“By the spring of 1990, Saddam Hussein’s love affair with the White House had survived ten years of the Reagan-[H.W.] Bush era…But on April 2 [1990], Saddam made the kind of slip of the tongue of which diplomatic catastrophes are borne, boasting that he had chemical weapons and would use them to ‘make fire eat up half of Israel.’ [Secretary of State] James Baker’s State Department immediately issued a statement saying the remarks were, ‘inflammatory, irresponsible, and outrageous.’ ”
– Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, Page 130