On the 2nd of August, for the first time in contemporary Arab history one brother Arab nation attacked another. This was the Iraqi aggression against Kuwait. (As a matter of fact, Gamal 'Abd An-Naser was asked earlier to send troops to maintain the Syrian-Egyptian unity signed in 1958, but he refused however, and the union collapsed in 1961).

There were many reasons for the attack, including economic, political as well as social. In Iraq there was a severe crisis brought about by the many years of war with Iran. Iraq's internal social problems were not without influence. Out of a population of 18 million people the professional army constituted 5.5%. Besides which it is important to remember that a whole 10% of the world's arms went to Iraq. Following the many years of the Iran-Iraq War, both Iran, Iraq as those countries that made up the Gulf Co-operation Council, were extremely financially weakened.

At this very time we observe in Kuwait a difficult political situation which arises against the backcloth of disagreement between the authorities and opposition which leads to Parliament's disbandment. Certainly of significance were the ambitions of Saddam Hussein himself, who considered himself to be the great leader of the Arab world. He claimed that a revolution would break out in Kuwait and that he would be asked to send in armed forces and so fulfil his obligation. The historical pretext was Saddam Hussein's conviction in Iraq's historical territorial right to Kuwait.