European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 12, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes sunday August 12,1990 a William f. Buckley noon in and time to tame Iraq it is rather pleasant to be facing a world crisis in which the contending party neither has a nuclear bomb rior Access to an ally with a nuclear bomb. It is genuinely Good news that the soviet Union instantly deplored iraqis doing the kind of thing the soviet Union tried to do in Afghanistan and this fusion of strategic concerns gives grounds for cautious optimism. What it tells us in simple language is that we can proceed As we think Best without a vision of the russian Bear in the background drooling a nuclear drool. Meanwhile we have to Cope with Saddam Hussein. George Bush began the Day by saying that he had ruled out military Force. He ended the Day by saying that military Force was an option. The Rule in these matters is use As Little Force As is necessary decisively to tip the Scales in your favor. That formula can Sanction the heavy use of military Force. Is it acc Cussary although Iraq has a few defensible arguments in its quarrel with Kuwait about this or that surface or subterranean Boundary it is engaged in a Clear act of aggression. And the temptation to overwhelm the entire Arab Peninsula is obviously great. The saudis could not last two weeks against a massive iraqi offensive. T1ie key to the question is saudi Arabia. Here arc the critical figures. In round numbers Iraq produces 3 million barrels of Oil per Day which is the same As Iran. Kuwait produces 1.5 million barrels and could easily produce 2.2 million barrels per Day. Now the saudis Are coming in with 5 million barrels per Day Down from the 10 million they were Selling at the height of Opecz a reign in the Early 1980s. The saudis can instantly increase their production to 7.5 million barrels in route to the. 12.5 million barrels per Day the saudis plan to be pumping at the end of a the decade. The talk is of Boycott. If the West could bring it off a Boycott of current kuwaiti production and of iraqi production the loss would be 4.5 million barrels a Day. The saudis could almost immediately make up one half of that and there is Little doubt that Venezuela Nigeria Mexico and great Britain could make up the the least nato should guarantee Leon Daniel the Independence of saudi Arabia. To do this would mean. . Naval Power positioned in the Strait of Hormuz As it is now being positioned nato member Turkey shutting Down the iraqi pipeline at its end of the world which it has done and the saudis shutting Down the second pipeline to the red sea which has not yet been done. This would appear to be a fairly simple if not formalistic aggregation of forces in Neutral Alliance with one another. Turkey is a member of nato the saudis understand clearly the nature of the iraqi threat and the United states is already committed both to the Freedom of movement on the seas and to punishing aggression. But there Are complications. Iran has been cozy with Iraq notwithstanding the decade Long War Only just now completed and it is not absolutely predictable what Iran would do in the event we blockaded iraqi Oil. And then of course the formal anti Israel Alliance in the Mideast has become a formal . Alliance so that Syria the emirates saudi Arabia and even Yemen Are divided on the question whether to help or to tolerate Iraq As the indisputable dominant presence in the Mideast or to continue to be thought of As victims of a Alliance. The first alternative then is to tighten the economic noose. It should not take Long provided our natural partners joined in the Effort. The loss of $80 million per Day is not something the iraqis could stand for very Long. There Are dramatic alternative scenarios military in nature. These should be carefully explored and one Hopes that in the White House there is in operation As we write something equivalent to the round the clock team that sat to face the october 1962 missile crisis. What we can do militarily laymen done to know. And experts Are generally wrong in their projections As they were wrong in projecting the difficulties of invading Grenada. We have Israel to thank for iraqis empty nuclear Larder. So we could do our Best on the military front. Clearly it is in the interests of every country that depends on Mideast Oil to tame Iraq now. Because the kuwaiti question entirely to one Side we Are dealing with a country whose ruler desires to be Able to set the Price of Oil always everywhere. C Universal press . Should demand that saudis admit reporters the . People have a right to news coverage of Ihei wars. That simple proposition should be patently obvious even to wooden Heads in the Pentagon. But . News Media have been barred from saudi Arabia As the United states deploys its forces there. The Pentagon said it honoured a saudi request to keep the Media out. That wont Wash. It Vyvyen the . People Send their men Oil to fight they want reporters and photographers to go with them. A americans believe War is too important to leave to generals. Taxpayers bankrolling their government a a military operations figure they have a right to know How their Money is being spent. The Pentagon brass needs to be told that the Media Are the eyes and ears of the citizenry which is entitled to close up reporting of the largest . Military operation since the Vietnam War. We Are not reassured when network anchors decked out in their combat duds repeatedly boast that they Are coming to us a Ali e and cl11ect Iron the Middle 1 ast. Watching those to Fellows Bounce excitedly from one irrelevant dateline to another is amusing but not instructive. Newspaper readers and television viewers at Home Are better served by shoe leather reporters and camera Crews who accompany the grunts. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said the saudis a have their own rules and regulate is and requirements and they establish the ground rules under which people have Access to cover activities inside the with a straight face Cheney insisted a a that a not something we have control baloney it was Cheney who Quot persuaded the saudis to permit the United states to spill its blood and spend its treasure in the kingdom if necessary to save it. Surely the defense Secretary could have mustered guts to inform the saudis that the . Media would be going along to do its Job. Unfortunately there always have been too Many brass hats who prefer to prosecute their wars with no one watching. During the Panama invasion . Officials kept the official Quot press Pool far from the action. I was one of those journalists finally admitted to Grenada after the invasion was completed. During the Gulf War i was expelled from Bahrain by its government for .-style reporting. The same kind of reporting got me booted out of Thailand during the Indochina War. In Vietnam some of us in the press corps had our Battles with the . Military but it must be acknowledged that the brass there generally permitted us Access to the action. As a result the Vietnam War was covered in depth. There Are still some bozos in the Pentagon who falsely blame the Media for the loss of the Vietnam War. It is True that in depth coverage of that War spurred demands for a halt to the killing and maiming of american youngsters. Most americans supported president Bush when he ordered a massive military operation to protect saudi Arabia from iraqi aggression. But the president needs to be reminded that if the United states has a War the . People will Damn Well demand that their Media cover it. Chief up Cor respondent Daniel utes from Washington
