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Why did Iraq Invade Kuwait?Summary
The reasons for this were complex: • Iraq was having trouble repaying its debt to Kuwait • It accused Kuwait of “slant drilling”—drilling for oil at an angle across the border into Iraq’s own territory and taking oil that was rightfully Iraq’s • Iraq also accused Kuwait of manipulating the price of oil to limit Iraq’s oil earnings • Iraq wanted Kuwait’s oil fields for itself. On 2 August 1990 Iraq attacked and invaded Kuwait, claiming it as a nineteenth province. It took Saddam Hussein’s 120,000 troops just two days to overrun Kuwait |