TH E WH ITE HOUSE #6296 WASHINGTON MEMCON MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION SUBJECT Telecon with King Fahd of Saudi PARTICIPANTS The President King Fahd a Interpreter Shukran Kamal Notetaker Sandra Charles DATE TIME AND PLACE August 2 1990 6 43 - 7 21pm EST Oval Office Your Majesty how are you King Fahd U I am sorry to be so late taking your c 1 U That's OK I wanted to t 1 you our thinking and more importantly hear your views regarding the terrible invasion Z First thank you for your interest in this most serious matter in Middle East from a country that doesn't understand what it means to be a neighbor My opinion of this situation is that it is very difficult It must be stopped soon in any way because it is a very serious principle when a country with arms attacks a small neighbor 7 The President Exactly $ King Fahd This attack took at 2 30 am Saudi time As you know representatives from Iraq and Kuwait were here with me two days ago I tried to reconcile matters and both expressed willingness to do so It was decided a delegation from Kuwait would go to Iraq and another session would be held in Kuwait so that an agreement could be reached But unfortunately although Saddam assured us he had no interest to attack Kuwait the opposite happened $ The President Exactly $ This is because he is conceited He doesn1t realize the implications of his actions are upsetting the world order He seems to think only of himself He is following Hitler in creating world problems with one difference -- one was conceited and one is both conceited and crazy believe nothing will work with Saddam but use of force n SEG 'l Declassify on OADR DECLASSIFIED PER E O 12958 AS AMENDED J ltI ___ • U' Jt 5ECREr 2 I spoke with Saddam at 4 00 Saudi time and told him he was making a mistake and with what law and logic can you attack a small country with force of arms And I reminded him that during the Arab Summit in Baghdad he suggested a nonaggression pact among the Arab countries agreeing not to intervene in each others affairs He is a liar My conversation with him tOday was strict and strong and I asked him to withdraw from Kuwait now and that we would not consider any regime a representative of Kuwaiti public opinion or Arab public opinion And Saddam told me he tried to reach agreement with Kuwait but Kuwait not responsive I told him that was an unacceptable excuse -- if he had found Kuwait unresponsive he could have contacted us and we would have done what we could to reach an understanding He had no excuse to use in his conversation That is why I say he is arrogant He believes what he has done will pass easily And then he told me let me ask you to allow me to send my Vice President to meet you at 11 00 am Saudi time tomorrow Then I told him if you realize your mistake and withdraw from Kuwait then is possible to see and meet your Vice President So he asked me again to receive his representative tomorrow and maybe we will find a solution And I told him that I hold him responsible for the safety for all people in Kuwait -- Kuwaiti or not 'I Mr President we will see his representative tomorrow and will speak briefly to him Either he must understand Iraqi troops are withdrawn and things smoothed or we will tell his representative to return quickly Saddam will either withdraw from Kuwait into Iraq quickly or the only other solution is the use of force Mr President this is a matter that is extremely serious and grave It involves a principle that can't be approved or condoned by any reasonable principle or moral Mubarak contacted me about requesting an Arab Summit be held I told him it was a good move Arab leaders must be convinced what has happened is a poor move and through Mubarak and me we will convene an Arab Summit the day after tomorrow Tomorrow Saddam's representative will let me know if he will rectify matters and withdraw from Kuwait or not And any information from Saddam's representative will be relayed to you Mr President what Saddam has done we can't possible remain silent about $ I hope matters can be iesolved peacefully If not Saddam must be taught a lesson he will not forget the rest of his life if he remains alive Z I want to thank you and the American people and Europe and the world for your firm stand against Iraq action to make Saddam realize his grave mistake against Kuwait Also allow me to propose preparedness because we don't know what Saddam will do This information is for you now do you have any questions Please ask as a friend -- and I will answer as a friend Of The President I have one question are the Kuwaiti leaders in Saudi Arabia the Crown Prince and the Amir safe and well SEeF l 3 Many people from the royal family in Kuwait are sa come here and Very good We will be making a joint statement ets condemning the Iraqi invasion when is in a few minutes to make a strong statement between us s 1 King Fahd This is very good news 7 Our goal like yours is to get Iraq out and restore Kuwaiti sovereignty fi I told Saddam that we don't buy this national government in Kuwait We know no one in Kuwait who agrees to the removal of legitimate ruler If they brought I s in place in the leadership which is possible then that is total • $ Total fraud $ At any rate from now until tomorrow we will find out situation is ' Thanks In the meantime we are doing what you expressed an interest in We are making preparations my government on diplomatic military economic options We should cons additional diplomatic economic and mil ary ions as well We have implemented comprehensive economic sanctions and are now considering other economic measures aga Iraq in conjunction with Chapter 7 sanctions at the UN Another would be to cons closing down his oil export capability by cutt off pipelines or an embargo of Iraq Obviously we need to talk to consider a wide array of options but I hope Arab e succeed on a withdrawal and to restore the legit government to Kuwait We too hope Arab efforts are successful but all the measures and options you mentioned are measures would be helpful in deterring Saddam Z On Saudi Arabia we believe w should consider TACAIR which we need to discuss with you because your security is important to us and want to do everything possible to deter any Iraqi aggression against the Kingdom and to work with you to take whatever steps are necessary to convince Saddam to withdraw from Kuwait $ Thank you for what you said about Saudi Arabia In of what happens tomorrow I would be delighted to discuss this further 1 You should know we are moving our nearer We think collective Arab action would be good We e your efforts and hope tomorrow is success 1 I look forward to hearing the results $ SECRBT 4 King Fahd Thank you for your interest and I thank you on behalf of the Saudi people $' The President I have one other favor Please convey to the Amir Sheik Jaber my personal regards and tell him how deeply I despise this outrageous brutal act against his country and tell him that he has our support I would appreciate your conveying this to the Amir $ King Fahd I will convey it to Amir The President people Good Z Thank you Blessings to you and the Saudi ck with your heroic efforts toward peace $ King Fahd Thank you Thanks for friendship between the Kingdom and the united States for more than 60 years Z This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu Read related article Inside the Gorbachev-Bush “Partnership” on the First Gulf War 1990 2020-09-09