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During the Iran-Iraq War, the government of Kuwait loaned $10
billion to Iraq. After the war had ended, however, Saddam Hussein
said that Kuwait should consider the money a grant rather than a
loan. Saddam’s argument was that Iraq had protected Kuwait and
the other Arab nations by fighting with Iran—an assertion that
failed to convince many in the Arab world. Kuwait’s refusal to write
off the debt was one of the reasons Iraq invaded the country in
August 1990. Even after coalition forces liberated Kuwait, Iraq was
not required to repay the money, and the issue remained a source
of friction between the two countries.
Another issue surrounds the disappearance of several hundred
Kuwaiti citizens during Iraq’s cruel seven-month-long occupation of
its southern neighbor. Until its demise Saddam Hussein’s govern-
ment denied it knew anything about these 600 or more missing
Kuwaitis.
After the Gulf War, the two Arab countries attempted to improve
their frayed relations. In November 1994, Iraq gave up its claim to
Kuwait and to the Bubiyan and Warbah islands when it formally
accepted borders established by the United Nations. And in March
2002, Iraq signed an agreement with Kuwait in which it promised to
respect the country’s sovereignty. This agreement, negotiated
through the diplomatic efforts of Qatar and Oman, occurred at an
Arab League summit in Lebanon.
Iraq’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has also undergone many
changes. In the early 1970s, Iraq’s leaders sometimes spoke out
against the ruling family of Saudi Arabia. But in the years before
Saddam Hussein seized total power, he began to cultivate a better
relationship with the Saudis. Crown Prince Fahd, who would later
become king of Saudi Arabia, visited Saddam in Baghdad; Saddam
paid a return visit to Fahd in Jedda, Saudi Arabia, the following
year. When Saddam became president of Iraq, the Saudi govern-
ment supported him, and when Iraq started its war against Iran in
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