April Glaspie's Words Misheard by Saddam

On July 25, 1990, U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein amid escalating tensions over Kuwait. She told him that Washington, "inspired by the friendship and not by confrontation, does not have an opinion" on Iraq's border dispute, a phrase that was meant to signal neutrality. However, Saddam's interpreter rendered the statement as implicit U.S. non-interference, turning "no opinion" into "no objection." Saddam took the remark as tacit consent and invaded Kuwait a week later, a miscommunication that helped spark the Gulf War.

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