European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 31, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Turned to Washington for a response. Quot obviously we have weaknesses and strengths Quot said Nye. Quot but the mistake Many analysts were making was to take a single anecdote illustrating american weakness such As a decline in Auto safes or the fact that the germans concluded a Deal with Gorbachev and extrapolating from that to some very Broad general conclusion that we were going Down the tubes. We still have a lot More strengths than it would be equally mistaken though for Washington decision makers to exaggerate their prowess on the basis f of this crisis ,. To be sure in the developing world military Power still counts for a great Deal and no nation can bring More of that to Bear in third world conflicts than the United states. In the developed world however where economic i might Trade surpluses and financial balances a not guns i a Are the stuff of Power Washington is still indisputably slipping behind Germany and Japan. Another belief that seems to have been deflated by this crisis is that the new Europe with its formal economic merger set for 1992, would become the world s third superpower. While the French British and Spanish have sent limited naval forces to the Gulf the French insist they will do it their Way the germans have been discussing what to do and the rest of Europe has played no role except supporting sanctions and quietly wringing their hands. The italians spaniards and greeks in particular Are highly attuned to the anti saudi pro Hussein mood in the Arab Street and want to keep their options open for the future. Or Back in the 1950s the europeans tried to portray another Arab Leader a Egypt s Gamal Abdel Nasser a As a Hitler and they feel they got badly burned by it at Suez. Save for prime minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain european statements Are devoid of the moral arguments coming out of Washington. For them this is business and business is business. Quot this crisis really exposed the hollowness of european pretensions Quot said Bernard Lewis a Princeton University historian. Quot Here was a major crisis that affected Europe far More than the United states since the europeans Are far More dependent on persian Gulf Oil than the United states. But nevertheless the great new european colossus that we have been hearing about has either been passive or responding to the american initiative and not launching anything of its but this crisis is also revealing that acting As the world s cop and persuading the american people to deals idea worries Israel by Jackson Diehl Washington Post the Prospect that the Gulf crisis May be resolved through United nations mediation has alarmed Israel s rightist government which is intent on bringing about the. Destruction of Iraq s military potential and the downfall of president Saddam Hussein. In Public senior israeli officials insist that they Are not advocating War Between the United states and Iraq. Still they say that the Middle East will remain unstable and Israel will be severely threatened if Saddam remains in Power. A a if he Quot stays in Power and retains the weapons there will be grounds for concern Here a in this Region and i think throughout the world Quot israeli defense minister Moshe Arens said in a to appearance Quot i Hope this will not be the Way the crisis commentators outside the government in Jerusalem have put the argument even More forcefully Quot in truth Quot said an editorial in the newspaper Dediot Ahrnot a successful mediation of he crisis arouses. Tear not because Israel delights in War Quot but because Quot a diplomatic Compromise for the Kuwait crisis leaving the iraqi War machine intact and bringing about the withdrawal of american forces from the Region would make the sacrifice inherent in this Rote is no easy task. Americans Are not entirely comfortable sending th5ir troops to Distant Corners of the third world for vaguely defined vital interests. Even in the crisis in Kuwait where the stakes Are Clear a Oil and evil personified in a single dictator a the president s groping was clearly in evidence when he went to the Pentagon to give his first major address justifying the intervention Quot our jobs our Way of life our own Freedom and the Freedom of Friendly countries around the world would All suffer if control of the world s great Oil reserves fell into the hands of Saddam Hussein a he told the employees generals and admirals. If was intriguing to hear the president evoke Quot our Way of life Quot As his main Motif. That is a value that was also often evoked in the struggle against communism. Quot there is one big difference though Quot said Michael j. Sandel the Harvard University political theorist. Quot when we talked about defending our Way of life in the cold War we were talking about upholding Basic democratic freedoms and society based on the Rule of Law. When Bush says that our Way of life is threatened in the persian Gulf it is not our highest values that Are threatened not our democratic principles. It is a Way of life dependent on cheap Oil and profligate Energy use to which he is the Way of life that used to be evoked in. Confronting communism was Quot something to be proud of Quot added Sandel. Quot but when Bush evokes it Here it is just a polite Way of referring to a bad which goes to the very Core of the leadership Challenge that Bush confronts. Newspapers Are Replete these Days with generally approving articles about George Bush a indeed the president has acted decisively to counter both the economic threat posed by Saddam Hussein and his threat to world stability. But the larger answer to the Gulf crisis is not simply to ask americans to confront Saddam Hussein but also to ask them to confront themselves and to live in a Way that would make the United states Energy self sufficient. Since the crisis began Bush has mentioned the Quot a word Quot a conservation a Only once. He has been decisive in compensating for America s Energy vulnerability by moving troops but he has yet to show a similar decisiveness in addressing the Root of that vulnerability by moving the nation to greater conservation. In that sense his leadership has been incomplete. Mean that we would remain Here alone with Saddam and his mad senior government officials say they believe the mediation Effort launched by the . Secretary \ general Javier Perez de Cuellar May Only derail what has been a steady buildup of . Pressure on Saddam and they privately express concern about the apparent interest of president Bush in the Effort. A aware puzzled about Bush s intentions Quot one official said. Quot we re afraid that because of the hostages he May be losing the resolve we saw until a another official close to the top leadership said that Israel does not oppose a diplomatic solution to the crisis As such but feels strongly that there can be no Compromise with Saddam. A we would like Saddam Hussein to disappear one Way or another Quot the israeli official said. Quot we believe that if there is a diplomatic solution that is forceful enough that humiliates him and weakens him enough Force May not be necessary Quot As the crisis seems to have shifted toward possible negotiation israeli officials have begun to fear that a settlement could again leave Israel with the Job of facing Iraq militarily a Challenge that could eventually plunge Israel into another devastating regional War a the whole Middle East and particularly Israel would be m grave danger Quot if Saddam survives said Zalman shovel the new israeli ambassador to the United states Quot we cold end up facing the same conflict later on under less auspicious conditions Quot. Behind this Security concern officials said an equally 24th inf div troops based at fort Stewart qa., arriving this weak in saudi Arabia aboard an american airlines dc-10 pressed into service. Intense israeli political interest motivates the antagonism to . Mediation preventing the Palestine liberation organization an iraqi ally from reversing the political and financial blows it has suffered in the crisis. In recent Days the Plo chairman Yasser Arafat has been promoting a Compromise that would involve an iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait but tie it to a . Withdrawal from the Gulf and the staging of elections for a new kuwaiti government. Though potentially attractive to Western and Arab leaders eager to avoid a potentially devastating War the Prospect of such a Compromise horrifies israeli officials because it would restore the Plo As a Power in the Region and encourage palestinians in and outside the occupied territories who have embraced Saddam As an Arab hero a you can imagine the legend that would develop that Saddam faced he whole Western world and still was not Defeated Quot one official said Quot this would cause an explosion not Only Here in Israel but also in the moderate Arab states.1 a israeli officials acknowledged that even a full scale War Between the United states and Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam could fail to change the character of the iraqi regime. According to israeli intelligence assessments Quot there is no pro Western alternative in Iraq Quot one senior official said Quot whoever succeeds Saddam very Likely will not be much belter Quot for that reason some israeli analysts believe the main objective should be to cripple Iraq As a military Power Quot Don t define it As getting rid of Saddam Quot said a government source Quot he can even a stay As a weak puppet but the main thing a. S to be to Stop Iraq As a threat to the Middle fast Quot Friday August 31, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 17
