physical possession of most of the Arabian peninsula, with all of its fabulous oil wealth. Did King
Fahd think of protfate of his predecessor, King Feisal, who had been murdered by the CIA in 1975. By testing the arrogance of Cheney's ultimatum? If he did, he had only to think of thehe time King
Fahd acquiesced, the first US units were already on the ground. Cheney went through the charade of
calling Bush to tell him that the dispatch of a US contingent for the defense of Saudi Arabia had
been approved by His Majesty, and then formally to ask Bush's approval for the transfer of the
troops. "You got it. Go," Bush is supposed to have replied. Bahrein, the United Arab Emirates,Qatar, Oman, all the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council would soon be subject to the same (^)
process of military occupation.
The US expeditionary force in Saudi Arabia became widely known in Washington on Tuesday,
August 7, as White House officials hastened to share the news with journalists. Bush personallywanted to stay out of the spotlight. At a Cabinet meeting, Bush told his advisers that his regime had (^)
warned the Saudi government that the threat posed by the Iraqi military to Saudi Arabia was also a
threat to the national security of the United States. According to Fitzwater, Saddam Hussein met
with the US charge d'affaires in Baghdad, Joseph Wilson, to tell him that "he had no intention of
leaving Kuwait and every intention of staying and claiming it as his own."
On Wednesday morning, Bush delivered a televised address to the American people from the Oval
Office. This was still a format that he disliked very much, since it made him seem maladroit. Bush
grinned incongruously as he read his prepared text. He told the public that his troop deployments
were "to take up defensive positions in Saudi Arabia." These US forces would "work together withthose of Saudi Arabia and other nations to preserve the integrity of Saudi Arabia and to deter further (^)
Iraqi aggression." He inaugurated the Anglo-American Big Lie that the Iraqi actions had been
"without provocation," which readers of daily newspapers knew not to be true. He also minted the
story that Iraq possessed ":the fourth largest military in the world," a wild exaggeration that was
repeated many times. The "new Hitler" theme was already promwork," Bush asserted. "As was the case in the 1930's, we see in Saddam Hussein an aggressiveinent: "Appeasement does not (^)
dictator threatening his neighbors....His promises mean nothing." Bush summed up the goals of his
policy as follows:
First, we seek the immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of all Iraqi forces fromKuwait. Second, Kuwait's legitimate government must be restored to replace the puppet regime. (^)
And third, my administration, as has been the case with every president from President Roosevelt to
President Reagan, is committed to the security and stability of the Persian Gulf. And fourth, I am
determined to protect the lives of American citizens abroad. [fn 45]
None of this appeared to include offensive military action. Bush attempted to re-enforce that false
impression in his news conference later the same afternoon. It was during this appearance that the
extent of Bush's mental disintegration and psychic dissociation became most evident. But first,
Bush wanted to stress his "defensive" cover story:
Well, as you know, from what I said, they're there in a defensive mode right now, and therefore that
is not the mission, to drive the Iraqis out of Kuwait. We have economic sanctions that I hope will be
effective to that end.
The purpose, he stressed, was the "defense of the Saudis." "We're not in a war," Bush added. Afterseveral exchanges, he was asked what had tipped his hand in deciding to send troops and aircraft
into Saudi Arabia? If this had been a polygraph test, the needles would have jumped, since this went
to Bush's collusion with Thatcher long before any annoucement had been made. Bush replied:
There was no one single thing that I can think of. But when King Fahd requested such support we