>>>>He didn't want the rest of the region to know he was helpless. Like you said, he was playing games - specifically, poker. He was bluffing his opponents.
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>>>Well then, he was playing a deadly game with deadly consequences. I guess you can say that we called his "bluff"... and he lost.
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>>Except that he was bluffing his neighbours. He didn't know at the time that the U.S. was at the table. He found that out later.
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>Does it matter who he was trying to fool, knowing that the United States have great interest in that region - not only for stratigic reasons, but for... yes, oil?

Sure it matters. Why would he expect that a country that had a doctrine rejecting first strike to suddenly join the game and attack - especially without U.N. sanction? Most of the world did not expect that. Why would Saddam?