European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 25, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 Colu Nelns the stars and stripes tuesday september 25,1990 3est available copy Flora Lewis Saddam Isnit Only one at fault in crisis in Aris a the persian Gulf crisis has already directly affected the lives if Well Over a million people a refugees hostages military personnel residents of occupied Kuwait. Many hundreds of millions More Are or will lie Indi Rei lev Al peeled even d h Doi snot come to open War. Quot it is surreal a w at Elmie the Pel h this sudden t �1 so to Eik 11 Ali v. 1 m a in lie s pie po1i k a a k �1 r e a i an 1 e 11v of a or Ante near visitor commented re d planes and tanks on to. R to up out of a Distant desert d air Nuland the cud is not in i i o by Van with i series of Short or und it to tandems and sell a is coi Iver upon that is pie had 111 Liny i Seui Tiomi is tin 11n. . Una a in say dad april with 1�?Tiesident Saddam Hussein on july 25, alter iraqi troops were massing on the kuwaiti Border and just a week lie lore the invasion. Iraqi diplomats provided a transcript to the Washington Post in an obvious Effort to undermine president Bush but it does help explain Why Saddam now says Bush Quot went that is a Way of saying he did the opposite of what Saddam thought he had reason to expect. In an interview with the new York times the Day before the record was published Glaspie corroborated the key Point. She is an experienced widely respected professional Diplomat and chose her words with care. A i wish i had been the Only one in the world who was right Quot she said. A obviously i did no to think a and nobody else did a that the iraqis were going to take All of the important word is Saddam had been giving notice for months that he wanted Money a lots of it a to pay off his War debts and feed his coffers. L in blamed Kuwait for reducing his income by driving Down the Price of Oil with production Well in excess of its open quota and demanded compensation. Further he insisted two Small kuwaiti islands astride his Access to the Gulf and the kuwaiti part of the Ruma la Oil Field straddling their Border should be transferred to Iraq. At the open meeting two weeks before the invasion Iran saudi Arabia and others supported him in the Oil Price Rise. But he Wasny to satisfied and pressed the remaining demands. There was no sign that anybody else objected include in the United states. That is the meaning of Glaspie a saying nobody expected him to take a fall a Only the parts he already claimed. She confirmed the Many previous signals of a Strong . Administration tilt to Iraq according to the report ignoring open threats from Saddam and assuring nun i have a direct instruction from the president to seek belter relations with Irma or later the White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater confirmed that was the policy. A at that time we were trying to nurture relations with Iraq. Its very Clear As a Wink and a nod the traditional language of Middle East diplomacy. _ _ everybody else thought Saddam was bargaining Tough moving his troops to bully Kuwait into a Compromise they would endorse. He thought he had a Green Light anticipating no serious response As when he invaded Iran in 1980. All diplomacy is based on calculation of the other Side s real Between the lines communication is a specially in the conspiracy minded Middle East and this Isnit the first time it backfired drastically. Another example was the order by president Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt to withdraw . Peacekeeping forces in 1967, which he did no to think would be obeyed and the announcement that he had mined the Entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba which he Hadnot. Israel was provoked to War. Lesson one is that the higher the stakes the riskier the attempt to fiddle with words. Lesson two More important for the United states is not to confuse goals and Maneu vers. The soviet Union France some germans and the United states All helped to Over Arm and inflate Saddam Hussein to prevent Iran from exporting its Khomeini revolution. It can be argued that the iranian regime would have collapsed by now but for the National response provoked by iraqis War. In any Case it is hard to argue Why nobody queried iraqis vast arms purchases for two years after the ceasefire. As Tehran a devious flirt with its enemy now shows this is an area of shifting alliances and no allegiances. Short term moves to counter a threat May be unavoidable but they wont keep the peace for Long. World politics changes. Cruel ambitious dictators do not. This will be True after Saddam Hussein. The United states can forget that again at its peril. New York times Ellen Goodman Nota a not a bad alternative for voters Las vegas a this is not a City for the faint of heart. The one armed bandits Here do More financial damage on a Given night than the muggers in Manhattan. The gaming tables stretch across More football Fields a the current american Standard of measure a than the entire nil. For 24 hours a Day seven Days a week tourists who visit this environmental Nightmare spend their time making hard decisions and hoping for Good Luck. People come Here to put their Money where their Mouth is. But in politics the True residents of Nevada have Learned what solvent citizens must in this risky state. They have Learned to hedge their bets. When they go to pull the lever in a polling Booth the House rules allow nevadans an advantage the rest of us done to have. In statewide races they can vote for Quot none of the Nota has been a perennial candidate in this state a the Harold Stassen of Nevada politics technically called Quot none of these candidates a since 1976. It was originally introduced by then assemblyman Don Mello As a Way to fight apathy in the Post watergate climate. A we were having a hard time getting people to come out to vote Quot remembers Mello who is now retired. A i came up with the idea of letting them go and vote i took the phone Book and started calling people and asking them what they thought about the idea. I did no to find anybody who did no to like mellows original idea was that Nota would run on every ballot and if it won there would have to be another election with presumably a new set of options. The state legislature did no to go for that but Nota did win a place on the ballot. Says Mello Quot if it Hadnot been for Richard Nixon we have gotten it at fifteen years later Nota remains in the words of Robert Elliott the Deputy Secretary of state for elections a a protest to mangle grammar and politics Quot none cannot actually win. But As Elliott puts it Quot politically it would be a Complete embarrassment to lose to none of the indeed the genial Deputy counts among his blessings the fact that he is an appointed official. Nota actually topped the primary ticket of both parties in the state treasurers race four years ago. It comes in second with a regularity that is the envy of Odd makers. In 1980, in the democratic presidential primary Nota came in behind Jimmy Carter and before Ted Kennedy. In the recent gubernatorial primaries Here it took second on both tickets. Alas Nota Hasni to had As much Luck a if you will forgive the expression a in getting out the vote. Only 58 percent of the voting population in this transient growing state is registered. Only 37 percent of the registered actually turned out for the recent primary. But the popularity of Nota is not to attract new voters. It appeals perhaps most to confirmed addicted can to help ourselves voters who want some Way to Register their horror. These Days Las vegas has nothing on the rest of America in an Era when politics is described As a Gamble and covered like a horse race. Democrats and republicans seem As similar philosophically As Black and red and the voters have the feeling the deck is stacked. The old conservative hostility to government and politics is rapidly being matched or even topped by mainstream disgust. Even the Stalwart by left Wing Magazine the nation recently ran a piece favouring Quot none of the people Arentt voting for outsiders this year they re voting against insiders. There is already a sort of Nota vote. Why not the real thing if Nota wins Call another election. In my own dyspeptic state of Massachusetts party stalwarts on sept. 20 turned out in favor of Bill Weld a new York born Republican Reagan Bush supporter and John Silber a Texas bom democratic Reagan Bush supporter. The last remaining liberals Are left to choose a governor Between the aristocrat arid the autocrat. Give me nobody. For years my own perennial candidate has been Quot the lesser of two now there a Nota. In a not much of a Gambler even when surrounded by cards chips and slots. But ill bet Nevada a got a Winner in the High stakes game of politics. None of the above. Let it ride. The Boston Globe newspaper co
