not realized that
Saddam's threats to Kuwait would go beyond an oil-pricing and borders dispute,
that the military buildup on the Kuwaiti border was more than just bluster and
that Saddam no longer felt restrained by arch-rival Iran.
(c) 1990 The Washington Post, August 7, 1990
In taking risks, Saddam appears to have calculated that he could create a new
reality in the Persian Gulf by overthrowing Kuwait's ruling family and
installing a puppet regime that would give Iraq both the financial and military
clout to dominate the region, according to administration officials.
Saddam was able to gauge the U.S. reaction to his military buildup along the
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then defend Kuwait. U.S. officials now suggest that Saddam reached
Services of Mead Data Centrale Incould move with impunity and present the West with a fait
accomnli.
"What he does brilliantly is probe for soft spots, then moves swiftly and
tactically to a different one," said a U.S. expert on Iraq.
Another administration official with lengthy experience in the region said
that Saddam was probably most confident that he could prevent an Arab military
response to his move into Kuwait. His calculation of the West's response was
less certain, but it did not deter him.
"I think Saddam made a political misjudgment about Western resolve," said the
administration official.
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The Washington Post, July 26, 1990
confront Iraq if the escalation went too far.
Staff writer David Hoffman contributed to this report.
GRAPHIC: MAP, TENSION IN THE PERSIAN GULF, RICHARD FURNO
TYPE: FOREIGN NEWS
SUBJECT: IRAQ; WARFARE, WAR; KUWAIT; UNITED ARAB EMIRATES; PERSIAN GULF; OPEC;
OIL; UNITED STATES
NAMED-PERSONS: SADDAM HUSSEIN; APRIL GLASPIE
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17TH STORY of Level 1 printed in FULL format.
Copyright 1990 The Washington Post
The Washington Post
July 26, 1990, Thursday, Final Edition
SECTION: FIRST SECTION; PAGE A34
LENGTH: 918 words
HEADLINE: Iraq's Hussein Acts to Ease Gulf Crisis as U.S. Debates Commitments
SERIES: Occasional
BYLINE: Patrick E. Tyler, Washington Post Staff Writer
BODY:
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein yesterday sent an urgent message to President
Bush through the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad expressing Iraq's desire to end the
crisis in the Persian Gulf peacefully and avoid a confrontation with the United
States, according to administration officials.
The Iraqi president, who deployed 30,000 troops to his border with Kuwait
last weekend in anger over low oil prices and high production, has pledged to
Washington that "nothing will happen" militarily for the duration of a mediation
effort that begins this weekend the officials said Saddam Hussein said that
LEXIS-N formation session Saudi LEXIS-NEXIS LEXIS-NEXIS WO
where Kuwait 5 crown prince will epresent the 5
Services of Mead Data with Iraqi officials.
However, neither Egyptian nor Saudi officials, under whose auspices the
mediation is taking place, mentioned in their public statements yesterday that
the venue for the talks would move to the Iraqi capital.
The Iraqi message was conveyed yesterday morning when Saddam Hussein summoned
U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie for a rare audience. During it, Saddam Hussein
said he felt "betrayed" that U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf had been deployed
for short-notice maneuvers intended, U.S. officials said, to head off Iraqi
aggression toward its much smaller neighbor.
Saddam Hussein told Glaspie that there was no need for a U.S. military
response and that he did not understand it. "We don't want war. We hate war, we
know what war does," Saddam Hussein said, according to sources familiar with
Glaspie's report. Saddam Hussein, in what one official described as a
"breast-beating" rendition of his grievances against Kuwait and Iraq's economic
plight, said his country did not have enough money to house all the children
orphaned during Iraq's eight-year war with Iran.
In the meeting, Saddam Hussein professed that his dispute with Kuwait was a
"family" matter between Arabs and he sought to allay U.S. concerns that American
interests were at stake, according to the sources.
His central theme in the message to Bush, officials said, was his desire to
pacify the crisis that erupted when Iraq accused Kuwait of stealing oil from a
shared production field and threatened military force if Kuwait and the United
Arab Emirates (UAE) continued to disregard oil production quotas in the
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