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This is an archive article published on January 21, 2011

Saddam wanted Soviets to head off US in 1991

Hussein had dispatched his foreign minister to Moscow in an 11th-hour bid to head off a ground war.

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As the American-led ground offensive in the first war with Iraq got under way on February 24,1991,Saddam Hussein directed his frustration at an unlikely target: the Soviet leader Mikhail S Gorbachev. Hussein had dispatched his foreign minister to Moscow in an 11th-hour bid to head off a ground war.

After prodding by Gorbachev,Hussein had offered to withdraw Iraqi troops from Kuwait in 21 days. But the US appeared to be moving ahead with its land campaign.

The situation is now is getting worse, Hussein had written the previous night in an emotional letter to the Soviet leader. Our nation and army are confused. We are asking ourselves which one is more significant: the Soviet Unions proposal or the Americans threats?

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Hussein was less diplomatic,denouncing Gorbachev as a scoundrel who lacked the will or influence to stay the first President George Bushs hand. He tricked us, Hussein said. I knew he would betray us!

The disclosures about Husseins closed-door deliberations that first day of the Persian Gulf land war are documented in an extraordinary Iraqi archive.

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