“…Iraq’s army dug in along the Kuwaiti border in late July 1990… Among the reasons offered for Baghdad’s ‘saber-rattling’ was that Saddam meant to pressure OPEC [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] into raising oil prices; that he sought to erase $2 billion in debt owed to Kuwait; that he wanted to lease tiny Kuwaiti islands in the Gulf; and that he wished to persuade the Kuwaitis to reach an accommodation over a disputed oilfield along the border. In the days leading up to the war, progress was made on all of these issues. Yet, on August 2 [1990], Saddam invaded anyway. With the aid of several armored divisions, amphibious landings and helicopters ferrying special forces into Kuwait City, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi troops poured across the border. In a matter of hours, the country was theirs.”
– Lawrence F. Kaplan and William Kristol, The War Over Iraq, Page 19