Quote:
Originally Posted by crucifissio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Kuwait
On 25 July 1990, the U.S. Ambassador in Iraq, April Glaspie, asked the Iraqi high command to explain the military preparations in progress, including the massing of Iraqi troops near the border.
The American ambassador declared to her Iraqi interlocutor that Washington, ?inspired by the friendship and not by confrontation, does not have an opinion? on the disagreement between Kuwait and Iraq, stating "we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts."
She also let Saddam Hussein know that the U.S. did not intend "to start an economic war against Iraq". These statements may have caused Saddam to believe he had received a diplomatic green light from the United States to invade Kuwait.
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You read that as the US giving a green light to Iraq to invade another country, an ally of ours. I see this as the US Ambassador saying "We don't have an opinion [at this time]". Once the invasion took place, Kuwait was quickly over run, and the world saw what happened there, the US was sure to get involved.