Godmanis wanted recognition and aid, but Bush made no committments, and limited
himself to asking several "very exact questions."
On Wednesday, August 1, Bush was undoubtedly not amused by a New York Times
account showing that one of his former top White House aides, Robert L. Thompson, had
abused his access to government information in order to help his clients to make
advantageous deals for themselves in buying S&Ls. In the evening, about 9 PM, reports
began to reach Washington that Iraqi forces had crossed the border into Kuwait in large
numbers. From the moment the crisis had emerged on July 16-17 until the moment of the
invasion, Bush had preserved a posture of nonchalant silence. But now things began to
happen very rapidly. Scowcroft and Bush drafted a statement which was released by
11:20 PM. This strongly condemned the Iraqi invasion and demanded "the immediate and
unconditional withdrawal of all Iraqi forces." The New York Times of August 2, in
reporting the Iraqi invasion, recorded the surface posture of the Bush regime:
Despite its efforts to deter an attack on Kuwait, the Bush Administration never said
precisely what the United States would do if Iraq launched a small scale or large scale
attack on Kuwait. The vagueness of the American pronouncements, which eschewed any
explicit promise to come to Kuwait's assistance, disturbed some Kuwaiti officials, who
hoped for a firmer statement of American intentions that would be backed up by a greater
demonstration of military force.
On Thursday, Bush was scheduled to fly to Aspen Colorado for a meeting with Margaret
Thatcher, a personage of whom Bush was in awe. Thatcher, whose rise to power had
included a little help from Bush in sweeping the Labour Party out of government in
accordance with the designs of Lord Victor Rothschild, had now been in power for over
11 years, and had assured her place in the pantheon of Anglo-Saxon worthies. This
dessicated mummy of British imperialism had been invited to Aspen, Colorado, to hold
forth on the future of the west, and Bush was scheduled to confer with her there. At 5
AM, Bush was awakened by Scowcroft, who had brought him the executive orders
freezing all Iraqi and Kuwaiti assets in the US. At 8 AM the National Security Council
gathered in the Cabinet Room. At the opening of this session there was a photo
opportunity to let Bush put out the preliminary line on Iraq and Kuwait. Bush told the
reporters:
We're not discussing intervention.
Q: You're not contemplating any intervention or sending troops?
Bush: I'm not contemplating such action, and I, again, would not discuss it if I were.
According to published accounts, during the meeting that followed the one prospect that
got a rise out of Bush was the alleged Iraqi threat to Saudi Arabia. This, as we will see,
was one of the main arguments used by Thatcher later in the day to goad Bush to
irreversible committment to massive troop deployment and to war. A profile of Bush's
reactions on this score could easily have been communicated to Thatcher by Scowcroft or