Saddam ‘like Hitler’ for invading Kuwait, said Maggie
SADDAM Hussein was “behaving like Hitler” when he invaded Kuwait, Margaret Thatcher and her Foreign Secretary privately agreed, documents reveal.
The Iraqi tyrant was denounced worldwide for his attack. It led to Operation Desert Storm in which Allied forces freed Kuwait in 1991.
A memo from No 10 private secretary Caroline Slocock to Foreign Office aide Simon Gass on August 19, 1990 disclosed Mrs Thatcher and Douglas Hurd had discussed the Gulf crisis in a private chat the night before.
It read: “Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary agreed that it now seemed highly likely foreign nationals would be detained at key installations.
“Saddam Hussein was behaving like Hitler and using psychological warfare. His aim might well be to provoke hostile action.”
The memo also revealed how the pair
called Saddam “a selfish dictator”, as evidenced by the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in which hundreds of thousands died.
A letter from Boxing
Day that year shows that Mrs Thatcher’s successor John Major shared his thoughts on the Gulf War with her.
He wrote that he was “in no doubt” that Hussein’s actions were “unforgivable” and that the UK “should not shrink from” conflict.
He added that the dangers of failing to remove Iraqi forces were “enormous”, citing “prestige for Saddam Hussein; danger for other small countries; a greater danger from Saddam at a later date; and a huge loss of prestige for US and ourselves”.
Mrs Thatcher met her successor in the first week of January 1991 to discuss the situation, records show.
The details are given in the documents retained at the National Archives at Kew in south-west London.
A LION paces majestically across the vast expanse of the Maasai Mara while a girl gives a joyful cry for freedom on a London estate.
They are just two of tens of thousands of photographs that typified creativity and improvisation in lockdown this year.
The snappers made the shortlist for the Sony World Photography Awards which was unveiled yesterday after judges whittled down 330,000 images.
The lion was captured at close quarters on the Maasai Mara nature reserve by Londonbased snapper Graeme Purdy.
While Richard Ansett took the heartwarming shot of a young girl laughing in a back yard on the Aylesbury Estate in south-east London.
A picture of two beekeepers was the pick of 125 portraits of
National Trust staff taken John Millar to celebrate 125th anniversary.
Another British entry was by Julia Fullerton-Batten, who captured a priest looking out on the world from his window.
Ways of pursuing the day job in isolation were depicted by an athlete training on a rooftop in Iran and a violinist practising in an empty hall in Italy.
And the devastating impact of desert locusts on crops in East Africa was captured by Kenyanbased photojournalist Luis Tato.
Judge Mike Trow said entries reflected how people wanted to “delve deeper into personal projects and explore stories in their local communities”.
The award winners will announced on April 15. by its be