Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. oil fields there, a scenario which closely mirrored the rising tension between Iraq and Kuwait. One week after the end of these exercises, Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Initially believing the Iraqi Army would only advance to the Ramallah oil field, Schwarzkopf was surprised when the Iraqis captured Kuwait City. Fearing Iraq would next invade Saudi Arabia, Schwarzkopf ordered contingency plans put in motion, with the 82nd Airborne Division, 101st Airborne Division and 24th Infantry Division put on alert. He was then called to an emergency meeting with President George H. W. Bush, where his Internal Look '90
United States support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War a series of "catastrophic" Iraqi defeats. They had been driven out of Iran, and the Iraqi army looked like it was falling apart." "The Reagan administration feared that Iran's army might slice through Iraq to the oilfields of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia"; Veliotes, then "Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs," "outlined a nightmare scenario in which the Iranians invade Iraq, they defeat Iraq, and then head straight for Israel, which is distracted and debilitated by its ongoing adventure in Lebanon." As a result, the U.S. gradually abandoned its policy of neutrality. In February 1982, Iraq