What disputes existed between Iraq and Kuwait prior to the 1990 invasion?

General Reference (not clearly pro or con)

Kenneth M. Pollack, PhD, former Director for Gulf affairs at the National Security Council, stated in his 2002 book The Threatening Storm: The Case For Invading Iraq:

"Meanwhile, new sources of oil in Alaska, the North Sea, and the former Soviet Union were driving down the price of oil, shich fell from $22 per barrel in January to $16 per barrel in June. Part of the drop in oil prices was a result of the overproduction by OPEC [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] countries, such as Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which not only profited from their overproduction but were pursuing a long-term economic policy of trying to increase global dependence on oil by depressing prices. Saddam would claim that each $1 drop in the price of oil cost Iraq $1 billion in revenue, and he was basically right. As a result of all theses factors, by the spring of 1990, Baghdad was facing a serious financial crunch.

The first inkling of what Saddam had in mind came at the end of May [1990] at a meeting of the Arab League in Baghdad, where he excoriated the United States and Israel and accused Kuwait of waging economic warfare against Iraq. Saddam also demanded an Arab summit to compel the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] states to forgive Iraq's war debts and provide it with $30 billion in economic aid."

2002 - Kenneth M. Pollack, PhD

Dilip Hiro, MA, an author and journalist, stated the following in his 2002 book Iraq: In The Eye Of The Storm:

"The flouting of the OPEC quota by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates in the spring of 1990 depressed oil prices well below OPEC's reference level of $18 a barrel. During a closed session of the extraordinary Arab summit in Baghdad on May 30, Saddam revealed that every US dollar drop in the price of an oil barrel deprived Iraq of $1 billion annually. 'War is fought with soldiers, and harm is done by explosions, killing and coup attempts, but it is also done by economic means sometimes... I say to those who do not mean to wage war on Iraq that this is in fact a kind of war against Iraq.

Saddam's plea fell on deaf ears. Overproduction continued, with Kuwait exceeding its OPEC quota by 40 percent, and the UAE by 30 percent. Petroleum prices fell to $11 a barrel, a level at which Iraqs' oil income was just enough to meet current expenses, leaving nothing to service foreign debts or fund urgently needed reconstruction."

2002 - Dilip Hiro, MA

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