Iraq jock - Letters - Letter to the Editor

Washington Monthly, March, 2004 by Brian Mitchell

In "Armchair Provocateur'" (December), Peter Bergen writes that Laurie Mylroie "reversed her position [on Saddam Hussein] upon his invasion of Kuwait in 1990." In fact, Mylroie reversed her position before the invasion of Kuwait, after Saddam threatened to attack Israel with chemical weapons if Israel again attacked Iraq, as Israel did in 1981 to destroy a nuclear reactor under construction at Osirak. Saddam threatened Israel with chemical weapons on April 2, 1990, two days after The Jerusalem Post quoted Mylroie saying Iraq was unlikely to attack Israel and that conflict could be avoided. In the next months, Mylroie's concern for Iraq and Israel increased. On May 9, she named Iraq the "single most important country" for the PLO. On July 12, she wrote in The Jerusalem Post that Saddam's "new line" was moving the Middle East toward war. Iraq invaded Kuwait Aug. 2.

Brian Mitchell

Washington Bureau Chief

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