1/9/1991

“In January 1991, during the runup to Operation Desert Storm, Secretary of State James Baker had sent Saddam a message. In a meeting in Geneva [Switzerland] with Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz [on January 9, 1991], Baker said bluntly: ‘If the conflict involves your use of chemical or biological weapons against our forces…the American people will demand vengeance. We have the means to exact it…this is not a threat, it is a promise. If there is any use of weapons like that, our objective won’t just be the liberation of Kuwait, but the elimination of the current Iraqi regime, and anyone responsible for using those weapons would be held accountable.’ ”

 – Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon, The Next Attack, Page 155