http://www.almotamar.net صحيفة إلكترونية يومية تصدر عن حزب المؤتمر الشعبي العام (اليمن) http://www.almotamar.net/1285.htm 2006-10-22 In 1961, Iraqi troops massed on the border with newly independent Kuwait while Colonel Abdul-Karim Kassem, the charismatic "strongman" in Baghdad, talked of Anschluss. However, before any shot had been fired, Kassem had called off the operation. The reason was the message he had received through Soviet friends that an Iraqi attack on Kuwait would be resisted by a British task force, already on its way.