73. Editorial Note
The Record of Actions for the 486th meeting of the National Security Council on June 29, 1961, “noted the President’s approval of the Secretary of State’s recommendation that the U.S. give full political and logistic support, if required, to the United Kingdom in connection with certain actions it is taking to forestall any Iraq attempt to take over Kuwait by force.” (Department of State, S/S-NSC (Miscellaneous) Files: Lot 66 D 95, Records of Action by the National Security Council)
Rusk sent the following message to Lord Home following the meeting: “Thank you for your messages of yesterday and today. Your thinking coincides with ours. We understand the depth of your obligation, we agree that the independence of Kuwait must not be destroyed by force and we are prepared to render the full political support you request. We are communicating with Saud and we are considering the Security Council angle. While Qasim is, to say the least, unpredictable, we are hopeful that given time to work political forces among the Arabs will dissuade Qasim from committing himself to an unfortunate course of action with unpredictable consequences. We shall be very happy to keep in close touch with you on this.” (Transmitted in telegram 6138 to London, June 29; ibid., Central Files, 686D.87/6–2961)