The Gulf Crisis and New World Order — Page 364
Sampling of public opinion on the Gulf War Morality and war are obviously and mutually contradictory. It has been the Church's greatest betrayal of Christ to have dropped his teachings on violence in favour of the theory of the so-called just war. Justice like truth, is among the first casualties of any war. Certainly this insane gulf war is not just by any standards. . . . . . . . . Yet, complete as the situation is, we desperately need to pierce the m iasma of lies and propaganda that surrounds this present crisis to reveal some basic truths. That's what one teacher at an American college has tried to do. Last fall, Michael Rivage-Seul, an associate professor at Berea Christian College, Berea, Ky; set his students a semester-long project to research the gulf conflict and the reasons behind it. The result, summarized by him as the main feature in the Jan. 11 issue of the widely read National Catholic Reporter, are worth re peating here. What the crisis is not about: *The students found it is not about stopping "another Hitler". Saddam Hussein is not a world class threat. He's a regional dictator of a medium sized Third World country. He is no more or less evil today than when he was the reci pient of massive U. S. support against Iran in that eight year war. His much hyped "military machine" was unable to overwhelm Iran. *It's not about defending democracy. Neither Kuwait nor Saudi Arabia is a democracy; both are feudal oligarchies where enormous wealth has been monopolized for the benefit of the few at the top. They want to keep it that way. *Clearly it's not about upholding the principle that larger countries must not invade smaller ones. The U. S. has never subscribed to that ethic. "History shows the U. S. bas virtually written the book on shaping the destines of weaker neighbours" one student wrote. The student cited the 1983 U. S-led invasion of Grenada, the ravaging of Panama in December, 1989 (condemned as illegal by the U. N. ), the 10-year war against Nicaragua, etc. •Nor is the ear about maintai ning "the international rule of law," they found. Indeed, the U. S has a very uneven track record in this area. "It supports U. N. and World court decisions only when these coincide with U. S. self-interest. " The most glaring example of this is the way the U. S. along with 364