European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 5, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday August 5, 1990 r win int George will Saddam should have been stepped on Long ago the Anesther timing Tranquility of the Post cold War world has suddenly been driven away by iraqis emphatic reminder of the nature of the pc cold War world. This Echo of the preceding 30 or so Conlu pics suggests How much like the past the future May be. It is tempting but misleading to compare the strutting Saddam Hussein to Mussolini and thereby diminish Saddam making him seem As Mussolini now  the obscuring mists of history More  than menacing Mussolini was the very Junior partner in the Axis and was last seen hanging from his heels at a Milan Gas station Saddam too is unlikely to die old venerated in dignified retirement or in his sleep. But he is unlike Mussolini in two significant particulars. Saddam radiates a More virulent and personal viciousness than Mussolini did. Mussolini a internal Security apparatus was evil but not As brutal As Saddam a and it is unimaginable that Mussolini would have used Poison Gas against italians As Saddam has against iraqis kurd and Saddam disposes of far Mote military might relative to neighbors than Mussolini did. However Saddam is a very 1930-ish figure. He issues ultimatums. He masses troops on International Borders ostensibly to give weight to the diplomacy of ultimatums but actually to demonstrate with contemptuous clarity that ultimatums Are perfunctory preludes to the crossing of Borders. The . Response to this particularly regarding reassurances to saudi Arabia will probably be influenced and for the better by the fact that today a president is the last of a Well schooled line. Unless Lloyd bunt san the former bomber Pilot runs and wins in 1992, George Bush the former fighter Pilot will be americans last president from the world War ii generation. To for that generation War was the enveloping formative experience and the word a a Munich is freighted with warning when it denotes analogies. The lesson of Munich was when it is necessary to confront an expansionist dictator sooner is better than later. As Gen. Douglas Macarthur said in War All tragedy can be summarized in two words a a too late Quot too late perceiving too late preparing for danger. Democracy is not As Ronald Reagan and others seem to assume the certain solvent of danger. Democracy does not necessarily Render a society Pacific just As a dictatorship for example Francois Spain docs not necessarily Manifest aggressive dynamism. But democracy docs generally help domesticate nations. Therefore it is Well to note the following democracy has recently been sprouting Here there and it almost seems everywhere Between the cracks in the crumbling Concrete of despotism. It has Bee Nandrew j. Glass Marie East Udney we5 sprouting not Only in the soviet Union and Eastern Europe but in latin America too. However the world still Waits and watches without grounds for near term Hope for the first democracy in the so called a Arab  in the 42 years since Israel was established on one sixth of 1 percent of the land in a the Arab world a the reaction in the Region to the existence of the jewish state has been unanimously hostile. This unanimity has obscured the fact that the phrase a the Arab world Quot is Only a geographical not a political expression. The most Enven Omed and bloody relationships and most volatile confrontations do not into acc Israel. The a blame Israel first and last and in Between Quot brigade is Large and growing Here and abroad. But it should be Given pause by Saddam. Iraqis act is redundant avid Cnoc of this truth the existence of Srael and of a the palestinian question Quot usually has precious Little a and often As in this Case nothing a to do with the largest and most dangerous doings in the Middle East. Today it is especially apparent that Israel is the All purpose but implausible Alibi for the various pathologies that convulse Many Arab nations and relations Between them. History will record More clearly than did conic to Rary journalism the fact that in the 1980s Iraq and Iran fought one of the major wars of this Century of big wars. But the War raged most of the time outside the Range of television cameras and was therefore largely outside the consciousness of the West. This week however the West should remember with gratitude recent history a single most effective and beneficial act of arms control israelis 1981 bombing of Raqu a embryonic nuclear weapon program. And this week it is Wise to acknowledge that the world became More dangerous because nothing much happened after Iraq used Poison Gas against Iran. The regime of International restraint sometimes called International Law was significantly weakened by the weakness a the virtual invisibility a of the worlds response. Israel noted that non response and concluded not for the first time this the unthinkable Isnit. The Washington past a Clefs group stopping Iraq will take world action not rhetoric iraqis invasion of Kuwait shapes up As the first major crisis of the Post cold War world. It has shredded the thin veil of Arab Unity and it threatens to harm nations far removed from the persian Gulf. A Ever since the a relish ceded their Paramount military role East of Suez in the Early 1960s, Baghdad strongmen have East a covetous o on iraqis Small but Oil Rich Southern neighbor. But these ambitions had been held in Check by Iran its powerful i in Al to the East. A in the 1970s. The United Stales pumped sophisticated weapons into pre revolution i Iran hoping that nation would Sere As an effective bulwark against soviet expansion minded designs into the persian Gulf. Moscow firmly countered these Moes by providing Iraq s president Saddam Hussein will an equally extensive Arsenal. While Iraq s Wear War with Iran exhausted both societies the iraqis came out on top. Some % i it billion of their $n0 billion War debt was underwritten by Kuwait. 1 hey were eager along with saudi. Arabia to Cheek the spread of the Shute fundamentalist tide evoked by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. A this is what we got for being neighbourly and Friendly Quot said a bitter Sheik Saud Nasir Al Sabah. Kuwait s ambassador to Washington. Kuwait s repeated timidity in the face of escalating iraqi threats apparently helped Lull intelligence officials in Washington Ami in the Middle East into believing that no assault would occur prior acts of intimidation had inevitably led to substantial Clandestine kuwaiti payoffs to Baghdad officials noted. This time however Saddam spurned the Hank account and grabbed instead Tor the Hank. In doing so. The iraqi Leader seemed to employ several maxims from a manual for rogue dictators. Saddam lied in promising egyptian president Llose Mubarak that lie would not invade. That false oath persuaded much of the Arab world that the crisis would he contained. Kuwait in urn pledged to adopt new ill t a to production quotas  would Hoo the Cartel and help lift Sag. Would Ciu prices while putting added pressure on fragile Western economies. Pressure came also in the form of phony claims on kuwaiti territory Saddam charged Kuwait s foreign minister with being on the payroll of the Cia. And he accused Kuwait of taking part in a zionist conspiracy a the harshest charge one a a brotherly Arab nation can hurl against another. One Middle East expert Helmut Sonnenleld of the Brookings institution suggested that these moves were All aimed at overthrowing longstanding Power relationships in the Region. The intended losers Are Egypt a Mubarak vrho has dealt with the israelis and Syria s Hale. Assad a longtime Saddam rival. A what we must do is to convince other Arab slates that it is not a foregone conclusion that they ought to succumb to Saddam a desire to Lead the Arab  said Sonnenfeldt. But Tor the rest of the Arab world to stand up to Saddam and is Hulhon Man of my will i Imp non pm rhetoric the is Bea i a it annul arabs. Saddam Scall for higher Oil revenues is widely shared As Are fears of Post Khomeini Iran the big difference in this Case is that Washington and Moscow for once share a common interest in curbing what president Bush called a naked  Kuwait has served As Moscow s looking Glass on the Middle East. Moreover Israel which Hussein has threatened with chemical weapons also holds that a firm International response is needed. In Many world capitals diplomats and generals Ponder their options. Any iraqi seizures of foreign nationals May narrow them. Bui what form beyond Mere words a joint response May take remains to be seen. Cix a Zug. A cacti i he opinion expressed in the columns and cartoons Oil this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of i he stars and stripes or the United states government