History Does Matter: Demonization Began With Deception.Saddam Meets w/April Glaspie 1990

[Jcrowley]

Yes, remember April Glaspie and her amazing stint at Middle East diplomacy?

http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/mrs_panstreppon/2006/oct/31/transcript_ambassador_april_glaspies_7_25_90_meeting_with_president_saddam_hussein

Saddam-Glaspie meeting

Transcript of Meeting Between Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie. - July 25, 1990 (Eight days before the August 2, 1990 Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait)

July 25, 1990 - Presidential Palace - Baghdad

U.S. Ambassador Glaspie - I have direct instructions from President Bush to improve our relations with Iraq. We have considerable sympathy for your quest for higher oil prices, the immediate cause of your confrontation with Kuwait. (pause) As you know, I lived here for years and admire your extraordinary efforts to rebuild your country. We know you need funds. We understand that, and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. (pause) We can see that you have deployed massive numbers of troops in the south. Normally that would be none of our business, but when this happens in the context of your threat s against Kuwait, then it would be reasonable for us to be concerned. For this reason, I have received an instruction to ask you, in the spirit of friendship - not confrontation - regarding your intentions: Why are your troops massed so very close to Kuwait's borders?

Saddam Hussein - As you know, for years now I have made every effort to reach a settlement on our dispute with Kuwait. There is to be a meeting in two days; I am prepared to give negotiations only this one more brief chance. (pause) When we (the Iraqis) meet (with the Kuwaitis) and we see there is hope, then nothing will happen. But if we are unable to find a solution, then it will be natural that Iraq will not accept death.

U.S. Ambassador Glaspie - What solutions would be acceptab le?

Saddam Hussein - If we could keep the whole of the Shatt al Arab - our strategic goal in our war with Iran - we will make concessions (to the Kuwaitis). But, if we are forced to choose between keeping half of the Shatt and the whole of Iraq (i.e., in Saddam s view, including Kuwait ) then we will give up all of the Shatt to defend our claims on Kuwait to keep the whole of Iraq in the shape we wish it to be. (pause) What is the United States' opinion on this?

U.S. Ambassador Glaspie - We have no opinion on your Arab - Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary (of State James) Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960's, that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America. (Saddam smiles)

On August 2, 1990, Saddam's massed troops invade and occupy Kuwait. _____

Baghdad, September 2, 1990, U.S. Embassy

http://www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/glaspie.html

One month later, British journalists obtain the the above tape and transcript of the Saddam - Glaspie meeting of July 29, 1990. Astounded, they confront Ms. Glaspie as she leaves the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Journalist 1 - Are the transcripts (holding them up) correct, Madam Ambassador?(Ambassador Glaspie does not respond)

Journalist 2 - You knew Saddam was going to invade (Kuwait ) but you didn't warn him not to. You didn't tell him America would defend Kuwait. You told him the opposite - that America was not associated with Kuwait.

Journalist 1 - You encouraged this aggression - his invasion. What were you thinking?

U.S. Ambassador Glaspie - Obviously, I didn't think, and nobody else did, that the Iraqis were going to take all of Kuwait.

Journalist 1 - You thought he was just going to take some of it? But, how could you? Saddam told you that, if negotiations failed , he would give up his Iran (Shatt al Arab waterway) goal for the Whole of Iraq, in the shape we wish it to be. You know that includes Kuwait, which the Iraqis have always viewed as an historic part of their country!

Journalist 1 - American green-lighted the invasion. At a minimum, you admit signaling Saddam that some aggression was okay - that the U.S. would not oppose a grab of the al-Rumeilah oil field, the disputed border strip and the Gulf Islands (including Bubiyan) - the territories claimed by Iraq?

(Ambassador Glaspie says nothing as a limousine door closed behind her and the car drives off.)

[Wilms]

1. Oh, I remember April.

[pansypoo53219]

2. ahh,

a name forever stuick in my head. so, we can hang her for all this shit now?

[seafan]

12. Does April have a sister?

http://cache.wonkette.com/images/queer%20eye%20for%20the,%20uh,%20queer%20eye.jpg


Hoo-wee.

[Jcrowley]

3. I've been told

historical context is of no value here.

I'd say comments devoid of a deeper correlation to a historical context are misleading and dangerous.

[H2O Man]

4. Historical context

is extremely important. It is obvious that the republican machine is trying to crush the real history of their actions, and replace it with fiction.

Thank you for reminding us of this important episode in history.

[stevedeshazer]

8. This story has great relevance to the events of today

Excellent reminder, thanks for bringing it up.

[Rex]

5. Poppy gave the go ahead, Saddam had a green light

BUT, what Saddam didn't know is that it was a green light for PNAC to get a huge military force installed in the Middle East.

[AlphaCentauri]

7. Sounds like Saddam was sacha good tool n/t

[Rex]

9. So was Noriega, only difference is he got a trip to club fed.

Wonder who that was that got to hang Saddam? One thing is for sure, he died like a dictator.

[Cass]

6. Thank you for posting this important bit of history.

Periodic reminders of reality are necessary.

K & R

[Disturbed]

10. Poppy Bush set a trap for Saddam.

Saddam was getting too powerful so he needed to be slapped down. Once his troops entered Kuwait his ego could not allow for a pull back. Poppy Bush and Baker played Saddam and the Saudi Royals pleaded that Saddam not be deposed. They knew what would happen in Iraq if Saddam was deposed, which now has happened. Civil War and Chaos.

[Jcrowley]

11. Yes that's right

U.S. Conspiracy to Initiate the War Against Iraq

Brian Becker
Even before the first day of the Persian Gulf crisis George Bush and the Pentagon wanted to wage war against Iraq.

What was the character of this war? Iraq neither attacked nor threatened the United States. We believe that this was a war to redivide and redistribute the fabulous markets and resources of the Middle East, in other words this was an imperialist war. The Bush administration, on behalf of the giant oil corporations and banks, sought to strengthen its domination of this strategic region. It did this in league with the former colonial powers of the region, namely Britain and France, and in opposition to the Iraqi people's claim on their own land and especially their natural resources.

As is customary in such wars, the government is compelled to mask the truth about the war - both its origin and goals and the nature of the "enemy" - in order to win over the people of this country. That's why it is important to get the facts. There is ample evidence that the U.S. was eagerly planning to fight the war even before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. With its plans in tact, we must detemmine if it is possible that the U.S. government actually sought a pretext for a military intervention in the Middle East.

Information that has come to light suggests that the United States interfered in and aggravated the Iraq-Kuwait dispute, knew that an Iraqi military response against Kuwait was likely, and then took advantage of the Iraqi move to carry out a long-planned U.S. military intervention in the Middle East. This evidence includes:

1. The tiny, but oil-rich sheikdom of Kuwait became the tool of a U.S.inspired campaign of economic warfare designed to weaken Iraq as a regional power once the Iran-Iraq war ended. During 1989-1990, the Kuwaiti monarchy was overproducing and driving down the price of oil, a policy that cost Iraq $14 billion in lost revenue.<1> Iraq also complained that the Kuwaitis were stealing Iraqi oil by using slant drilling technology into the gigantic Rumaila oil field, most of which is inside Iraq. Kuwait also refused to work out arrangements that would allow Iraq access to the Persian Gulf. In May of 1990 at an Arab League meeting, Saddam Hussein bitterly complained about Kuwait's policy of "economic warfare" against Iraq and hinted that if Kuwait's over-production didn't change Iraq would take military action. Yet the Emir of Kuwait refused to budge. Why would an OPEC country want to drive down the price of oil? In retrospect, it is inconceivable that this tiny, undemocratic little sheikdom, whose ruling family is subject to so much hostility from the Arab masses, would have dared to remain so defiant against Iraq (a country ten times larger than Kuwait) unless Kuwait was assured in advance of protection from an even greater power - namely the United States. This is even more likely when one considers that the Kuwaiti ruling family had in the past tread lightly when it came to its relations with Iraq. Kuwait was traditionally part of Iraq's Basra Province until 1899 when Britain divided it from Iraq and declared Kuwait its colony.
Coinciding with Kuwait's overproduction of oil, Iraq was also subjected to the beginning of de facto sanctions, instituted incrementally by a number of western capitalist governments. Hundreds of major scientific, engineering, and food supply contracts between Iraq and western governments were canceled by 1990.<2>
2. The U.S. policy to increase economic pressure on Iraq was coupled with a dramatic change in U.S. military doctrine and strategy toward Iraq. Starting in the summer of 1989, the Joint Chiefs of Staff revamped U.S. military doctrine in the Middle East away from a U.S.-Soviet conflict to target regional powers instead. By June 1990 - two months before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait - General Norman Schwarzkopf was conducting sophisticated war games pitting hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops against Iraqi armored divisions.<3>
3. The Bush administration lied when it stated on August 8, 1990, that the purpose of the U.S. troop deployment was "strictly defensive" and necessary to protect Saudi Arabia from an imminent Iraqi invasion. King Hussein of Jordan reports that U.S. troops were actually being deployed to Saudi Arabia in the days before Saudi Arabia "invited" U.S. intervention.<4> Hussein says that in the first days of the crisis Saudi King Fahd expressed Support for an Arab diplomatic solution. King Fahd also told King Hussein that there was no evidence of a hostile Iraqi build-up on the Saudi border, and that despite American assertions, there was no truth to reports that Iraq planned to invade Saudi Arabia.<5> The Saudis only bowed to U.S. demands that the Saudis "invite" U.S. troops to defend them following a long meeting between the king and Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney. The real substance of this discussion will probably remain classified for many, many years.

http://deoxy.org/wc/wc-consp.htm

[mogster]

13. More reality:

Film: The War Against the Third World: What I've Learned About U.S. Foreign Policy
CIA covert operations and US military interventions since World War II.
A video compilation of footage and speeches recorded in the 1980s and 1990s.
What you didn't learn in school and don't hear on the mainstream media. Featuring a speech by Martin Luther King junior, a speech by John Stockwell, Coverup: Behind the Iran - Contra Affair, School of Assassins, Genocide by Sanctions (about Iraq), a speech by Philip Agee, a speech by Amy Goodman about the genocide and ethnic cleansing in East Timor, The Panama Deception, a speech by Ramsey Clark, and a speech by S. Brian Willson.

A dose of reality TV.
Especially the Iran-Contras film, which also is available as standalone here and the films about the School of Americas (Susan Sharandon) and about Manuel Noriegas fall from grace - just like Hussein.

And also this film, that shows the 'Kuwaiti nurse' lying about the Iraqis taking babies out of incubators and throwing them to the floor. A very deft piece of propaganda that turned not only the US opinion, but the world opinion.

[rman]

16. kick

[Junkdrawer]

14. Cliff Notes Version:

Saddam: Boy I'm Hungry.


Glaspie: Here. There's no shit in this sandwich.


Saddam: Thanks.

[tbyg52]

17. LOL!

You are absolutely dead on. I said at the time that we *invited* him to invade. I'm glad this is still getting attention.

[DemReadingDU]

15. morning kick