European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 9, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saddam Hussein a Good war1by Henry Allen Washington Post. A before the persian Gulf blew up in August War in the age of the Good War was starting to look like sex in the age of Safe sex a. You  it was possible for americans to have it at All. Then on aug. 2, Saddam Hussein sent his tanks into Kuwait. It was a real War All right not some Rice Paddy Reform movement or Quot police  and it fit the. American Mold for a Good War a War Quot in. Which there was no doubt  it or a what we were fighting for or who were the Good Guys and who were the bad Guy sit was a War that could have been written by Hollywood Quot As Van Johnson who starred in a lot of world War ii movies says about that one in a documentary called going Hollywood the War years. An Arab dictator crushed a Small nation threatened to choke off our Oil Supply took american hostages sent his troops looting and raping  City got condemned by the United nations turned the United states and the soviet Union into allies for the first time since 1945 and provoked George Bush. Into comparing him to Hitler. A Bush said Quot this will not  he sent in american troops. His approval rating climbed to 82 percent in a Usa today poll. Granted we always rally around the Flag but there was something More going on with the persian Gulf. Quot it feels like the Start of the second world War Quot said an excited senior state department official in september. That was the Good War As studs Terkel titled his Oral history but after the Good War came Korea and Vietnam. They were hard to understand. They were not Good wars. Now things were understandable again. For a moment Washington made you think of John Wayne standing on the Bridge of a world War ii destroyer Barking to his engine room Quot Gimme everything a got Quot and the engine room coming through. A House majority Leader Richard gephardt., said Quot in this crisis we Are not republicans or democrats. We Are Only proudly americans. The president has asked for a a a our support. He has it Quot no one thought it Odd but when you counted up the years it was As if a civil War Veteran had been president on the Brink of world War i or a decorated Spanish american War officer had led us in world War 11 the United nations , different lands banding together like the old world War ii movie where the first sergeant asks for volunteers and he gets of Hara Koslowski Jackson Shapiro Andreotti Garcia. Was that movie Ever made or was it just a routine for stand up comics on the de Sullivan shove in a nation dispirited by a budget crisis collapsing Banks and an oncoming recession the persian Gulf looked like it. Had every Chance of being the kind of War people mean when they say Quot what we need is a Good  a then something happened or did happen. As if world War ii were turning int Vietnam a Good War into a bad War from. Sands of two Jima to apocalypse now from Hollywood canteen a China Beach. A and All of this before the War has even begun.  on an episode of designing women in late november Charlene talked about her husband who had been called away by the military Quot i have these fantasies about world War ii and everybody a part of the Effort women bought War Bonds and planted Victory gardens and went without stockings and just Drew the lines up the Back of their legs with Eyebrow Pencil. Now i done to do any of that i just ramble around my big new House and wait for the mailman. In a  the government and. That a not very patriotic., with hundreds of thousands of armed men staring at each other there Hasni to. Even been a scary overflight or a ship. Bumping Bush says Quot its not going to to another Vietnam Quot but anti War protesters Light their Vigil candles As much in memory of the Bod War of Vietnam As in fear of whatever kind of War the persian. Gulf might be they sue the executive  a sign newspaper ads. Recruiters fail to make their quotas. Congress warns of higher taxes a draft a divided country. Public approval of Bush s handling of the crisis slipped from 75 percent in late a August to 6.5 percent a month later to 55. Percent in november a it took a year of massive troop buildup and combat deaths in Vietnam for Johnson s rating to get that. Low in 1966 after Bush proposed talks with. A Iraq his showing improved slightly the country is divided As to what to do next the polls soy Quot its going to make a Lousy movie Quot says Art Buchwald. In the Cool pragmatic world of the last 50 years policy makers and strategists. Haven t thought much about cultural archetypes and notional myths. It Quot the president and the people around him have not been doing a Good Job. Continued on Page 14 wednesday january 9, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 13 a a a a a. A a. Is amp it