Page 2—The Portland Observer -January 15, 1991
“ Whose War Was It, Anyhow?”
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq or America?”
BY A. LEE HENDERSON
Hopefully, it
will be nobody’s
war, but when we
look back on the
mideast crisis which
challenged us to
take a military stand
with troop deploy
ment in 1990 to
Saudi A rabia, we may well be asking
the question , “ W hose war was it,
anyhow ?
F or the first time in our nation’s
history, our dependable troops were
arm ed in preparation to fight in som e
one e ls e ’scultural ball game with strict
adherence to that land we had come to
protect!
O ur own desires and preferences
w ere secondary, we were told, to the
strict M oslem law o f the land...women
(including those who had come to per
form in the de riguer sex-sirenish
“ M ad o n n a” garb o f the scanty-sequin
ned m aidens to make our boys forget
the dreary, dusty, dreadfulness of Des
ert Shield...w ere forbidden to be seen
in such frivolous lack o f attire. Our
legendary entertainer o f troops. Bob
H ope was authoritatively told to leave
the women or have them suitably dressed
in cover, head-to-toe which would pass
m uster with the Saudis but leave our
ow n boys feeling, as if they were being
entertained by a Golden G irls’ chorus
line o f monks.
Christm as in Saudi Arabia was a
real h o o t No liquor...no beer...no Auld-
Lang-Syne hot toddies more potent than
pow dered milk, which mixed with the
dust, could be brought to as pasty brew
that m ight be mixed with w ater...if you
could find any desert-side beyond a
mirage o f an oasis. Bottled water was
o n e’s best bet, and speckled with desert
dust instead o f bubbles, one could at
least think o f it as cham pagne...a bit of
m adness in the middle o f the madness!
However, tem perance and moderation
should prevail, I believe. W hile there is
an Iraqi underground, helping our troops
with videotapes and reports that are
both radiotelegraphed or brought into
Saudi Arabia by special courier, we
realize that our decision to abide by all
of Saudi Arabia custom'., is not contin
gent upon this brave group of anti-
Hussein rebels. We are instructing all
o f our troops to conform to the ways
and circum scribed dress o f the very
nation we have come to help...indeed
the price o f oil and how to save it for the
Saudis is our prime focus for being
there, it is not?
1 cannot goose-pim ple with de
light when President Bush announces
his virtuous stance to prevent a dictator
like Saddam Hussein from abusing
human rights. Not because I am callous
to any abuse o f human rights, but sim
ply because 1 see too clearly the heart
break o f apartheid in south Africa run
ning its course for all these years w ith
out any com parable action on the part
of the United States to stop “ dictator
sh ip ” in its tracks!
Are we to believe Bush is sincere
with a scorecard in front o f us that
shows his waffling in situations that
were equally reprehensible, yet were
sidestepped by him without any direct
action or intervention?
W hile O peration Desert Shield has
hyped “ doing the right thing” against
the tyrant Hussein, recruitm ent has not
been up to expectations. The army re
ports itself twenty percent short o f its
goals, and the Navy fell twelve percent
below expectations with a greater dip
projected.
Statistics do not tell the entire
story...certainly there is a more consid
ered attitude among young people about
dying when it com es as a risk for som e
one else’s cause. The emotional les
sons learned in Vietnam linger. W ag
ing an unpopluar w ar is not about to
become the trap for President Bush
whose threatened deadline before the
United Nations o f January 15 to scare
Hussein into releasing Kuwait has al
ready been deferred.
But the scuttlebutt of what it’s really
like to sit in the middle o f the desert,
and suffer and endure Saudi A rabia ac
cording to its Moslem tenets an disci
plines, has had to trickle down to the
buddies left at home, re-enforcing them
to join the side o f peace rather than
aggression that could lead to a bloody
war.
As am azing num ber o f new paci
fist groups have surfaced, among them
one that em otionally supports the men
and women among their families now
in service while it actively petitions for
them to come hom e w ithout deaths or
casualties.
A call to thinking, rather than a
call to arms can prove the turning point
against ringing down the final act of
mayhem on this planet culm inating in
raining upon us all the prophecies of
Revelations.
The January 1991 issue o f the
Reader’s Digest, one o f the middle-
road all-A m erican-cheering section for
our nation, reveals some startling facts.
(How We Appeased A Tyrant by R a
chel Finch, January 1991).
W ith a year-by-year chronology
dating back to 1980, the facts speak
with a roar of how we appeased the oil
producing country helmed by Saddam
Hussein.
Briefly:
*1980-Iraq bombs Iran...France
honors agreement: S I.6 billion in arms
sales for Iraq...helps Saddam “ develop
the peaceful” O siraq nuclear reactor’s
capability.
Saudi Arabia deplores Israel’s strike
to incapacitate the O siraq nuclear
plant...and Bush backs Saudi Arabia
among W estern leaders deploring the
strike.
*1982-U.S. state departm ent re
moves Iraq from its list o f terrorist
nations. Saddam builds underground
bases for the air force.
*1983-German medical supplier
Karl Kolb Gmbh constructs six “ pesti
cide plants” for Saddam. Saddam
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No War!
Said King: "We Southerners, Negro and
white, must no longer permit our heritage
to be dishonored before the world...We have
the duty to remove from political domina
tion a small m inority that cripples the eco
nomic and social institutions of our country
and thereby degrades and impoverished
everyone.”
Labor Salute to
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Keynote speaker APRI National President, Norman Hill,
New York, New York
January 18th 1991 Breakfast, Northwest Oregon Labor
Council ,The Oregon A FL-CLO , LERC State Fed, APRI (Port
land Chapter) and other labor organizations
PO RTLAND OBSERVER
Joyce Washington
Operations Manager
Gary Ann Garnett
Business Manager
Leon Harris
Editorial Manager
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health care, ju st like us. They d o n ’t
w ant w ar, but they will fight to defend
their country against an A m erican in
vasion,” he said. He added that he and
a delegation o f 20 A m ericans who had
brought m edical supplies were warmly
received by the people and officials in
both Jordan and Iraq.
In a dram atic m om ent, Job un
folded a body bag on the stage. Ex
plaining that w hile he did not want to
offend “ m others and fathers who have
children stationed in Saudi Arabia, ’ ’ he
wanted the audience to see a real body
bag to drive home the point that “ if we
d o n ’t prevent w ar in the M iddle East,
thousands o f these body bags will be
coming home with the bodies of our
children in them .”
G retchen K afoury, the newly-
elected City Commissioner, announced
that she would introduce a resolution
against the use o f m ilitary force in the
Persian G ulf at the next meeting before
the M ultnom ah Board o f County
Com m issioners. She wondered why
people were not “ m ore outraged and
m ilitant” about the m ilitary build-up
in the M iddle E ast by the Bush adm ini
stration.
(USPS 959-680)
OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION
Established in 1970
Alfred L. Henderson
Publisher
31T-16<
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Reinvestments
Community
What Happened to Minority Business?
By P ro fesso r M cK inley B u rt
W hen a black business fails,
the situation is not like a certain sol
em n occasion in the great hall of
“ Lloyds o f L ondon,’’ no grave and
austere official bangs his gavel to
bring all activities to a halt as the
traditional ringing o f an ancient ship’s
bell precedes the announcem ent that
a vessel has been lost at sea. Business
gone-gone business. Another statis
tic.
Let us get on with our analy
sis. W hen I described the operation of
the black lum ber broker last week, I
should have connected this success
with the advice I gave to my minority
business students at Portland State
University:’Expand your horizons-join
the cam pus business clubs-engage in
extra-curricular activities, associate
with students o f other ethnic groups
when possible or com fortable, gener
ally, they have superior information
sources-exploit those contacts. This
‘netw orking’ is the American way,
w hatever your opinion o f the m at
ter.”
In the particular case, this
black lum ber broker had established
a friendship with a w hite teammate
on the Stanford basket ball squad.
They frequently exchanged visits at
their respective homes. W hen they
graduated with business degrees, the
w hite father, a w ealthy lumberman,
decided he would set them both up in
business. A fter an on-the-job learn
ing period in San francisco the black
young man was financed in purchas
ing an available Portland opportunity
in specialized “ R edw ood” markeL
An everyday occurrence in
the nation’s business world-except for
the ‘color schem e.’
Now, when we posed the question,
" Is your Government User Friendly?”
(title o f O ctober 17 A rticle), we could
have told you this: a LO T DEPENDS
ON YOU! Consider the scenario as
you are directed (encouraged) to in
terface with any or all o f a host of gov
ernm ental institutions, all with the
advertised goal o f bringing m inori
ties and women into the economic
mainstream o f Am erica. W here to
em bark? Small Business A dm inistra
tion-Business Incubator-M inority Set
Asides-Lease G uarantees-Specific
program s o f various Public Agencies
or Large Corporations?
There are, o f course, many
advisors and consultants around, some
independent, but m ost em ployed or
contracted by the agencies named
above. You must understand, how
ever, that few if any o f these persons
have had ‘real-tim e’ successful busi
ness experience-m eeting payrolls,
m arketing a product, or m aking a
profit (if so, they would still be in
business!). M ost have sim ply met the
required employment criteria o f a civil
service exam w ritten by a ‘non-busi
ness person-or have dem onstrated an
ability to ‘successfully relate’ in some
social com m un i ty service area. A year
or two o f college business courses is
quite acceptable, as is knowing som e
one already on board.
These points should prom pt
a consideration that ‘you’ may be in
m ind rather than the system , when the
judgm ent is pronounced, “ Designed
To F ail.” The more prelim inary re
search and investigation perform ed,
the better and more detailed inform a
tion and advice you will receive when
firstentering the system. Usually your
initial contact will quickly refer you
to some one more knowledgeable when
realizing that he is inadequate to the
occasion. This is not always the case
and often one loses a great deal o f
valuable time in such a situation. It is
best to allow a good measure o f ‘lead
tim e’ in all phases o f your projecL
You may think it o f little
consequence that you have neither
the required capital or experience p re
requisite to success in the particular
business enterprise. “ A fter all they
know I’m a m inority, and if 1 had all
th a t‘good s tu f f I w ouldn’tneed them
anyw ay.” You would be surprised at
how many enter the system with this
attitude; I encountered dozens o f them
in the business classes I taught.
"Reinvestments in the Community" is a weekly column appearing
in API publications throughout the USA.