Case study: On a scorching summer day in the month August 1990, the citizens of Kuwait stared in puzzlement at encroaching, dusty streams of what appeared to be a pending desert sandstorm, creeping ominously towards them from across the forbidding desert. To their dismay and horror filled eyes, the quaking citizenry had become powerless witnesses to the advance units of Sadam Hussein’s Iraqi army which was relentlessly engaged in the illegal invasion of their homeland. There had been no warning of this pending disaster. Kuwaiti resistance was swept aside much like one casually brushes away the crumb from one’s lapel.
After six days, Hussein declared that he had invaded Kuwait. The world was stunned by Hussein’s audacity, and Middle East became extremely anxious about what the future might hold in store for this unsettled region. By August 30, the Arab League, called by President Mubarak of Egypt, attempted to defuse this potentially explosive crisis through negotiation.
The Arab League proposed to Hussein that if he would withdraw his troops, they were prepared to offer him numerous concessions. Through many negotiations, the Arab League eventually framed a very generous negotiation proposal that they attempted to present to Hussein in a packaged offer.
The three major negotiation concessions offered to Iraq were as follows:
1. Iraq would take control of Ramilla oilfields, which Hussein claimed had been stolen from Iraq in their ongoing border dispute with the Kuwait.
2. Iraqis would take possession of Bubiyan Island, that was island situated in Persian Gulf, and which abutted closely to the Iraqi shoreline.
3. The third concession entailed the wiping out or renegotiating of a $14 billion war debt that Iraq held with Kuwait since the Iran-Iraq war. This last concession was still open to considerable negotiation, allowing plenty of latitude for pending discussions.
The princely concessions presented by the Arab League were disdainfully refused by the arrogant Hussein with little consideration. He decided that since he already occupied all of Kuwait, anything else would be seen as a loss to him as he was now in possession of all of Kuwait and its incumbent resources anyway.
Only some days after, a powerful coalition of allied forces dogged Sadam’s army which was retreating deep in the heartland of Iraq, leaving its charred carnage in its wake.
(i) Compare the approaches to negotiation adopted by Arab League and Sadam Hussein respectively.
(ii) Describe the options that were accessible to Sadam Hussein to avoid the bloodshed in Iraq.