WI: Saddam Limited Invasion of Kuwait?

What if Saddam Launched a Limited Invasion of Kuwait?

"Until very late in the day, Saddam apparently remained undecided himself as to whether he should act on a more limited plan, calling for the occupation of the disputed border area and the islands of Warba and Bubiyan, or whether he should risk a full scale invasion of Kuwait."
King Hussein of Jordan by Nigel Ashton

Saddam goes for the limited option. International reaction?
 
If true... huh... that's an interesting idea. Keeping it to the level where it might still be passed off as a border dispute. It might still sour things with the US and Saudi's but not freak them out enough to bring about a military response, especially since the imbalance in forces would leave it exceedingly obvious that the Iraqis are showing restraint in their use of force. Or maybe there would be more intermediate measures taken (like offers of mediation) before such a military response materialized.

All sorts of interesting potential segues there. I'm gonna drift this idea elsewhere and see what comes up, is that cool?
 

Anaxagoras

Banned
Saddam goes for the limited option. International reaction?

There would be a UN resolution condemning the action, but I cannot imagine anything close to what we saw IOTL with the full invasion. The Kuwaitis were not very popular with their fellow Arabs in 1990. They might have snickered that they were getting exactly what they deserved.

This would leave Saddam Hussein in control of a significantly larger chunk of the world's oil supply, with a massively powerful army (by regional standards, anyway). One wonders what he would have tried to do next.
 
This would leave Saddam Hussein in control of a significantly larger chunk of the world's oil supply, with a massively powerful army (by regional standards, anyway). One wonders what he would have tried to do next.

Well, if he tries to head further south or west, he'll provoke the IOTL Desert Storm response and get his shit kicked in. If he heads North, the Turks react angrily and he gets his shit kicked in (the Turks are vastly more competent then the Iraqis and most other Arab armies for that matter). If he heads east... well, it depends on how long the Iranians have had to rebuild their military. Not long enough? See IOTL Iran-Iraq War (again, the Iranians were much more competent then the Iraqis and most other Arab armies, but they were crippled by a lack of equipment and administrative disarray from the revolution). Long enough? They kick Saddam's shit in.

Also, the consensus I seem to be getting when I posted this idea is that Saddam would get some strongly worded letters and even a official condemnation in the UN, but otherwise be let slide so long as he doesn't go off and occupy the rest of Kuwait.

Man, was he ever an idiot OTL.
 
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