
The whole "saddam is going to invade Saudi Arabia" was nothing but US State
Department propeganda.  Saddam (and Iraq in general) never recognised the 
British created Kuwait.  They were trying to recover land they believed
was theirs, much like the Argentines in the Faulklands.  The Kuwaitis pushed
just a little too far by taking Iraqi oil and Saddam thought he'd settle
the dispute the old fashioned way...
Everybody would have been much better off had they left the reunited Iraq
together and concentrated on taking out Saddam.  A strong, united Iraq with
an elected government would have gone a long way to ridding the world of
the feudal dictatorships in the Gulf.
But of course a weak divided Arab people better suits US foriegn policy...