U.S. denounces invasion, puts squeeze on Iraq

WASHINGTON Backed by the United Nations, key U.S. allies, andthe Soviet Union, President Bush on Thursday denounced Iraq'sinvasion of Kuwait, ordered a virtual cutoff of trade with the regimeof strongman Saddam Hussein and froze Iraqi assets in the UnitedStates.

The State Department brushed aside as "patent fraud" Iraq'sclaim that it had been invited into Kuwait by a revolutionarygovernment and only intended to maintain order.

A handful of U.S. citizens reportedly were rounded up byinvading Iraqi forces, but U.S. officials said they had no reports ofAmerican injuries or deaths. Officials said there are about 3,000U.S. civilians and several hundred official personnel in Kuwait.

A desperate Kuwaiti ambassador to Washington plaintivelyappealed for U.S. military intervention, but his cry for helpreceived no support in other Arab capitals, where the traditionalreluctance to criticize fellow Arabs produced a muted response to theinvasion.

"We don't stand a chance if we don't get any aid from ourfriends," Ambassador Saud Nasser al-Sabah said. Bitterly, he notedthat Kuwait had provided large amounts of aid to Iraq and said, "Thisis what we got for being neighborly and friendly."

He said the invasion is a threat to the entire Persian Gulfregion - a reference to such oil-rich states as Saudi Arabia and theUnited Arab Emirates, situated at the other end of the Persian Gulffrom Kuwait and Iraq.

Bush at first ruled out military intervention, but later said hewould keep that option open, and additional warships were dispatchedto the region. However, the administration made it clear it plans toconcentrate on political and economic pressures to force Iraq out ofKuwait.

Experts said U.S. military action would become more likely ifIraq invades another neighbor, Saudi Arabia, but they doubted itwould make such a move.

Another option - a naval blockade of the Persian Gulf oil routesand destruction of Iraqi pipelines - would plunge the Baghdad regimeinto an economic crisis but also would create havoc in Westerneconomies.

Nonetheless, a unanimously approved UN Security Councilresolution condemning the invasion signaled strong internationalagreement on the need to stand up to Iraq. Moscow, long a weaponssupplier for Iraq, announced it would suspend military sales toBaghdad.

The European Economic Commission and NATO both condemned theinvasion, and Israel urged urged Western nations to apply strongeconomic and diplomatic sanctions against Iraq. It warned thatIsrael would not tolerate any movement of Iraqi troops intoneighboring Jordan.

Congress also assailed the Iraqi action and extended Bush'sauthority to draw on U.S. emergency oil reserves in the event itshould be necessary. A world oil glut makes such a step unlikely.

The House gave 416-0 approval to a pending economic sanctionsbill aimed at Iraq. The measure would cut off Iraq's $200million-a-year in Export-Import Bank credits and tighten restrictionson U.S. exports that could have military as well as civilian uses.

Bush declared a national emergency and signed orders freezingall Iraqi property in the United States and barring most trade,including import of 588,000 barrels a day of Iraqi oil. The movealso prohibits Iraq from buying U.S. grain and other foodstuffs,which represent the other chief element of trade between the twonations.

Bush also froze Kuwaiti property in the United States to preventIraq from seizing it. Kuwait has substantial investments in theUnited States, but officials said Iraq's were minimal.

Britain announced it, too, was freezing Iraqi and Kuwaitiassets.

At a meeting with his national security advisers, Bush accusedIraq of "naked aggression," and said, "We remain committed to takewhatever steps are necessary to defend our long-standing vitalinterests in the gulf."

Responding to a report that some U.S. oil workers in Kuwait hadbeen rounded up by Iraqi troops, Bush said such a development wouldaffect his thinking "in a very dramatic way, because I view afundamental responsibility of my presidency as protecting Americancitizens. And if they're threatened or harmed or put into harm'sway, I have certain responsibilities."

Iraq triggered the crisis when it recently warned Kuwait and theUnited Arab Emirates that their overproduction of oil was keepingworld prices too low. The two countries were pumping more oil thanthe quotas assigned them by the Organization of Petroleum ExportingCountries. Burdened by up to $80 billion of debt as a result of hiswar with Iran, Hussein wants to maximize his oil revenues.

Iraq then moved troops to the Kuwaiti border, but U.S. officialsdiscounted the likelihood of an invasion, because Hussein had notordered support forces and materiel to the border.

However, the Iraqi leader broke off talks with Kuwait andabruptly increased to an estimated 100,000 his forces at the border,and early Thursday he ordered them to strike.