“In response to Iraqi troop movements along the border with Kuwait, the State Department dispatched Ambassador [April] Glaspie to mollify Saddam. At a July 25, 1990 meeting, the Iraqi leader predicted to Glaspie that America would not oppose his aims because ‘yours is a society that cannot accept 10,000 dead in one battle.’ To which Glaspie replied, ‘we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts like your border disagreement with Kuwait. …[Secretary of State] James Baker has directed our official spokesman to emphasize this instruction.’ ”
– Lawrence F. Kaplan and William Kristol, The War Over Iraq, Page 42