The North Coast times-eagle., January 01, 2001, Page 7, Image 7

PAGE 7
NORTH COAST TIMES E A G L E , JAN&FEB 2001
Rome or China or some other displeased power (perhaps armed
by one or the other Imperial) sent an army to chase the spoilers
or usurpers off Once the "enemy of our enemy" (Iran), Hussein
was portrayed as a despoiler of Western civilization by the
nations arrayed against him who had previously armed him in the
erroneous belief he would bolster an iron status quo in the Middle
East that wDuld maintain their interests in the region.
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait reversed the Cold War mamage
of convenience between the West and Hussein The divorce
occasioned the swiftest and most massive military mobilization
in history. Americans poured into Kuwait's large oil rich neighbor
Saudi Arabia until they outnumbered the barrels of oil they were
sent there to protect, joined by troops and war machines of
several other nations, and for five months this cobbled-together
coalition waited in speedily constructed desert bases and airstnps
to remove the muzzle from their monstrously large war machine
Homefront patriotism was cleverly stage-managed, a
yellow ribboned war fever that insisted all Americans support
the troops sent to the Persian Gulf No matter how anyone might
regard the purpose or conduct of the war and the buildup that
made it possible, anyone not cheerleading for the troops was
suspect of lacking proper public spirit. Protest against the
mobilization and subsequent war was severely undermined by
a schizophrenic warcheer for the warriors. The movement for
peace (which included many v\ho thought economic sanctions
against Iraq should be relied upon, and others who saw the war
as a tragic farce) was on the defense to prove its patriotism
through affirmation of support for those engaged in something
the war's opponents condemned and openly protested. (Even
religious doctrine that urges forgiveness of the sinner though
not the sin does not make such a demand: to forgive a sinner
acknowledges a crime.) Americans who opposed their nation's
war in the Persian Gulf were urged to separate their feelings
about the war — by actually approving of the troops separate
from what they did. Support of the warriors was, of course,
distorted into support of the war; and in converse, criticism of
the war implied disapproval of the soldiers Opponents of the
war were insinuated to have betrayed the troops, and specters
of hairy creatures spitting upon returning Vietnam veterans were
shamelessly lacerated upon the American public.
Not only was dissent against the war craftily undermined,
the shabby treatment of Vietnam veterans was invoked as a
causa belli to condone the Gulf War, seriously misconstruing
the Vietnam War Much abuse has long been heaped upon the
antiwar movement of the Vietnam era for perceived contempt
for veterans, and though that occurred, the greater antipathy
toward veterans was exhibited by the government itself in its
denial of Agent Orange claims, its stinginess with the G.l Bill,
its refusal to tend to the medical and psychological problems
of veterans, instead tightening up eligibility for treatment or
compensation, and for its unspoken but palpable reproach of
the men and vzjmen who fought the war as if they were solely
responsible for its flagrant incompetence, depravity and loss.
While President Bush acted as the biggest cheerleader
for the troops in the Persian Gulf, referring to them as his "kids"
and "America's Finest," his administration snatched away more
than $600 million from veterans programs while the war was in
progress (escalated to about $3 billion over subsequent years)
in favor of funding high-tech weapons (including continuation of
the perennial cash-swamp 'Star Wars').
President Bush mistakenly or purposely misrepresented
the lessons of the Vietnam War in his righteous justification for
the mass mobilization of American armed forces to fight the Gulf
War. He claimed that Vietnam's protraction and inconclusiveness
as the reasons the war fell out of favor with Americans justified a
short decisive war The Vietnam War lasted as long as it did with­
out mass protest because the casualty rate of American combat­
ants was relatively low until finally, after nearly ten years, the
rising and cumulative death count became too much, the price
too high for a purpose steadily muddled and bungled as the war
dragged endlessly on. Bush's gamble seemed to be that the
Gulf War would be short, and though casualties might be high,
the howls of rage and pain would soon die to a collective whimper
unlike the sustained antiwar protest of the Vietnam decade
The chants and slogans by Gulf War dissenters of
"No blood for oif might have seemed simplistic: but so were
the political pieties that attempted to extol the real purpose of
punishing a small-time tyrant who would put a chokehold on the
world's major supply of petroleum. Opposition to appeasement
and aggression were pivotal platitudes in the exhortation to
suppress or destroy Saddam Hussein, who was demonized
not only as a Hitler but his Nazi soul brother's annexations
of the Rhineland. Austria and Czechoslovakia were cited as
comparisons to the invasion of Kuwait
Demonizing an enemy is an ancient and common
practice. The enemy are vermin or subhuman and represent
antlike civilizations that are anathema to the true god and threat­
ening to the national interests. Decimation of an enemy is the
goal. Dehumanizing the enemy is the policy. Extermination is the
method. We think we know how many millions perished in the
Nazi deathcamps in the middle of the 20th century. Russians,
gypsies, homosexuals, mentally and physically crippled as well
as Jews. No one will ever knowhow many hundreds of thousands
of Koreans and Chinese were napalmed during the Korean War.
DRAWINGS BYHENK PANDER
nor how many Vietnamese, Cambodians or Laotians were killed
by routine indiscnminate artillery fire or airstrikes in the decade
long Vietnam War. (President Bush Sr claimed the U.S. fought
in Vietnam with "one hand tied behind its back," dismissing the
million or more Southeast Asian deaths and virtual ecocide of
Indochina by American arms.) Little sympathy was shown Iraqi
soldiers: B-52s and fighter-bombers bombed several thousands
of them into measures of pudding even before the huge allied
fleets of land vehicles moved on them (the general-in-charge
ordered that half the Iraqi force be destroyed from the air before
the land war was to start) and killed thousands more during the
liberation of Kuwait
In late 1989, a year before the Gulf War, the U.S. made
a short war in Panama to punish a defecting chieftain who no
longer served the USA's interests but instead attempted like
Saddam Hussein to consolidate his own power over a vital
chokepoint, the Panama Canal. Bush Sr., who had once
employed the renegade general as an agent of espionage,
subversion and murder when he was himself chief of assassins
as CIA director, exuded much of the same pious rhetoric about
sacred duty to rid Panama of its new dictator — much the same
boilerplate he used a year later about Hussein Even the invasion
of Panama was given a nghteous name, 'Operation Just Cause'
The renegade was portrayed as a monster (a pockmarked face
helped the image) and scourged for iniquities other more loyal or
subservient monsters (such as Hussein) were allowed to indulge
in so long as they complied with what their arnwsfe-imperial
chiefs demanded of them. (The U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, the
nowforgotten April Gaspi, assured Hussein the U.S would
not interfere with an assault upon Kuwait). 'Our (Former) Man
In Panama' is still locked away in a U.S. prison without trial:
perhaps George Jr will have him eliminated quietly
The role of the American media in the Gulf War was as
a home-team cheenng section, voluntarily limiting its scope and
access to the war. forming so-called media pools whose major
sources of information were military PIOs and the Secretary of
Defense (now Vice President under Bush Jr.) and selected high-
ranking officers at the upper levels of the Pentagon (one of them
now Secretary of State). The result was World War 2-type jingo­
istic journalism with virtually no questioning of government and
military mobilization into the Persian Gulf. The country rushed
into a war mentality without critical media skepticism, instead
a rah-rah propaganda blitz by journalists who acted as a military
auxiliary, providing only sanctioned information
Henk Pander drew the 'No Blood For Oil' poster for a
rally against the Persian Gulf War in Portland. Oregon in January
1991 He is originally from Amsterdam and painted the official
portrait of Governor Tom McCall that hangs in the State Capitol
His sons Arnold and Jacob are also artists.
Louis Alva used to be "The Volunteer" on KMUN-FM and
lived in Astoria when he wrote 'The Oil War Memorial'in 1990
Alan Richards lived in Naselle, Washington in when he
wrote 'Pop Quiz' in 1991
THE OIL WAR MEMORIAL
The Oil War memorial should be black. It's a good
color for war memorials Black for the color of crude oil Black
for the hearts of those whose greed demands lives Black for
the filth they have smeared in our skies, bled on our beaches,
excreted across our economies
It should soar above our heads, like the Washington
Monument or the Statue of Liberty Its awesome mass will
remind us of how small we puny citizens are to the privileged
few Those persons in government and industry who decided
decades ago (and now) that we should follow the policies of
waste and greed A broad cylinder of featureless black, gently
nmmed at a few regular spaces down its length A vast oil
drum Perhaps a reflecting pool of the turgid liquid at its base
There should be no names on this one Already its victims
number in the billions Billions whose lives have been adversely
affected by the renewed frenzy over energy costs Where is
room for all those names?
The Monument should be in the center of a great
- circular amphitheater It should be able to seat thousands to
remind us of how we all watched the Gulf War unfold on the
Flickering Blue Eye Our government does not need to put
things in our houses to watch us. they know where we are
every night, and they tell us all what to believe
It would be hard to send a replica of this Memonal
all around the country as we did with the Vietnam Memonal
Instead, we could remember the war by reeducating ourselves
We could teach each other how to break the addiction to
waste.
1335 MARINE DR.
ASTORI A,OREGON
In the ten years since the Persian Gulf War the USSR
has dissolved and the USA has become defacto heir apparent of
the vorld Its economy has risen to spectacular heights although
not everyone shares in the unparalleled prospenty
George Bush Sr was a single-term President, but his son
and namesake is the new President, father and son bookending
eight years of Democrat Bill Clinton and his failed heir apparent,
Al Gore
Saddam Hussein not only survives, he thrives while his
people suffer immensely from an international boycott imposed
on Iraq soon after the war ended Although Iraq has endured tvo
ruinous wars and a decade of sanctions since Hussein took power
in 1979, his regime might already possess nuclear capability
despite a UN ban — it certainly has biocides and chemical
warfare weapons which have been used against domestic Kurds
and political rivals since the end of the Gulf War
Hussein, who called the Gulf War The Mother of Battles.
claims Iraq's enemies were "stamped with disgrace and shame
that will never disappear until doomsday"
While most of Iraq endures deadly sanctions (fatal food
and medical shortages, unclean water supplies) that have eroded
the economy and virtually wiped out the country's middle class,
Hussein has built large resorts as playgrounds for his favorites.
Spy satellites have sighted sports stadiums, an amusement park,
hospitals and advanced communications and imgation systems,
as well as new reconstruction of bombed facilities suspected of
manufacturing toxic warfare agents. It is reported that Hussein's
regime imports 280,000 bottles of whiskey, 230,000 cans of beer,
40,000 liters of vodka and 19.000 bottles of wine each month.
While sanctions starve his people he hosts lavish dinner parties
and barbecues, which mocks the sanctions as failed policy.
In the meantime American Gulf War veterans suffer from
undiagnosed diseases Contrary to years of Pentagon denials
of chemical exposures in the Gulf, unclassified documents and
recent surveys of veterans confirm that Gulf veterans are not
as healthy as other service members who were not deployed to
the war. Particularly suspect is the use of depleted uranium from
nuclear weapons for conventional artillery shells and bombs.
A principal priority of the new President Bush is to
"re-energize" the sanctions against Iraq and revive the inter­
national coalition his father put together to fight the Gulf War —
he might just want to finish the overthrow of Saddam Hussein
Bush Sr. bungled. He intends to "take a hard careful look" at
the chances of overthrowing Hussein which he says will take
not much more than a "turn one or two of the screws tighter."
He supports a military coup, also covert action and massive
bombing as well as diplomatic preparation of the Arab world
for possible reemployment of American troops in Iraq Bush Jr.
is, like his father, a rich oil man who wants to keep the pipeline
from the Middle East flowing and wishes to open up the wilder­
ness area of Alaska and the shorelines of Oregon, Washington
and California for oil exploration.
A large wall at the University of Rochester, N.Y., was
photographed just after the Gulf War (by Roger Mertin) covered
with numerical hatchmarks that represented Iraqi lives lost in
the war — soldiers and civilians, men, women and children
The count stopped at 45,164 though more than 100.000 were
projected. Inspired by the Vietnam Memonal. a note in the center
of the wall was dated April 9, 1991:
"The numbers of dead and dying are too large and far
too frightening for us to truly comprehend These deaths are the
true nature of war.. .(These marks) symbolize the human lives we
have ended and the humanity we have lost."
Edmund Moms wrote of the first Roosevelt and his
splendid little war with Spain in 1898, "It took war to heal the
scars of war: attack upon a foreign power to bring unity at home.
But what future war would heal the scars of this one?"
The late Howard Nemerov. World War 2 veteran and
Poet Laureate of the USA, wrote in his 1989 collection of poems,
'War Stories'
The reason we do not learn from history is
Because we are not the people who learned last time.
-LOUIS ALVA
(NCTE, October 1990)
NORTH COAST
TIMES EAGLE
A JOURNAL OF ART & OPINION
PUBLISHED IN ASTORIA, OREGON
757 27TH STREET 97103
MICHAEL PAUL McCUSKER
EDITOR & PUBLISHER
HOPE L. HARRIS
LICENSED
MASSAGE
THERAPIST
503/325-2523