The CIA was on the job and ready to roll when it came time to overthrow a popularly elected leader in Iran to assist the interest of British Petroleum in Iran in 1953.
That same CIA was on the job to assist a future dictator named Saddam Hussein and his Baathist Party gain power in Iraq. It was the days of the Cold War so the rationale was that the Communists in Iraq must go, and so a dictatorship steeped in blood was launched.
There came a time when the New World Order, a term used reverently by President George H.W. Bush, decided that it was time to take over Iraq's oil interest and so conflict was launched.
Can we suppose that U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie was just confused and making an independent blunder during that famous interview with Saddam Hussein when she said that an occupation of Kuwait on his part would be an "Arab-Arab" issue and not the concern of the United States? Had she talked to no one in the Bush Administration in advance?
After Saddam took Glaspie at her word and invaded Kuwait, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose son Mark had made a fortune in the arms business marketing tools of destruction to the highest bidders, loftily proclaimed along with Bush that aggression should not be allowed to stand. Suddenly the invasion was no longer an "Arab-Arab" issue.
How much focus was registered at the time on Saddam's stated reason for invading Kuwait? It was in response to Kuwaiti slant drilling of Iraqi oil. The Iraqi dictator had a legitimate case under international law and agreed to remove his troops from Kuwait if the Kuwaitis promised to stop stealing Iraq's oil.
Arab culture is such that a fig leaf of some kind is needed before a leader such as Saddam Hussein will agree to back down and remove troops. In this case the fig leaf would be consistent with a grievance sustainable under international law.
Secretary of State James Baker, who made a lucrative living as a Houston lawyer representing big oil, and a longstanding friend of fellow Houstonian oilman George Bush the Elder, proclaimed that in the interest of honor and righteousness Saddam must remove his troops from Iraq before the Iraqi leader could have his grievance heard.
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