Invasion of Kuwait their retreat. In early 1990 Iraq was accusing Kuwait of stealing Iraqi petroleum through slant drilling, although some Iraqi sources indicated Saddam Hussein's decision to attack Kuwait was made a few months before the actual invasion. Some feel there were several reasons for the Iraqi move, including Iraq's inability to pay the more than US$14 billion that it had borrowed to finance the Iran–Iraq War, and Kuwaiti high petroleum production levels which kept revenues down for Iraq. The invasion started on 2 August 1990, and within two days most of the Kuwait Armed Forces were either overrun by the Iraqi
Palestinian exodus from Kuwait (1990–91) fled Kuwait were generally Jordanian citizens. They were formally recognized as Jordanians of Palestinian origin. In 2004, Kuwait allegedly put off a planned visit by Mahmoud Abbas, then the number two PLO official after Arafat. Palestinian officials denied reports that this was because he would not apologize for Arafat's support for the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. However, on December 12, 2004, Abbas, now the Palestinian leader, apologized for the PLO's support of Saddam Hussein during the invasion. On the first visit to Kuwait by a top Palestinian official since the invasion by Iraq, Abbas said: "I say we yes,