European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 8, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a the stars and stripes saturday september 8, 1990 columns a a a .1 Flora Lewis outsiders have right to intervene in Gulf crisis t w whatever the outcome of the persian Gulf crisis the Middle East landscape is being rearranged. The fragile status quo with its intricate web of feuds alliances and Hedges has been upset and will not be restored. The palestinian Issue remains. But the Plo s Yasser Arafat has undone years of his own energetic diplomacy. He had Long flirted with Baghdad but still tried to straddle assorted Arab rivalries and court the West. One sentence ended the whole Campaign. The Plo news Agency Wafa reporting his latest message to the occupied territories quoted Arafat a we can Only be in the Camp hostile to Israel and its imperialist allies who have mobilized All their sophisticated War machine not to come to anybody said but to protect their own so much for the peace initiative the desire for negotiations the recognition of Israel. King Hussein of Jordan has caught himself in a hopeless bind. His Long frustration with the . For failing to impose an israeli palestinian solution led him to help Baghdad in Hopes his support would be returned. Now if Saddam Hussein loses the King has been on the wrong Side. If he wins which he wont he will eat up King Hussein whose Cousin was King of Iraq until a bloody coup in 1958. King Hussein has been counting on Israel to protect him from his dangerous Friend. But the forces unleashed could bring about the establishment of a palestinian state in Jordan the dream of Srael Sariel Sharon. The Gulf emirates and even saudi Arabia will emerge shaken at Best. Various would be conciliators have suggested a pan Arab fund to collect All Oil revenues and share them among Arab countries on a per capita basis. Its a utopian idea Given Arab politics and the Oil states Reliance on Money. But it does reflect the deep resentments of the Many at the fantastic riches of the few derived from simply sitting on a Arab it was Money and its Power that drove Saddam to invade Kuwait in the first place. A Well informed iraqi businessman says Baghdad spent $300 billion in the 1980s, mostly on War and now has debts of Over $100 billion not Only to Gulf arabs and the West but to the soviet Union $6 billion and such countries As the Philippines and India. In february Saddam gave notice of his intentions at a meeting with his allies of the Arab cooperation Council in Amman. He told them he needed $30 billion right away and that if it Wasny to forthcoming he would know How to get it according to Arab sources who understood that to mean Kuwait. The Summit broke up in disarray. But nobody said or did anything to make Saddam suppose he get away with it. An iraqi Diplomat Loyal to the iraqi Leader told me after the invasion that there was no Choice. It was Saddam a neck at stake he said. If he did no to get the Money his Oil income would go to servicing the debt a and then we would be like he implied that that would be the end of the regime. Done to expect Saddam to give up the Golden egg laying Goose voluntarily in negotiations. That is Why the soviet proposal for an International conference on the Middle East be More ill timed. There Isnit a Chance of agreement on anything until the conflict is sorted out and new players come to the table with new hands. The proposal sounds More like a gesture to show soviet desire to stay in the diplomatic game without getting into the fight than a serious idea. Nonetheless sundays Bush Gorbachev Summit meeting is encouraging. The new soviet american alignment on the Gulf is of enormous importance in moving toward an orderly International regime and can be crucial in facing the difficult problems of establishing some new stability in the Region when the crisis finally ends. That May Well have been another of Hussein a miscalculations. Once he realized there Wasny to going to be a superpower confrontation in his area a that there was no More cold War reason for the two to intervene against each other a he apparently surmised they intervene at All in what he pretends is a strictly Arab affair. Of course As Arafat said the outsiders a including Arab states a Are intervening to protect their own interests. They have a right to enforce the United nations taboo on blatant aggression even though they Haven to always observed it themselves and to take seriously Saddam a threat to the world Power balance which is ultimately about his developing nuclear weapons As Well As Oil. But regardless of . Resolutions they can to put the Middle East humpty dumpty Back As it was. Then it will be time for a conference. C naw York Tii Tibb William Safir Mideast Burden sharing mostly a pipe dream a mischievous typesetter in the Carter Era looking at a headline Over an editorial that read a fall must share the Burden Quot rebelled at the dreary cliche and substituted a headline of embarrassing truth a Mush from the the coalition of concerned isolationists Sci a its Symbol an Ostrich burying its head in a line in the Sand a has found a Way to strike a Tough pose while beginning to complain about the removal of Saddam Hussein a fall must share the this unassailable truism cloaks a resentment at our being involved at All the secret dream is to let the saudis hire the israelis to do it. Here Are four graphs on Burden sharing from a two decade supporter of the Mansfield amendment 1. Money the $8-a-barrel Rise in Oil prices since the invasion combined with the 2-million-barrel-a-Day increase in production by the emirates and the saudis Means added profit to them of $3 billion a month a third of that from the United states alone. That Windfall should be for Protection not profiteering All Money generated by the blockade of iraqi kuwaiti Oil should be a screwed in the overthrow Saddam fund. 2. Arab participation the states to Benefit most from the realignment of the Arab world Are Egypt our ally and Syria our bedfellow. Cairo should put 50,000 soldiers in saudi Arabia soon if it wants to assume Arab leadership Damascus should mass its 4,000 tanks on its iraqi Border to Force Saddam to split his forces. 3. European troops Turkey a nato member has a Long Border with Iraq. Nato forces should be moved quickly from facing the soviets to natos Southern flank to face its new military economic threat. Ships planes and French tokenism Are not enough unless nato nations Are willing to put soldiers on the new front line the United states will Speed its nato draw Down. 4. Soviet double gaming or. Bush should Tell or. Gorbachev to choose sides. A thousand russians Are even now teaching iraqi troops How to use the most Modem soviet equipment to kill americans not Only should they be withdrawn forthwith but the largest army in the world should participate actively in the world police action. How a that for Burden sharing to the extent that freeloaders defect beg off and Gold Brick we can grumble and retaliate a but not Lay Down the Burden. That is because our vital National in Terest lies in keeping a proven aggressor and Poison Gasser from becoming a nuclear Power. Now we can address a Trio of optimistic assumptions that afflict the self negotiators of Sci 1. Saddam Hussein can be persuaded to leave Kuwait if Only we give him a Fig Leaf a like knocking Over the kuwaiti rulers with a permanent payoff from kuwaiti Oil profits a doves Hope he will be a reasonable fellow. But he has burned his Bridges in giving Back his iranian waterway Conquest. Without Kuwait he has no Gulf outlet this is not Only a matter of a face a but Plain Power and Money. He wont Budge. 2. A blockade will make him reasonable. He put his people through eight years of privation in War with Iran for no gain and remains in Power. As we starve Iraq he will starve our hostages on to the Krueler Side will win and that is not our Side. 3. Patient squeezing will get him to close his Poison Gas plants and Stop building nuclear bombs. This notion at the base of every Sci editorialists proposed Deal elevates Wishful thinking to world class self Delu Sion. Why on Earth should he give up the fearsome Power that has made him the most dangerous Man in the world when has a despot Bent on dominance Ever voluntarily emasculated his source of terror incredibly Secretary of state Baker encourages daydreams of a tamed Saddam by proposing an open ended sojourn a a Gulfo or regional persian Gulf organization patterned on nato a to a a contains rather than defeat the iraqi dictator. Westerners would sail about in air conditioned warships while neighbourhood troops would patrol his Borders for decades. The Gulfo notion is As divorced from reality As the concerned isolationists dream that peaceful squeezing will cause the aggressor to regurgitate Kuwait and disarm. Gulfo is being advanced to conjure a vision of a Deal that fails to Deal with Saddam a nuclear buildup a a false Promise of a fall sharing the Burden of containment forever. The typesetter rightly recognized this As impish Mush. Either the Butcher of Baghdad will be Defeated or he will give new meaning to a the nuclear c new York times
