August 2, 1990, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. While Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had been making threats against Kuwait for a while, his actual invasion caught most of the world by surprise. The extent of the Iraqi invasion was also a surprise. Those who had expected an attack, like Commander of US Central Command General Norman Schwarzkopf, expected just a limited attack to seize Kuwaiti oil fields. Instead, within a number of hours, Iraqi forces had seized downtown Kuwait City and were heading south towards the Saudi Arabian border.
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