at Kuwait was "an integral part of Iraq" and claimed all of Kuwait's territory. Responding to Kuwait's call for assistance, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia sent troops to Kuwait. Upon Kuwait's admittance to the Arab League, British troops were replaced by Arab troops. In 1963, Kuwait was admitted to the U.N., with Iraq casting no negative vote.
In addition to the territorial claim, by 1990 Iraq was accusing Kuwait of violating the oil production quotas set by OPEC. Trying economically recover from the long Gulf War with Iran, Iraq needed a high oil production quota in order to generate cash. Kuwait and some of the other small oil producing states in the Gulf, however, were exceeding their quotas and flooding the market with oil. As a result, excessive supply drove the price of oil downward to the point that Iraq could not realize a sufficient profit on the sale of its own oil. By May of 1990, Hussein had become extremely upset with Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates; at a meeting of OPEC ministers, he revealed Iraq's economic problems and argued that Kuwait's actions were tantamount to a declaration of war on Iraq. Hussein also accused Kuwait of stealing Iraqi oil from the Rumaila oil field in southern Iraq. Kuwait had installed drilling and pumping equipment close to the border and Hussein charged that this equipment was pumping out Iraqi oil. In addition, he claimed that the islands of Bubiyan and Warba, which dominated Iraq's outlet to the Persian Gulf, were properly Iraqi territory.
Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Greatly outnumbered, Kuwaiti forces were unable to put up much resistance. All of Kuwait was occupied by Iraq within 48 hours. International reaction was instant, and negative. Condemnation of the invasion came from all quarters, including the Soviet Union. Resolution 660, condemning the invasion and calling for an Iraqi withdrawal, was passed by the General Assembly of the United Nati...