The Gulf Crisis and New World Order — Page 361
The Gulf Crisis & The New World Order the U. S. payroll knows this. Germany in the thirties was a highly industrialised world power. Iraq was a small third world country, colonised well into this century, and armed only with weapons sold to it by Europe. Nevertheless George Bush decided as long ago as last autumn, that the operations against Saddam Hussein was to be pursued in his way, so that the Middle East and its oil should be under U. S. control in the third millennium. This way involved colossal bribes, high speed, high technology and the high moral authority which accompanies systematic deafness. Deafness is both an aggressive and defensive weapon when imposing an order on distant populations who do not want to accept that order. The onset of Washington's deafness concerning the Middle East began, however, decades before. American power was deaf towards all the pleas of the Palestinian nation who had lost their land. Had the Palestinians been heard Saddam Hussein could never have later claimed with any credibility the mantle of Arab honour. American power was deaf to the Iranian people, oppressed by the Shah, a US puppet,and by his secret police and by his wealth of trash. Had the Iranians been heard, there would have been no reason to arm Iraq against Iran. Most recently, in I 988, American power remained deaf to Arafat's formal recognition of the right of Israel to exist as a state. Had they been heard there would have been no reason on earth for the PLO to place itself beside Saddam. Since the crisis began, American power has also been deaf to the experience of the Arab people, deaf towards the suffering and pride of generations, deaf therefore to what lead them to find hope in the defiance of a pitiless tyrant - a hope which may become an article of faith, if he is turned into a martyr. . . . . . . . . . . . deaf to a voice which might shout that the "carpet bombing of a city suburb" (whatever the claimed target) is a step towards genocide: deaf to a voice which might repeat that the cluster bombs being dropped on the cities contained 24 grenades, each one exploding into 2000 high velocity needle-fragments designed to cause the maximum untreatable wounds: deaf to a voice which might recall that Islamic culture has probably contributed as much to the human dream of Justice and reason as has Christianity. 361