The Gulf Crisis and New World Order — Page 360
Sampling of public opinion 011 the Gulf War The New York Times: April 21, 1991 "Third, the Middle East and Persian Gulf region in now clearly an American sphere of preponderance. Pro-American Arab regimes feel more secure; so does Israel. U. S access to oil is now not in jeopardy. " Canadian Peace Alliance Toronto ONT. "Oil or international law: What are we fighting for? At present, our country, like its Western allies, can and should be accused of protecting its economic interest in oil-rich Kuwait, while i gn oring the plight of other countries suffering from similar aggression" The Guardian: March 2, 1991 "In the land of the deaf But there is one lie the lynch pin lie- that has to be pulled out. This is the claim that the war in the Gulf had to be fought for the same reason as the war against Hitler and fascism in 1939. Nowhere in the world is there a poet who would back this comparison- for nobody in their heart of hearts actually believes it. The comparison was made by the same politicians who three years before were protecting their "Hitler" and selling him arms. When Saddam Hussein gassed Kurdish villagers, George Bush opposed in congress the cutting off of aid to Iraq. What changed to make the same politician suddenly full of historical wisdom and righteous indignation? Instead of being fooled themselves, they now had to fool the public because their plan demanded hate. And to whip up hate quickly, you usually have to lie. Picture editors of American journals trimmed Saddam Hussein's moustache so that it resembled Hitler's. And for this trompe L'oeil tens of thousands of civilian lives in Baghdad have been either physically or emotionally maimed, transformed into what spokesmen called "collateral damage". It would have been possible to liberate Kuwait and contain Saddam Hussein in many other ways. Every government in the world not on 360