To: Maurice Winn who wrote (81332 ) 3/11/2003 5:19:50 PM From: carranza2 Respond to was a bit puzzled as to why the USA would want Saddam to attack Kuwait. The answer came when Saddam said "If I withdraw, will you remove the sanctions". I thought silly boy, of course they will. The purpose of the sanctions was to force compliance with the will of We the Sheeple which is democratically [giggle] expressed through our institution the UN. pbs.org Could you elaborate on the point about mixed signals sent by the U.S. during the run-up to the invasion of Kuwait? How did those influence your government's decision?There were no mixed signals. We should not forget that the whole period before August 2 witnessed a negative American policy towards Iraq. So it would be quite foolish to think that, if we go to Kuwait, then America would like that. Because the American tendency . . . was to untie Iraq. So how could we imagine that such a step was going to be appreciated by the Americans? It looks foolish, you see, this is fiction. About the meeting with April Glaspie--it was a routine meeting. There was nothing extraordinary in it. She didn't say anything extraordinary beyond what any professional diplomat would say without previous instructions from his government. She did not ask for an audience with the president. She was summoned by the president. He telephoned me and said, "Bring the American ambassador. I want to see her." She was not prepared, because it was not morning in Washington. People in Washington were asleep, so she needed a half-hour before Saddam the Innocent invaded Kuwait. But I'm not going to research that bit of common knowledge--if I'm wrong, it won't be the first or the last time....
