[lewislynn]

"I have direct instructions from President Bush to improve our relations with Iraq. We have considerable sympathy for your quest for higher oil prices

That says more to me about "read my lips" Bush than anything else in the article.

[JasonC]

Oh horsenuance. The Kuwaitis were bucking OPEC quotas and thereby keeping the price of oil low, which was good for us. The Iraqis were threatening war over it. We basically said, you can browbeat them into sticking to their OPEC quotas and we won't go to war over it - it isn't in our interests, but it is a minor concession to yours and not worth a fight. They misinterpreted this as permission to invade and seize the whole country, then were brain dead enough not to back down when we told them to get back out.