Posted on 12/07/2002 10:31:23 AM PST by dighton
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - President Saddam Hussein on Saturday apologized to the Kuwaiti people for his invasion of their tiny country in 1990, saying he was not speaking from weakness but a desire to set the record straight.
In a speech read on national television by the Iraqi information minister, Saddam outlined the events that led to the invasion and said:
"We apologize to God about any act that has angered him in the past and that was held against us, and we apologize to you (the Kuwaitis) on the same basis."
He said that in 1989, he had tried to reach a peaceful settlement of Iraq's dispute with Kuwait, but that the neighboring Gulf country's officials were not interested in negotiating.
At the time, he said, American troops were carrying out maneuvers with Kuwaiti forces, threatening Iraq.
He maintained Iraq was the victim of a conspiracy by Kuwaiti officials who were syphoning off oil along the two countries' borders that actually belonged to Iraq.
He also repeated charges that Kuwait was producing oil beyond its assigned OPEC quota, bringing down oil prices and hurting the Iraqi economy.
In the speech read by Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, the Iraqi leader was careful to distinguish between the Kuwaiti people and the country's leaders.
Saddam added that Iraqi officials later found documents showing the United States and Kuwaiti officials had colluded in military plans against Iraq and his country had to defend itself, leading to the invasion of Aug. 2, 1990.
"There was no hope in solving issues by diplomatic means," he said.
Mass murder of Kuwaiti civilians.
"...about any act that has angered him in the past"
Iraqi rape gangs loose in Kuwait.
"...and that was held against us"
The sacking of Kuwait and all it's riches.
"...and we apologize to you (the Kuwaitis) on the same basis."
The uncounted thousands of innocents still dead or missing to this day.
...
Yep, that outta do it. Things are as good as new!
I wonder if he bit his lower lip... ;-)
Yeah, right. Like the Arabs are going to believe that.
Of course. I'm in Tulare County, CA, Iraq's 948th province.
What happened to their "no blood for oil" argument?
So, you think what Iraq did was ok?...or, if it wasn't ok, at the very least it was our fault, right? Sheesh..
What the heck is your point? Are you attempting to absolve Saddam Hussein of guilt in this matter?
I think that it was none of our business in the first place.
Exposure to violence on American satellite broadcasts.
Iraqi rape gangs loose in Kuwait.
Exposure to sex on American satellite broadcasts.
The uncounted thousands of innocents still dead or missing to this day.
Faulty American software on American-built computers.
Well, this Wednesday, he's giving an interactive lecture to readers/listeners/watchers on the BBC Website.
So if a murdering rapist invades your neighbor's house, killing him and his family, you and the community have no moral obligation to them or other future victims...gotcha.
Obviously there are some Americans who could use a good dose of that medicine as well.
Well, the ambassador, some lady named April something, said in a speech that it wasn't in America's interests to care what Iraq did. Not exactly a free pass to invade, but the media made it sound like America would have no response whatsoever if Iraq invaded. I think it was a poor choice of words from that ambassador in that she didn't deliver a more strongly worded admonition to Iraq. But, it was Iraq that went ahead, we didn't put a gun to their heads and force them to invade. Anybody else remember more clearly how this thing unfolded?
Eight days prior to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, she purportedly participated in a meeting with Saddam Hussein, and advised him (among other things):
"We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction, first given to Iraq in the 1960's that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America."
Approximately a month after the Iraqi invasion, British journalists obtained tapes and transcripts of this meeting and confronted her in the street in front of the US embassy in Baghdad asking her if the meeting took place, and if so, were the transcripts correct, and wanting to know why she said what she did, thus prompting the invasion.
Her only reply was:
"Obviously, I didn't think, and nobody else did, that the Iraqis were going to take ALL of Kuwait."
LOLOLOL
I read this in Reader's Digest around October of 1990, and it still makes me giggle today...nobody thought he would take ALL of it...LOL
However, you must remember that all of this happened almost thirteen years ago. Lots of history can be re-written in thirteen years.
Hell, HBO is even reviving the old and much-debunked "Iraqi soldiers threw Kuwaiti babies out of incubators" story for a special called "Live from Baghdad": http://www.fair.org/activism/hbo-gulf-hoax.html
Who said it? "In wartime, the Truth is so precious that it should always be surrounded by a bodyguard of Lies."
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Col Sanders
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