[That is why Kuwait fell in a day to Iraq; they expected their abused imported laborers to defend the country.]
That’s not why it fell. They thought, like Europeans, that their continued independence was due to their personal virtue. In reality, the only reason the Muslim countries in the region aren’t consolidated into 2 or 3 constantly warring empires (until only 1 remains) is Uncle Sam’s thumb on the scale. After Saddam, defense spending there skyrocketed. They began to understand not only that borders can change, but that Democrats can prevent Uncle Sam from riding to the rescue.