European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 8, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                An iraqi Engineer looks Over papers at an oilfield in an area called rash Diya a few Miles Northeast of Baghdad. Since hostilities began in Early August an embargo has Cut off Oil exports from Iraq. Crisis in the Gulf not troubled yearning for greatness Iraq s identity Gap by Elaine Sciolini new York times behind a Pale Brick Fence on the outskirts of the iraqi Village of quran sits a Small gnarled Apple tree with a double trunk. A Bronze plaque tells visitors they have reached the Garden of Eden. But this unassuming shrine is Little More than a tourist trap for weekend picnickers. There is after All another Garden of Eden in Syria and nobody can be sure where the real site is. The existence of this tree and the claims made for it illustrate a Force that drives president Saddam Hussein s Iraq a yearning for greatness amid uncertainty about its very identity. Over the years the 53-year-old Saddam has used ruthlessness and cunning As he reaches for two sometimes contradictory goals the shaping of Iraq into a modern nation state and the building of a revolutionary iraqi regime at the Vanguard of a pan Arab movement. The task has been daunting. Iraqis population of 17 million is split first Between an Arab majority and a kurdish minority and again Between a sunni minority and a shiite majority. What Faisal the first hash emite King of Iraq said in the Early 1930s still has a ring of truth Quot i say in my heart full of sadness that there is not yet in Iraq an iraqi  before his misstep into Kuwait Saddam was emerging As the Arab worlds most influential a and feared a Leader. Perceived As the Winner in the eight year War with Iran he seemed to be focusing on the Post War reconstruction of his country and pursuing a More pragmatic foreign policy. But when he suddenly shifted course and pinned Iraq s future to his ability to get away with seizing Kuwait and its Oil wealth Saddam became a victim of both his isolation and his Success. Geographically Iraq is Remote and landlocked except for a narrow outlet to the persian Gulf and historically it has been isolated from the outside world in a Way that seafaring countries such As Egypt Turkey or Lebanon never were. This predisposition toward cultural isolation was strengthened by the emergence of the baath party which swept away a Western educated elite when it seized Power and turned Iraq into a one party police state in the late 1950s and 1960s. Today the party s Leader is Saddam Hussein the product of a Small Village that values tribal loyalties and blood ties. He travels Little outside Iraq and surrounds himself with a few trusted advisers afraid to bring him bad news. His regime has glorified a a and manipulated a the country s Distant past and Saddam appears to have come to believe in his own legend. Nebuchadnezzar the ancient babylonian King who destroyed Jerusalem in the 6th Century b.c., is portrayed As a great iraqi Patriot who dealt effectively with the zionist problem. Saladin the medieval moslem Warrior who fought  Christian crusades is shown As an Arab hero even though he was a kurd whose family emigrated from Armenia. In some of the 20-foot posters around Iraq Saddam is likened to both. Quot there s a great Pride in the voices of iraqi officials when they talk about Iraq As the Center of Power through the centuries Quot says Richard w. Murphy the assistant Secretary of state for near Eastern and South asian affairs through most of the Reagan administration. Quot for them Saddam has been the most natural of  because of the War with Iran Saddam had become the world s largest buyer of arms on the International Market and the commander of the strongest army in the Arab world. He had a dominant voice in open. His threat last april to Quot scorch half of Israel Quot with chemical weapons if it attacked Iraq was cheered by those arabs who had grown disenchanted with the Pace of Progress on the palestinian Issue. Certainly he had become a dominant Power in the Middle East but he also had a narrow world View this combination seems to have been crucial in the miscalculation that he could invade Kuwait and get away with it. The question of boundaries is one example of How he and the rest of the world have misunderstood each other. For Saddam As for other Arab Gulf leaders boundaries have never meant much. Until 1920, when it became a British mandate Iraq was not even a country. Its Borders Are artificial lines drawn in the Sand by Britain and reflect the interests of the great Powers of world War i not the aspirations of the iraqi people. As a consequence Turkey and Iran have repeatedly clashed with Iraq Over territory similarly iraqis Borders with saudi Arabia and Kuwait have always been in dispute. In one sense Saddam a invasion was the latest chapter of an age old rivalry Between Egypt and Mesopotamia for regional dominance this time Saddam was trying to claim the Mantle of Egypt a Gamal Abdel Nasser As the revolutionary Leader of the Arab world. He justified the invasion by attacking not Only traditional nemeses like Israel and foreign domination but also by pitting poor arabs against the Rich Royal families of the persian Gulf. Quot there is a discrepancy Between the ancient glories of Babylonia and the arabian nights that iraqis read about in their textbooks and the grim reality of the present Day Quot says Phebe Marr a historian and author who lived for several years in Iraq. Quot they know they were once at the Center of the universe and that portraits of Saddam Hussein Iraq a a president since 1979, Are everywhere in Baghdad. Not knowledge has compelled them to modernize and aspire to greatness. When Kuwait refused to pay for iraqi blood that was spilled for All the Gulf arabs Saddam Felt justified in taking what they would not give  Saddam May have convinced himself that he had a legitimate territorial claim on Kuwait. In the 1870s, when both Kuwait and Iraq were part of the ottoman Empire the ottomans loosely attached the Sheik Dom of Kuwait to Basra part of which was incorporated into modern Iraq. And in 1961, within Days of kuwaiti Independence Iraq announced plans to Annex Kuwait a a move thwarted Only by the arrival of British troops on kuwaiti soil and censure by the Arab league. Married to the tenuous territorial claim were Saddam a distaste for the Rich monarchs who had helped bankroll his War with Iran and his obsession with obtaining guaranteed Access to the persian Gulf. During the Iran Iraq War Iran had closed his Access to the sea by sealing the Shatt Al Arab the waterway that divides the two countries. Saddam wanted insurance that he would never be landlocked again. For years Saddam had Page 16 a a a the stars and stripes saturday september 8,1990