What if the US said “the Iraqui-Kuwati Dispute is a local affair that is not of our concern” and let Iraq annex Kuwait all willy nilly?
The US had a written military alliance with Kuwait. So, basically, once Iraq invaded our ally, the US had only two logical courses of action: 1) convince the Iraqis to leave peacefully or 2) force the Iraqi's out by military means. The US actually tried number 1, in a variety of ways, but Saddam refused to back down, hence the US went to war with them. I would argue that a more plausible Point of Divergence would be for the US not to support Iraq during its long war with Iran immediately previous to its invasion of Kuwait. Absent US assistance, Iran would almost certainly have defeated Iraq badly, and Iraq would not be in any position to invade Kuwait in 1991.What if the US said “the Iraqui-Kuwati Dispute is a local affair that is not of our concern” and let Iraq annex Kuwait all willy nilly?
The US had a written military alliance with Kuwait. So, basically, once Iraq invaded our ally, the US had only two logical courses of action: 1) convince the Iraqis to leave peacefully or 2) force the Iraqi's out by military means. The US actually tried number 1, in a variety of ways, but Saddam refused to back down, hence the US went to war with them. I would argue that a more plausible Point of Divergence would be for the US not to support Iraq during its long war with Iran immediately previous to its invasion of Kuwait. Absent US assistance, Iran would almost certainly have defeated Iraq badly, and Iraq would not be in any position to invade Kuwait in 1991.
Only half of the US population were in favor of war, if the number was at 25% in favor of war (which is in the realm of possibility) then their would be no war. Congers would not be able to issue Bush the authorization needed to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia.
I remember it well from uni. War was VERY strange to us, and very dramatic. All we had in our lives before that was the Falklands when it was obvious that Argentina invaded one of OUR OWN overseas territories. Kuwait/Iraq was the first time we had seen the UN flex its muscles. That first night of bombing was... I don't know the word. On the one hand we couldn't really believe it, on the other it was astonishing.