This is a first-hand account of successive stages in the Gulf Crisis. There is an explanation of the factors, some of which go back many years, which led to the rise of Saddam Hussein and the threat he presented to international security. The book discloses the complex, day-to-day interplay of diplomacy which took place between Saudi Arabia, Britain and other Western, Arab and Moslem partners, as well as with a Soviet Union in terminal decline. Insights are revealed into the lead given by the USA through her armed forces and in the Security Council, and the course of her relationship on the ground with her major Western associates, Britain and France. The backdrop for all this activity is painted with contemporary undercurrents of: Middle East politics; the Arab-Israel peace process; the shadow of Revolutionary Iran and the passions of Islamic revivalism. The crisis left its imprint on them all.