I was interested in knowing if the American foreign ministry and government had an impact on Saddam Hussein's invasion, considering the liberties they gave him in the Iran-Iraq war. Thanks for any responses.
Certainly, and it wasn't only the liberties given to Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war that partly boosted Saddams confidence in a war against Kuwait, (though the Costa-Contra affair damaged Iraqi trust and increased paranoia astronomically concerning the USA).
On the eve of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the US ambassador to Baghdad, April Glaspie, more or less implied to Saddam in a meeting on 25th July that the US had '... no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait', when she was asked by Saddam as he told her that Iraq needed the Shatt al-Arab waterway. Glaspie explained further, 'Secretary (of state) James Baker directed me to emphasize what we said to Iraq in the '60s, the Kuwait issue is not associated with America.'
Whether Saddam truly sought American acceptance for an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait or whether he would have gone ahead even if America was against it, here was the US once more attempting to cozy up to Iraq after their debacle during the Iran-Iraq War, and the following week Iraq had invaded Kuwait.