European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 26, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes sunday August 26, 1990 3gjm-rg-r William Safire de a by . Just strengthens Saddam s hand w blk. A a _ t had a _ the most excruciating Choice faced by ethical people is called triage. When a Field Hospital is Over whelmed with casualties someone has to decide which of the wounded can be saved before allocating scarce " the so if anyone wondered whether the analogy of Saddam Hussein to a Precco Dussor aggressor and mass murderer a might a an ration All doubt was removed thursday when the iraqi dictator forced the world to assembled a roomful of English speaking women and children he held prisoner. Television cameras re corded the fear of the parents and teachers and the uncomprehending boredom of the children As the Smil ing Butcher of Baghdad dangled them before the word As the first to be sacrificed when the civilized world launched its counterattack. One of the dictator s uniformed goons caressed the close u � turnin8 to toward the camera for a to Chi Fiji i Len Dispi aved thursday Are Amon those Saddam plans to place at nuclear facilities and Poison Gas plants first to be taken out when the world acts to Cut out its cancer. Triage is inescapable if we negotiate with the kid Napper we would save the lives of these children at cosi of tons of thousands perhaps millions of other children sure to be incinerated when Saddam acquires nuclear bombs. President Bush s Choice i Hobson s Choice that is no Choice at All. However by. Moving quickly we can reduce the capacity of this generation s Hitler to put innocent ves at risk. Nearly 10,000 Western civilians mostly British and american Are holed up in capture Kuwait City. If Saddam gets his hands on them As he intends to they Are to be designated human tar gets and doomed. Every Day s delay increases the danger to them and strengthens Saddam s political hand. A Hun dred hostage deaths is a horror ten thousand death Sis a Hundred times horror. In coming weeks he Hopes to mobilize the families of hostages on Amer ican in paralysing the president by eroding sup port at thars Why he sends his English speaking for eign minister a Christian Forward to interviewers to Call for dialogue to Avert War As if War had no already begun. Delay works for Iraq militarily too. An assault on the Allied forces m saudi Arabia would be unwise but Orfao Cape interdiction tourists on extended vacations David Broder he can accomplish the same Mission with terrorist teams. Bush hobbled in multilateral action by the soviet Union which wants Oil prices High and is playing a double game feels he needs some suitable provocation. He May get it if Saddam errs and besieged foreign embassies in Kuwait. Our declared War strategy should be to suppress iraqi air defences. Take out War production at the 26 key targets. Launch a three front land War at the turkish syr Ian and kuwaiti Borders coincident with an internal uprising to establish an Independent Kurdistan. Increase the blockade and air attacks to stimulate riots and a coup. If we cannot win we should disband our armed forces and rely on Star wars. Saddam will probably attack Israel to shift the lose i tar but what that gains psvchologica1yft our purpose is to remove Saddam and Iraq s nuclear potential our great danger is delay. Dialogue will Lead to the death of More hostages or to appeasement and lick rid r i Uki Maine on Mand nearly in to Imam a can. I i othe Day that president Bush announced the first Call up of american military re serves since the Vietnam War the flags near his Home on Walker s Point snapped in a bracing Cool Atlantic Bree a. The pal Ette of his cherished maritime landscape was All vivid blues and greens the sea and sky and Trees and lawns glowing in the right afternoon sunlight. As the president self consciously for Mal in business suit and tie announced the latest Mobili action step in the Esca lating struggle against Saddam Hussein the contrast Between setting and action was painfully evident. I had been inclined to dismiss the arguments Over the propriety of Bush vacationing at such a moment As mean ingless. But 1 found that no one watching history unfold on this Beautiful coast can avoid thinking How the men and women Mush has sent to the airless heat of the Brown arabian desert would Welcome even live minutes of furlough time in the omd Spray on Walker s Point. I he Paradox is unique. By every Avail Able measure the american Public is Jully behind Bush As he leads an impressive International response to Iraq s naked a ies Sion and its bid to Sei a control of the worlds uial Oil supplies. The Speed and skill with Winch hush has moved cum nearly unanimous respect. But he i bothered and so Are others by a seemingly trivial but politically troublesome controversy Over his vacationing during the biggest Challenge of his presidency. On the Day before his meeting wit Secretary of defense Dick Cheney and Gen. Colin Powell the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Bush attended a Golf Outing that raised $200,000 for there election Campaign of Maine gov John r. Mckernan or. Mckernan found the president preoccupied not with the military or diplomatic situation in thei persian Gulf but with the controversy ignited by a series of newspaper and Tele vision stories about his determination not to cancel his Holiday plans because of the tension in the world. He kept coming Back to the subject Mckernan told me the next Day. He said the Public did t disapprove of what he was doing hut the Media keep Harp ing on it. He said. They re even polling people on whether 1 work hard enough he s really sensitive about Mckernan said he marvelled at the Effort Bush was making not to react to provocative questions. When a reporter who was part of the Small journalistic Pool allowed close to the Lund raise event shouted Al the president s Golf cart Saddam save Vouge like Hitler what do you say to that Mckernan said bus bit his he but stayed silent. But when another reporter said of i see we resetting the cold shoulder today the governor said the president winced. The tension was confirmed in a brie visit to the summer White House press Camp Here where reporters wince at what they take to be Bush s insensitivity to appearances. No one suggests that the president has lost control of the persian Gulf Situa Tion by coming Here or that his decision making is hampered by his location. His communication with others in govern ment is unimpaired and his worldwide Telephone diplomacy has continued at a Breakneck Pace. The reporters Here know that and yet they Are bothered As some Republican politicians i be talked m Are bothered by the appearance that a notably luxurious lifestyle goes on unaltered for the president while thousands of others Are being wrenched out of their routines and sent to Distant and dangerous Battle stations. Bush s reasons Are plausible enough he does not want to give Saddam Hus Mimi the satisfaction of thinking he preoccupied the attention of the american president even if he does. Bush also does not want to become another Jimmy car captive in the White House by Middle Eastern aggressor. But the reasons go deeper than is plainly reluctant to put America on a wartime footing or even to suggest that what s happening in the Gulf de mands sacrifice by other than military families. Prompted by a reporter he gave a most perfunctory plea for Energy conservation and immediately undercut it by. Saying he d certainly continue to enjoy spins in his speedboat. That kind of Exchange which was demeaning to Bush and bad for the coun try would never have occurred if he As usual a determined to vacation but it is his decision one that he has earned the right to make and one for which he Wii ultimately take the consequences. If Bush s Gulf policy succeeds the question of where he was standing when he ordered up the reserves will properly fade to insignificance. Ii it tails then there s not a doubt in the is Luna la la democratic nominee in1 2 will be heard saying i will never order american troops into a War one and go of on vacation the next Day for now though it s a lot More important to concentrate on reporting the policy decisions and their implications and Lettney setting speak for itself. In addition me i i
