The Digital Collegian From
Mike Warren: - ``Saddam reacted predictably to Bush's encouragement, publicly threatened to use force against Kuwait and moved his troops to the border. To be certain he had U.S. backing for the invasion, he then summoned U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie to his office and asked her what Washington's position was on his dispute with Kuwait. Glaspie, acting on Bush's cable of the previous day, gave Saddam the barely disguised go-ahead by saying that "the President had instructed her to broaden and deepen our relations with Iraq" and to deliver America's warm sympathy with his problems. She then stated, "We have no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait....[Secretary of State] James Baker has directed our official spokesmen to emphasize this instruction."44 Senior Pentagon officials had feared Bush's cabled instructions would send a signal that it was all right with the U.S. if Iraq invaded Kuwait.45 "This stinks," one said about the cable. But Bush had prevented a Pentagon effort to draft a sterner message that might have shown American opposition to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.''
As for your other questions: You're asking me to define "hype", and what is hype to some is truth to others...
P.S. The US gave Saddam 3 billion (yes, that's with a
b) dollars in "agricultural loans" which he used to buy military equipment.
I'll say it again: The US government needs to stop creating the very monsters that it has to fight...
