that the Iraqi troop buildup had now reached 100,000 men between Basra and the Kuwaiti border.
At the Penatagon, when spokesman Pete Williams was pressed to comment on this story, he replied:
I've seen reports about the troops there, but we've never discussed here numbers or made any further
comments on that. I think the State Department has some language they've been using about
obviously being concerned about any buildup of forces in the area, and can go through, as we've
gone through helike that or given that kind of information out. [fn 33] re, what our interests in the Gulf are, but we've never really gotten into numbers
Even the escalation of the Iraqi troop buildup had not disturbed the official US posture of blase'
indifference in the face of the crisis. It was a deliberate and studied deception operation, what the
Russians call maskirovka.
Bush would have known all about the additional Iraqi troops at least 36 hours earlier, through
satellite photos and embassy reports. But still Bush remained silent as a tomb. Bush had plenty of
opportunity that day to say something about the Gulf; he met with the GOP Congressional
leadership for more than an hour on the was "annoyed" at the pace of the budget talks, which remained stalemated. At this time thehe morning of July 31 and, according to participants, told them
White House was receiving intelligence reports that made an Iraqi invasion seem more likely, and
some officials were quoted in the New York Times of the next day as having "expressed growing
concern that hostilities could break out...." But Bush said nothing, did nothing.
Then, in the afternoon, Bush reluctantly received a Latvian delegation led by Ivars Godmanis. The
Latvian request for an audience had at first been rudely rejected by the White House, but then
acceded to under pressure from some influential senators. 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 July16-17 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 hopeAmerican intentions that would be backed up by a greater demonstration of md for a firmer statement ofilitary 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 goveVictor Rothschild, had now been in power for over 11 years, and had assured her place in thernment in accordance with the designs of Lord
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