# *Now is not the time to go wobbly*

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "*Now is not the time to go wobbly*," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thatcher-wobbly-call/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The telephone call from Margaret Thatcher to George H. W. Bush on the afternoon of the Kuwait invasion which, in John Kiriakou's account of that day inside the CIA, was what finally decided the president to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait.*

- **Date:** 2 August 1990, afternoon
- **From:** Margaret Thatcher
- **To:** George H. W. Bush
- **Effect Kiriakou describes:** Decided the president to act

***Now is not the time to go wobbly*** is the line [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) identifies as the hinge of 2 August 1990.

Having [briefed George H. W. Bush in the Oval Office](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/oval-office-briefing-1990) that morning, Kiriakou's reading of the president was that he *"genuinely didn't know what to do"* about the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait.[1]

Later in the afternoon Bush took a telephone call from the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. What she said — *"George, now is not the time to go wobbly"* — was immediately leaked and has since become famous. In Kiriakou's account it was that, rather than anything briefed to him in the Oval Office, which made Bush finally decide to oust Iraqi troops from Kuwait.[1]

The decision that followed shaped the rest of Kiriakou's early career: the war to drive [Saddam Hussein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saddam-hussein) out of Kuwait, the choice to leave him in power afterwards rather than destabilise the region, and the long Iraq account Kiriakou worked as [Saddam's classified biographer](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saddam-hussein-biographer).[2]

## See also

- [The Oval Office briefing of 2 August 1990](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/oval-office-briefing-1990)
- [Saddam Hussein's classified biographer](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saddam-hussein-biographer)
- [Saddam Hussein](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/saddam-hussein)

## Sources

1. Mini Episode 1: Sadam's Shrink (2025-10-27), at 04:42. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/68ffcca3ffe4007c05da18d8/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-10-27-dead-drop-mini-episode-1-sadam-s-shrink/
2. S1E5 Singin' In Bahrain (2025-11-24), at 02:08. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69224fd4e842b164ee8d9071/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-24-dead-drop-s1e5-singin-in-bahrain/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/thatcher-wobbly-call/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt