I know my fucking history. And, as many have noted on this board, I have been quite honest and upfront when my nation, or my party, etc., have committed wrongs.
The argument I put forward is the Iraqi position. And has been the Iraqi position since the beginning. But, deciding to cut this off for commercial reasons has led to nothing but enmity and often threat of war.
Kuwait hasn't been self-governing until Britain granted it full independence in 1961. Until then it was a subject kingdom. They call this a colony.
As part of larger plans, in 1913 the British convinced the Ottomans that Kuwait to be a semi-autonomous area. Once the war was over they declared it under the protection the British Empire. The nearby local people who lost claim to this territory NEVER agreed to this and find this allocation offensive.
Your version, to the Iraqi, is but British propaganda. And, I find the Iraqi side has more credibility based in part on the ££££s involved. It was much easier to find a small friendly party to deal with in an area that was not too big to defend.
Iraq has claimed Kuwait from its very beginning. It was the British who decided BY THEMSELVES to shave this off to a subject kingdom. The British took it for oil concessions. I can recommend some book on the politics of oil where this is argument is made quite persuasively.
Here is just one site, Canada's CBC, with a short blurb on the Iraq issue.
Quote:
What is currently Iraq resulted from the break-up of the Ottoman Empire after World War One. When France and Britain divvied up the Middle East, Britain got the "Fertile Crescent," the arc of land including today’s Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Egypt.
The borders of these nations had no roots in history but were simply agreed upon by France and Britain. Like the nations formed out of the defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire in the same period, or the crumbling of other colonial empires 40 years later, this was to cause many problems.
Initially the government of Iraq was a monarchy. Through the 1920s and 1930s, Iraq slowly gained more independence. There were many factions within the country competing for power and Iraq remained politically unstable. One thing generally agreed on, however, was dissatisfaction with the national borders that had been dictated by foreigners.
From the beginning Iraq wanted to have Kuwait included in its territory. In 1939, Iraq set out to conquer the tiny land, which was still a colony of Britain. At the last moment, however, the King of Iraq died in a car crash and the invasion was called off. In 1961, when Britain granted Kuwait its independence, Iraq began invasion preparations, only backing down when Britain sent troops back into the region.
SOURCE
Based upon this knowledge, my question to my Senators when the war was voted in Iraq was: If a liberal democratic Iraq is established and decides like every government before it that Kuwait is part of Iraq and invades, what do we do then?
You know any Iraqis? Even the Iraqi Jews I know, who were tossed out of a land they lived in for more than 2,500 years, complain about Britain stealing Kuwait.
Someday this will again be an issue. Thank you much, British Empire!! 
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