As Iraq built up troops on the Kuwaiti border, “The State Department declared on July 18 [1990] that the United States remained ‘determined to ensure the free flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz and to defend the principle of freedom of navigation. We also remain strongly committed to supporting the individual and collective self-defense of our friends in the Gulf with whom we have deep and longstanding ties.’ ”
– Richard N. Haass, War of Necessity, War of Choice, Page 56