Harold H. Saunders

About the Author: Harold H. Saunders is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C. think tank that performs research and analysis on foreign and domestic policies and events. Saunders has served on the National Security Council Staff for thirteen years, and later held several posts in the U.S. State Department, including director of intelligence and research and assistant secretary for Near Eastern and South Asian affairs.

This policy essay examines the concept of political settlement in the context of the crisis that began when Iraq invaded Kuwait on 2 August 1990. Its purpose is not to second-guess policy- makers, although I do not hide my views. Its purpose is rather to reflect on the political alternatives to war and on the...