The walk-back
And hope it works
FOR YEARS, it seems, April Glaspie was blamed for green-lighting Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait to spark the First Gulf War. She was the United States ambassador to Baghdad in the 1980s and into that war-torn year of 1990. In a meeting with Saddam Hussein, she apparently told him—as he massed troops on the Kuwait border—that the U.S. would have no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts.
She may have been talking about an oil dispute, and who knows what gets lost in translation. But “Frontline” on PBS once interviewed Tariq Aziz, Iraq’s foreign minister under Saddam Hussein, and they asked him about that meeting of August, 1990:
“About the meeting with April Glaspie—it was a routine meeting. There was nothing extraordinary in it. She didn’t say anything extraordinary beyond what any professional diplomat would say without previous instructions from his government. She did not ask for an audience with the president [Saddam Hussein]. She was summoned by the president. He telephoned me and said, ‘Bring the American ambassador. I want to see her.’ She was not prepared, because it was not morning in Washington. People in Washington were asleep, so she needed a half-hour to contact anybody in Washington and seek instructions. So what she said were routine, classical comments on what the president was asking her to convey to President [George H.W.] Bush. He wanted her to carry a message to George Bush—not to receive a message through her from Washington.”
Other journalists have helped revive her reputation over the years, too. But it goes to show just what a delicate dance diplomacy can be. A wink and a nod can mean something completely different in another culture. One misinterpreted sentence can lead to war.
Let’s all hope that the speech the current president of the United States gave the other day doesn’t lead to something far worse than the First Gulf War. What was all that about America’s response to Russia if Vlad the Impaler invades Ukraine just a little bit? The president suggested this country’s response could be different depending on what Russia does—whether it’s a fullblown invasion of Ukraine or “a minor incursion.”
And as far as predicting what the new Russian tsar will do in the coming days, President Biden added: “My guess is he will move in. He has to do something” with those troops he’s moved to the border.
Vladimir Putin’s ears must’ve perked up on that one.
The White House spent much of the latter part of the week walking back President Biden’s words. Including sending the president out again to reporters to contradict what he’d said earlier. This is what happens when a president thinks out loud in front of rolling cameras.
The Ukrainians are furious. Who can blame them? They say there are no “minor incursions” of their country. Americans might say the same thing if the roles were reversed.
Diplomacy is the art of saying “Nice doggie,” until you can find a rock (Will Rogers). The president of the United States needs to have a few rocks at the ready, and show them to the doggie— or in this case, the bear. And after that, he needs to be more careful with his words.