European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 15, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes saturday december 15,1990 Ujj x .1 so so so amp milk . Apple or Bush from the very Start his associates say president Bush was determined not to repeat in handling the hos tags taken by Saddam Hussein the mistakes Jimmy Carter made in handling the hostages taken in the name of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. By and Large Bush did profit from the lessons his predecessor Learned the hard Way and this week he got his Reward a the release of All the americans held in Iran and Kuwait. So the Issue that helped to make car Ter a one term president will not be nearly As fateful for Bush although it is far from Clear yet whether the presi Dent will emerge from the persian Gulf crisis As a whole with reputation intact. Most important Bush played Down the hostage Issue for More than four months with the exception of two or three Days just be fore the midterm elections. The rest of the time he talked about the matter As Little As possible emphasizing that it would not set the american Agenda or dictate policy and insisting that the nations business must proceed As usual. A you Only increase the value of hostages by focusing on them a said Gary sick the Point Man on hostages for Carter and who now teaches at Columbia University. A Bush lowered their w Orch. To Saddam by making it Clear that he would attack if he thought that was necessary whether the hostages were there or shortly after the Roundup of the americans last fall Bush decided to continue with his vacation As planned and his aides explained that above All he did not want to seem a a prisoner in the White House like Carter a As. One of then said at the time. For a while the administration refused even to use the word and right to the end Bush refused to have his photograph taken with the families of any hostage lest their angst become his and make dispassionate judgments harder that had happened to Jimmy Carter. A a. A Quot a a a although 1 was acting in an official capacity As president a Carter wrote in a keeping Faith in 1982, �?o1 also had deep private feelings that were . The hostages sometimes seemed like part of my own family. I knew and had grown to love some of the members of their families and had visited with them m Washington and even in their hometowns around the / a but for a whole series of reasons. Bush had a much easier problem to solve than Carter did. The very fact that the country had already been through hostage crises made this one easier because it generated less press attention and a less intense Public reaction than the capture of american diplomats in Tehran a decade ago. Much As he would have liked to Carter could hardly have played Down a situation that dominated the news for More than 400 Days and had people across the country tying yellow ribbons to Trees. William f. Buckley playing Chick lessons from Carter. A ? a a Robert Hunter of the Center for strategic and International studies in Washington said a the psychological fever Over terrorism that had gripped the american people was broken in 1986.�?� Hunter who headed the Middle East staff of the National Security Council from 1979 to 1981, said the turning Point came when Ronald Reagan who had promo ised to punish hostage takers everywhere was shown to have negotiated with the iranians. A since then americans have become inured to the idea of hostage taking for better or worse a he said. Second the iraqis May have erred by taking so Many. In their hundreds they became statistics to the average american and not faces an administration official said. Also they were mostly people who had had the bad Luck to be caught in a War and not diplomats seized inside an embassy which was unheard of. Third this time the hostages constituted a Side show in effect Kcf the overriding policy question for the United states at least of getting the iraqis out of Kuwait. Last time the hostages themselves were the Issue. The situation confronting Bush would have been very different and much More difficult if Saddam had not invaded Kuwait but had taken 100 or so hostages and offered to release them in return for some policy Concession a say the convening of a major conference on. Palestinians. A. A. A. Fourth Bush knew that Saddam had ordered the taking of hostages and could order their release. Gangs of unruly youths played a role in the iranian episode and Carter could never be sure which faction in Tehran controlled the hostages. Finally the two sets of hostages were taken for different ends. In Iran they were held for Domestic purposes. In Iraq they seem to have been taken in an attempt to manipulate Public opinion in the countries opposing Baghdad a policies and perhaps in an Effort to break the Allied Hunter believes they were released after Bush agreed to talk to the iraqis a to lock out the War option by depriving Bush of the one reason a freeing their own people a that might have made americans support a others like. Bob Dole of Kansas the Senate minority Leader think they were freed precisely because Bush threatened War. Of course no one except Saddam himself can say for sure Why the iraqi Leader suddenly decided to relent but the disposition to give the president credit for playing his hand very Well is widespread in Washington. A c new York times. A Bush not getting the . The traveler absent from the country for two weeks struggles to catch 1 up on the persian Gulf controversy a few of t h e i tems i h at b u r i h t he m ind a James Jackson Kilpatrick columnist writes a the Choice on aug. 2 Vyas Clear. Bush was damned if 1re intervened and damned if he did no to. He chose to Send in the 82nd airborne division in the beginning he enjoyed a Marent widespread a support. To listen to the radio talk shows that support is slowly eroding. The presi Dent a s Upp Rov Al r a i i no h Asfa 11 e n u i e r 50 percent. He needs a boost a since those words wewri11en nov j9no Sug boost came except from the United nations a the United nations Charles Krauthammer columnist writes a it remains a principle of Denio Crattic Faith though a mystery to me that americans should care what the world thinks about american foreign policy. Indeed there is something crazy truly crazy about a Secretary of state going around the world begging and bribing a half dozen co umfries China the soviet Union,-.france and others to allow allow. A a american boys to go fight and die in the ands of Arabia yet such is the current Apie rican fascination with multilateralism that this absurd activity is considered a from Jeane Kirkpatrick a one Central fact emerges Bush is not Only trying to turn Back Saddam Hussein a aggression. Like Woodrow Wilson and Harry Truman Bush is deeply self consciously engaged in trying to create a system of global Security. A the civilized world is now in the process of fashioning the rules that will govern the new world order beginning to emerge in the aftermath of the cold War a she wrote in Newsweek. A this goal is nothing less than a world Community based on Law. When we succeed we will have demonstrated that aggression will not be tolerated. We will have invigorated a United nations that contributes As its founders dreamed we will have established principles for acceptable International conduct and the Means to enforce them. These broader objectives explain Why Bush did not choose a a libyan Solu Tioff to turn Back Saddam Hussein Why he has so often turned to the United nations and so strongly emphasized . Support for . Actions. A a William rusher columnist a Al though i personally believe a military operation is the Only solution to the problems presented by Iraq under Saddam Hussein realism compels the recognition that the air is going out of that balloon pretty so try sanctions a from George will columnist a sane tons Are a form of Force for inflicting serious pain. 4do not a warns sern put Moy Milf pm expect any nation to give up what it considers vital interests simply because its supplies of Orange Pekoe Tea run Low. But do not either bet on military Victory delivered from the air by americans with no american blood on the ground. A. A a better bet is to give today a sanctions we Civ have Sharp Teeth time to but again will sanctions work a Paul Gigot columnist for the Wall Street journal a the Nunn Sam senator commander in chief of congressional mils Tury operations hearings threatened to be a Long argument for this emerging position until Henry Kissinger showed up. Democrats had fawned All Over earlier witnesses especially dovish former generals. But the former Secretary of state spoiled the love in. He sounded like a realist among innocents. Or. Kissinger told them that economic sanctions wont do the Job they expect. I would like to believe what so Many Here believe that the sanctions will work a he said politely much to the consternation of democrats. But what did they mean exactly by sanctions a working he said be doubts sanctions will Force Saddam from Kuwait and they certainly wont disarm his missiles or nuclear weapons. Or. Kissinger who remembers Vietnam added that if one studies almost every conflict in Winch the . Was involved there is a period m which the impression is created that talk is its own in other words Esau dam and some . A special envoy we la repair to Geneva and proceed to fight Over the shape of the a would we in restricting ourselves to sanctions a in contemplating even a Compromise a he yielding to populist demagoguery prom Pat Buchanan columnist a populist demagoguery is Tia what it is to raise questions about tie launching of an undeclared War Gamst a country Halfway around the world to Rescue a Corpse called Kuwait a a c univer Oit press Syndicate
