From: f_gautjw@ccsvax.sfasu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.activism,alt.desert-storm
Subject: Re: Tactics Re: **** ANOTHER COVER-UP - Please read this... ****
Date: 27 Sep 92 20:07:27 CST
Organization: Stephen F. Austin State University

In article <1992Sep27.124339.25805@doug.cae.wisc.edu>, mccullou@cae.wisc.edu (Mark McCullough) writes:
> A lot of people have talked about the "bulldozing tanks" strategy lately,
> and how moral it is.  While some people have claimed that war has no
> morals, they go on right to say that we had no business over in Iraq.

	To me the morality of the war seems less involved with how
we fought it than in the rationale behind it.  I don't pretend any
high moral ground.  I flew the flag during the 'crisis' and cheered
the troops on, having had some active duty myself.  But then the dust
settled.  Hindsight is always so much better.

	We made Hussein what he was.  Revelations by Congressman Henry
B. Gonzales of Texas now clearly show that billions of dollars in low
interest loans were funded by the Atlanta branch of the Banco Nacional
de Lavaro.  These "agricultural" loans were skimmed by Hussein for his
military buildup.  Lawrence Eagleburger, our current acting Secretary
of State, and Brent Scowcroft, national security advisor, are prominently
mentioned as being at the center of this scandal.  
	Cries were made that we must save Kuwait from this new Hitler
when it already had its own form of fifteenth century feudalism.  Today
many Kuwaitis still believe they bought our mercenary intervention...
and to some degree they are right.
	Shouts were made that we must save our oil supply.  Well, really
forgive my cynicism on this one.  The problem in the middle east has
been too much oil, not too little.  Why were Iraq and Iran encouraged
to bleed each other white?  Sure helped the price of oil.  And notice
that little Iraqi oil has re-entered the market even though sanction
conditions have in large part been complied with.  If Iraqi oil suddenly
entered an already troubled market, where would the price of oil then be?
	The American people were slow to rally, remember?  We wanted
sanctions, not combat.  Then a classic media buildup including false
propaganda about Iraq's emerging nuclear capability finally brought
blood to our eyes.  We were assured that if we did go to war we would
use high-tech pin-point weapons and spare the Iraqi civilian population.
	Well, the other day the New England Journal of Medicine reported
that over 49,000 Iraqi children have died in the last year...three times
the normal rate for children under five years of age.  It seems our
leaders forgot to tell us that these pin-point bombs would destroy the
electrical power used to move sewage and water and cause a lot of
disease.  More are expected to die this year as sanctions, to keep oil
off the market, continue.  
	Remember how the war was media packaged and presented like
Monday Night Football?  Coach Schwarzkopf was great at halftime as he
explained how the players were making a great end-around run for the
goal line.  Remember how we enjoyed watching that as we munched our
snacks?  Perhaps the enjoyment of it was the real immorality.  And then
we forgot to fire the opposing Coach Sadam.
	The 'morals' of this war are not yet concluded.  The question
is 'what do we do now?'
	Joe Gaut 
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