A key witness at the hearings will likely be U.S. Ambassador to Iraq April Glaspie, who said she was carrying out Baker’s instructions when she told Saddam just days before the invasion that the United States had no interest in “Arab-Arab conflicts.” Since then Glaspie has been kept “under wraps” by State. House staffers predict the Intelligence, or Government Operations Committee may be forced to subpoena her.
In private, Glaspie has complained she’s been made the scapegoat for Baker’s mistakes. But a Senate staffer says she “doesn’t get off the hook.” In her conversation with Saddam, Glaspie apologized for a tough interview by ABC-TV’s Diane Sawyer. “That was clearly on her own and totally inappropriate for an ambassador,” says the staffer. Baker has said he knew nothing of the specific diplomatic instructions to Glaspie.
