UN General Assembly
1990

The conflict has created extreme tension and has exposed the Gulf region, already sorely tested by eight years of war, to a terrible catastrophe. We must focus attention on the suffering of the people of Kuwait and of hundreds of thousands of foreign workers who have fled Iraq and Kuwait, most often in tragic circumstances. Incalculable economic damage has been inflicted, or Kuwait in the first instance and on the other countries in the region as well. The entire world has been effected. The Iraqi leaders have to assume a very weighty historical responsibility. After all, did they not play a decisive part 10 years ago in unleashing another war? Did they not without hesitation use chemical gases to eliminate in cold blood thousands of Kurds in their own country? They are intransigent and their only concern is to get us to accept a fait accompli. The constant violations of embassies in Kuwait are unprecedented in history. The detention of thousands of foreign nationals as hostages exceeds all acceptable norms.