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Saddam is driven to dominate
In this story:
November 4, 1997
- Saddam says Kuwait is Iraq's
- Iraq boxed in by 'no-fly' zone
- Bush says be forceful with Saddam
- Related sites and stories
Web posted at: 11:43 p.m. EST (0443 GMT)From CNN Washington Anchor Bernard Shaw
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Saddam Hussein is an ambitious man driven by the desire to see his country dominate the region. And because he is so driven, it was probably inevitable that he would run afoul of the United States.
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution took place in neighboring Iran, Saddam sent Iraqi troops into Iran. The incursion kicked off an eight-year war during which Saddam received considerable help from the United States.
The United States feared that an Iranian victory over Iraq might trigger a domino effect and lead to further bloodshed and new governments that might be hostile to U.S. interests.
As a result, it provided Iraq with spy satellite intelligence on Iranian troop movements and offered hundreds of millions of dollars in agricultural credits.
CNN's Bernard Shaw reports
"Iraq came out of the war with a huge, swollen army," says Phebe Marr of the National Defense University. "Now we know, of course, that instead of demobilizing and spending the money on economic development, Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction."
Saddam says Kuwait is Iraq's
Saddam also had an historical score to settle.
Saddam was resentful of colonial powers who had carved up the Arab Ottoman territories after World War I, creating Kuwait out of land that once belonged to Iraq.
Saddam laid claim to Kuwait -- and to the oil beneath its sands -- and expressed his hatred for the members of Kuwait's ruling al-Sabah family. He accused them, among other things, of stealing Iraqi oil by side-drilling along their common border.
"Actually," Marr said, "Iraq attacked Kuwait for economic reasons, because although Iraq had a big army, it was in poor economic shape."
On August 2, 1990, Iraqi soldiers swung into action with a lightning invasion of Kuwait, brushing aside last-minute diplomatic attempts to prevent it.
"There was no question in my mind we were going to war," U.S. Secretary of State James Baker said later.
The United States and its allies owned the Iraqi airspace, and engaged in 112,000 sorties. Out-gunned, out-maneuvered and over-powered, Iraqi soldiers surrendered in wholesale lots, withdrawing frantically to their own country.
After the war, the United Nations set about dismantling Saddam's war-making machine by sending inspectors into the country to oversee the destruction of long-range missiles and its weapons of mass destruction.
Iraq boxed in by 'no-fly' zone
Iraq was boxed in further by the enforcement of "no-fly" zones which protected rebellious Kurds in the north and in the south, from just outside Baghdad to the Kuwaiti border.
Nevertheless, Saddam challenged the coalition, sending Iraqi aircraft to violate the "no-fly" zones, and paid the price again. In June 1993, after Washington uncovered an Iraqi plot to assassinate former President George Bush, President Clinton ordered cruise missile attacks on Baghdad.
Since then, U.N. weapons inspectors have been engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with the Iraqis as they try to track down chemical, biological and nuclear weapons that the Iraqis are believed to be hiding.
Despite Iraqi protests to the contrary, Richard Butler, the chief weapons inspector for the U.N., says he believes the Iraqis are still hiding weapons, and that Saddam ordered American investigators out of the country knowing it would cause a confrontation that might deflect attention from the weapons.
Were inspectors close to finding hidden weapons? "Yeah, I think we're getting hot," Butler said. "And maybe that's part of the reason why they took this decision in the last couple of days. I think we were getting closer and closer."
Bush says be forceful with Saddam
In this latest showdown with Saddam, Baker believes the immediate use of force is not the answer.
"Lobbing a few Tomahawk missiles into downtown Baghdad would be counterproductive to what the United States wants to achieve, which is the implementation of the U.N. resolutions."
How long will these flare-ups with Iraq continue?
"Well, it may very well go on as long as that regime is in power in Baghdad," Baker said.
Baker's former boss, President Bush, said Saddam "is hiding, ducking and dodging" and "the only way to make him comply is to be strong."
The former president told CNN Monday that Saddam "has got a lot of problems, but one of them is not immortality."
IRAQ SHOWDOWN MAIN | LATEST STORIES | MESSAGE BOARD
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- Saddam Hussein - Iraqi President
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Related stories:
- Iraq bars more U.S. weapons inspectors - November 4, 1997
- U.N. turns up the heat on Iraq - November 3, 1997
- Iraq threatens to shoot down U.S. surveillance planes - November 3, 1997
- U.N. negotiation team heads for Baghdad - November 3, 1997
Related sites:
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- United Nations Home Page
- ArabNet - Iraq
- U.S. State Dept. - Iraq - Consular Information Sheet
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