1991: the war before the war: the Persian Gulf war ended with an allied victory--and Saddam Hussein still in power.

• Author: Gwertzman, Bernard
• Position: TIMES PAST

To understand why the U.S. decided to invade Iraq in 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein, it helps to go back 13 years, to the war that added "Operation Desert Storm" and "the mother of all battles" to the American vernacular.

The Persian Gulf war seemed like a rout for the U.S. at the time, but it left Hussein still in power in Baghdad. The war had its origins in July 1990, when Hussein openly threatened to invade Kuwait if it did not change its policy of selling oil below market prices, which the Iraqi dictator claimed was costing Iraq revenue. Hussein also claimed that Kuwait, with its huge oil reserves, was actually part of Iraq.

'DON'T OVERREACT.'

On the day be issued his threat, U.S. spy satellites began to detect the lead elements of Iraq's Republican Guard--some of the country's most elite troops--heading to the Kuwait border. Iraq was economically in very bad shape, having only recently ended a costly eight-year war with Iran, which Iraq had launched in the hope of seizing Iran's oil fields.

Hussein's statements and actions were not taken seriously by the administration of President George H.W. Bush, or by major Arab governments, such as Egypt's and Jordan's. They simply did not believe Iraq would invade another Arab state so soon after its war with Iran.

Richard Haass, who was then the Director for Middle Eastern Affairs on the National Security Council (and is now president of the Council on Foreign Relations), remembers Arab leaders saying: "Don't you Americans overreact. This is just Arab rhetoric. We will take care of it in our own Arab diplomatic way."

On July 25, Hussein summoned April Glaspie, the U.S. Ambassador to Baghdad, for a lengthy discussion, in which he implied that diplomacy could still head off an invasion. Her cable to Washington reporting on her meeting was titled, "Saddam's Message of Peace." She counseled the Bush administration to ease up on its rhetoric against Iraq.

KUWAIT ATTACKED

Seven days later, on August 1, Iraq attacked Kuwait, and quickly occupied the country. The administration was caught flat-footed. Many key officials in the administration of the current President, George W. Bush, were also deeply involved in national security affairs in 1990. Dick Cheney, now Vice President, was then Defense Secretary. Paul D. Wolfowitz, who was Deputy Secretary of Defense until recently becoming head of the World Bank, was Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. And Colin Powell, who was Secretary of State in George W. Bush's first term...