Indeed, we offered them substantial U.S. protection, which we're still providing. The Gulf War allies assumed that Iraq would accept disarmament without any effective national defense. This was a major flaw in analysis. The dominant school in international relations theory is realism, or realpolitik. The theory's key precept is that nation-states will rationally seek to defend themselves from their neighbors.
Countries evaluate their defense needs based on their most immediate regional threats.
Iraq is surrounded by hostile nations. Turkey, which has the region's largest conventional military forces, has repeatedly invaded Iraq and countries to occupy northern parts of the country with up to 5,000 troops in pursuit of Kurdish rebels. More threatening to Iraq is Iran's well known, continuing attempt to build nuclear weapons. If or when Iran, which fought a brutal war with Iraq between 1980 and 1988, builds nuclear weapons, it will almost certainly point them at Iraq. This likelihood is not lost on the Iraqi leadership.