![Books – Everything in Hand](https://cdn.magzter.com/1422886351/1718003050/articles/DHmDIshUb1718016457436/Daniel-Immerwahr-Everything-in-Hand.jpg)
Saddam Hussein was known for many qualities, but subtlety was not among them. An oft-repeated anecdote relates that, during a cabinet meeting, he floated the idea of stepping down as Iraq’s President, and his minister of health agreed too quickly. Saddam calmly stepped out of the room with him to discuss it and then shot him dead. This is, unsurprisingly, a tall tale. In reality, the health minister was sacked, arrested, tortured, and executed by firing squad.
Saddam employed the same direct approach with his neighbors. In 1980, after Shia protesters killed some Iraqi officials, Saddam executed the country’s leading Shia cleric. (The rumor is that he did so personally, hammering a nail into the cleric’s head and setting him on fire.) Saddam then invaded Iran, his Shia-led neighbor, starting an eight-year war that killed hundreds of thousands. To pay for that war, Iraq borrowed billions from Kuwait. Saddam wanted the debt forgiven, but the Emir of Kuwait refused, and then Kuwait accelerated oil production during a period of falling prices, pushing Iraq further in the hole. Once again, Saddam launched an invasion. On its first day, August 2, 1990, Iraq’s Army reached Kuwait’s capital and set the Emir’s palace aflame. Within the month, Iraq had annexed Kuwait. This resolved the matter of the loan, and gave Saddam control of a hefty percentage of the world’s oil supply.
The United States took an occasional interest in oil. And it took a keen interest in Saddam, whose government it had supplied with detailed maps and satellite images during the Iran-Iraq War. Still, U.S. officials were caught flat-footed by the invasion of Kuwait. A few days before it was launched, President George H. W. Bush had sent Saddam a friendly letter that gave no hint that anything was awry.
ãã®èšäºã¯ The New Yorker ã® June 17, 2024 çã«æ²èŒãããŠããŸãã
7 æ¥éã® Magzter GOLD ç¡æãã©ã€ã¢ã«ãéå§ããŠãäœåãã®å³éžããããã¬ãã¢ã ã¹ããŒãªãŒã9,000 以äžã®éèªãæ°èã«ã¢ã¯ã»ã¹ããŠãã ããã
ãã§ã«è³Œèªè ã§ã ?  ãµã€ã³ã€ã³
ãã®èšäºã¯ The New Yorker ã® June 17, 2024 çã«æ²èŒãããŠããŸãã
7 æ¥éã® Magzter GOLD ç¡æãã©ã€ã¢ã«ãéå§ããŠãäœåãã®å³éžããããã¬ãã¢ã ã¹ããŒãªãŒã9,000 以äžã®éèªãæ°èã«ã¢ã¯ã»ã¹ããŠãã ããã
ãã§ã«è³Œèªè ã§ã? ãµã€ã³ã€ã³
![The Crackdown](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8859/1736039/hnCN_aa1s1718618000063/crp_President-Daniel-Noboa-Ecuador.jpg)
The Crackdown
Fighting drug gangs, a young President declares war within his own country.
![In Search of Lost Time](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8859/1736039/paSl7ETmF1718616581810/crp_John-Lennon-Patek-Philippe-2499-Yoko-Ono.jpg)
In Search of Lost Time
The strange journey of John Lennon's stolen Patek Philippe watch.
![Books â Everything in Hand](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8859/1728434/DHmDIshUb1718016457436/crp_Daniel-Immerwahr-Everything-in-Hand.jpg)
Books â Everything in Hand
The C.I.A.'s covert ops have mattered-but not in the way that it hoped.
![UNHOLY TRINITY](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8859/1743539/5ZdN8YxBj1719234463163/UNHOLY-TRINITY.jpg)
UNHOLY TRINITY
âKinds of Kindness.â
![HERO BALL](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8859/1743539/JgjUpJCY71719234198555/HERO-BALL.jpg)
HERO BALL
Who was the main character of the N.B.A. Finals?
![MEDIEVAL LONGING](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8859/1743539/Ytxou-J6R1719233988852/MEDIEVAL-LONGING.jpg)
MEDIEVAL LONGING
The fourteenth-century love songs of Guillaume de Machaut.
![THE NORTH STAR](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8859/1743539/kQkpxSOSc1719233526998/THE-NORTH-STAR.jpg)
THE NORTH STAR
Harriet Tubmanâ radical faith.
![THE TAIWAN TANGLE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8859/1743539/n0R4iGfZc1719232842512/THE-TAIWAN-TANGLE.jpg)
THE TAIWAN TANGLE
Can we deter belligerence in the strait without provoking it?
![VINCENT'S PARTY](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8859/1743539/d6MVkoQlw1719232158898/VINCENTS-PARTY.jpg)
VINCENT'S PARTY
The party was in full swing. Evelyn could hear the sexy blare of the trad jazz almost as soon as she got off the bus at St. Mary Redcliffe and began walking over to the Steam Packet, the pub that Vincentâwho was a friend of Evelynâs older sister, Moiraâhad commandeered for the evening.
![GROWING PAINS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8859/1743539/6eB2emRRm1719231382317/GROWING-PAINS.jpg)
GROWING PAINS
In Phoenix's upscale suburbs, authorities slowly realized that the Gilbert Goons might be a violent teen gang.