European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 24, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday february 24, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 15 commentary Sydney h. Schanberg lest to mislead us on what War is really about so Here we Are again. Heigh to Heigh to its off to War we go. It looks so stirring on television so perfectly arranged so easy the afr machines Spear through the sky overhead a sleek Pterodactyl extinct flying reptile that have been Hunting and killing their prey for five weeks almost without sleep. And now we see Quot tilt Nir screens the ground machines Remote and impress a those rows upon rows of tanks gliding across Tom Lesert for their rendezvous with the event that destroys life. Our Leader goes to Church perhaps for Comfort and strength but certainly not to find moral backing. For War a whatever justification its authors attach to it whatever necessity is its incubator a can never be called an act of morality. It has to be explained by beliefs other than the spiritual and humane. Our enemy is a cruel and vile Man. And it will be no loss to decent people when he is dead. Yet oddly our own Leader nurtured that vile tyrant for several years for expedient reasons. So now we Are going to War with him out of expediency. And All wars Are announcements that Man Nail once again failed to resolve his disputes by Means Short of destruction. Thus let us not compound our failure by giving War a pretty face with words that preachers use in sermons words about Justice and right and Good. This is the second time in just Over a month that we have walked up to War in slow motion., a a first it was the air War. Its going to come Here it comes see it come oooo ooh its Here. Look mom its on television. Wow did a Ever see such fireworks look at that sky Over Baghdad. Whereas tinker Bell now its the ground War. Its coming its coming what Day will it be listen to the music on the news shows. The Drums throb and the horns Call out All beckoning us to excitement. Ladee Eez and Genn Ulmer i Promise your hairs Gonna stand straight up Here he Quot is the one and Only in the entire world i give you Bruno Frescobaldi the Hunan Cannonball. Yes War is full of excitement. The adrenalin pumps at orgasmic Levels. But its All about death a or the Luck of cheating it. A we watch these curious debates about War ethics on the tube. We hear a a analysts say that we americans care about life and our enemy does not. Yes Saddam Hussein has a history of random Slaughter but the veiled suggestion in our self congratulation is that not Jusi Saddam but All iraqis Are careless and Wanton about human life. A a and then we hear and read from some a a experts that All islam does not hold life dear. This is supposed to make us feel better about War. That a rubbish. Talk to an islamic Mother who has lost a son to combat. As with any Mother anywhere the pain does not go away no matter what we Are told by Western experts about the moslem ability to explain away death by saying it was Allah a will. I have mentioned television often in writing about Quot this War but i done to do it to denigrate the med inf. I do it simply to try to understand and explain its role in our National life. At the Bottom television is theater and entertainment. We should not expect Community service from it or programs of lofty principle a though examples of both occur from time to time. The medium As commercial Enterprise is of necessity going to create objects of visual mythology that will put under hypnosis the largest number of viewers. And thereby it produces the largest possible captive audience for toothpaste automobiles and sneakers a y so the War programs though they do convey a form of information Are Basic silly a form of packaged theater. And if one network does no to package it As Well As another it will lose some of its audience. V. Nonetheless if we watch very closely we can see How the packagers do it. And we can even see How the. Government and other seekers of the television stage Are Able to lure the packagers into their various webs. And by seeing How the package gets wrapped and by Extension what a left out of the package we have the Opportunity not to be taken in. A we have the opt fish of selecting from television a and radio and print in the same Way a Only that which we find credible as5 distinct from dramatic or hypnotic. My suggestion is to read and watch As Many different sources of information As you can especially during times of crisis and trauma such As now. Its the Many coloured mosaic of information Jna democracy that gives individuals the Chance to reach an intelligent opinion. The problem of course is that the world is now wired for instant television so television has the capacity to exert a disproportionate influence. That a Why those Drums and horns sounding the cry of approaching War Are worrisome. A Hayif we get so stirred by the martial music that we forget what War is All about. C news Awilliam Saf Rebush must t let soviets deter allies from goal the world has begun to see Tolje conflict of interests Between the Bush admin Sli Tion which wants to defeat Saddam Hussein and the Gorbachev Fakhro Meyer regime which wants to keep its Best arms customer in Power. Not yet widely remarked on is a curious divergence within the a amp so ranks on the subject of  War and a premature peace. Not a Basic conflict certainly not an opt disagreement Bui a Subtle of Dis Simili tude in approach thu verges on a Cross purpose. Leaning one Way Ivlue president his National Security Council advisers of sense Secretary and joint chiefs. Leaning the other is the presidents closest confidant and longtime political partner the Secretary of state  tight coterie. 0 a this is not the usual who a up who a Down who a got the presidents ear in the Washington Power game. It goes beyond the Standard institutional tension Between the fudge factory and the Puzzle Palace. / the first hint of a hairline crack in the Bush Baker alter ego Hood came last fall when the Secretary proposed his notion of a Gulfo a a nato for the persian Gulf a committing . Ground forces to a generation of trouble. The White House quietly shot that Down. Recently Baker launched a bid for . Participation in a Gulf reconstruction Bank financing that the Oil Rich nations Are eminently equipped to do by themselves. That too was met with eyes rolling heavenward at 1600 Pennsylvania ave. That can be dismissed As bureaucratic free Lanc ing. V a. A a. A. But what makes this struggle of mindsets different is its Impact on policy priorities. The Secretary of state places first the continuance of a cooperative relationship with Gorbachev. While that is also a goal of the president Bush Stop priority since last August has Een to Lead the world in stopping a regional aggressor from becoming a world menace. A when those priorities were in tandem the Bush Baker teamwork was Fine. When they came into conflict the divergence developed. We saw it in the uncompromising presidential letter that the Secretary was obliged Quot to present to Tariq Aziz in Geneva. We saw it dramatically surface on the night of the state of the Union speech when Baker on his own slipped through an agreement with the new soviet foreign minister that limited our War Aims gave the soviets equal Middle East status at no Cost and provided the iraqi dictator his Fig Leaf of linkage. Grimly the surprised president Bush asserted that there was a no difference Between him and Baker but that w As a transparent diplomatic fib. L of late. The soviets took that signed surrender on the seventh floor As their ticket Quot to offer Saddam a Way out of total personal defeat. Quot friends of the Secretary of state say that no Daylight exists Between the president who wants to win and his principal foreign policy adviser who wants to Settle. They insist it is All part of a calculated Tough cop Nice cop routine in which Bush a firmness becomes a lever for bakery a Deal making. 1 done to believe that. The two menus personal Friendship and political intimacy continues unabated but the president has Learned something that his manager Mentee has not that Gorbachev and his manipulating marshal  see the persian Gulf War As a superpower Zero sum game a what the . Wins the soviet Union loses for his own purposes Gorbachev seeks to Stop the Allied invasion of Kuwait but by offering a Sweet Deal to the iraqi dictator to escape War crimes trials and reparations called for in . Resolutions he actually increases the pressure on Bush to launch the ground War. A a a a. A. A a that a because some on the rational Security Council fear that the War must be won quickly despite casualties lest the soviet meddling break up the coalition against Saddam. The mindset at bakery a state is interpret any �?oconstructive�?�1 iraqi response to the soviet save Saddam proposal As yes and take it for an answer. The White House mindset thanks for nothing Gorbachev we re going in. It would be Good if Bush would merge those mindsets into disdain the soviet sideshow and keep on bombing until we win. E in Ltd York Tarus