European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 11, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday april 1v1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13david Broder commentary moral highroad ends amid kurdish tragedy iraqis acceptance of the formal cease fire terms dictated by the United states and the United nations brings the persian Gulf War to a close. The end of the affair teaches lessons As important As the beginning. At the Start the miscalculations were All on Saddam Hussein a Side. He did not believe that the United states would respond to his aggression against Kuwait or his threat to saudi Arabia. He did not believe that his soviet patrons would abandon him. He did not believe that Arab countries would join a coalition in which Israel was a silent partner. And he did not believe that his army and air Force would crumble under fire. All those miscalculations created a situation in which president Bush achieved As much for peace and the Rule of Law in the world As he did for his own political standing at Home. It was a Victory Well won a and Worth  since Bush declared the hostilities suspended the miscalculations have been on our Side. The victims were the kurd who believed the United states would support their bid to overthrow Saddam and the Bush backers who believed that morality and principle required him to do just that. Their cries of disillusionment have filled the airwaves and the newspaper columns Given moral Force by the heartbreaking television pictures a of the. Plight of the kurdish refugees. The kurd have reason to cry out against the latest injustice in a history of International abuse. The president did encourage civil insurrection against Saddam by his own words and a it is hinted a by Covert actions As Well. To say now that he also made it Clear the United states would not intervene directly in the struggle is at Best a mitigating claim against the moral responsibility he accepted. A a a a. A a  if we wanted Saddam overthrown without our participation it Behoved us to strip him of the forces he needed to quash the threats to his Rule. That we did not do. White House National Security adviser Brent scowcroft said sunday on no cd so meet the press that when we declared a halt to the Battle Saddam still had 20 a scarred divisions. That fact a and not the subsequent . Decision to allow iraqi helicopter Walter r. Mears now w w6 talk r Quot \ Mcm a gunships to be used against the kurd As Well As the shiite rebels in the South determined the Fate of the rebellion. Had we grounded the copters scowcroft said a a it would have taken the iraqi forces longer. But it would not have changed the  to change the outcome we would have had to destroy those remaining iraqi divisions. We had the capacity to do that and Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf hinted in his interview with David Frost that he wished to do it. But destroying those 20 divisions would have meant slaughtering troops who had abandoned the fight and wanted Only to surrender. Those who charge Bush with moral callousness toward the kurd do not explain How we would have been on a higher moral plane if we had massacred surrendering iraqis. Nonetheless the disillusionment with Bush being expressed by Many who sup ported his War policy tarnishes his Victory. It also reveals something of the character of this president who has demonstrated Over and Over again that he is ready to a Rise above principles when it collides with Power realities. Bush was in the fortunate position when Iraq invaded Kuwait of being Able to argue for intervention on a Hierarchy of causes. All of the justifications added weight to a powerful Case for . And International action against Saddam. But no one should have believed that absent the National interest in the persian Gulf and its precious resource half a million americans would have been fighting in the desert. Principle alone simply does no to Cut it with Bush. He kept 2,100 marines off liberians shores for two months in 1990, waiting to evacuate americans and other foreign nationals while Volunteer doctors pleaded that they come ashore and pro acct civilians being slaughtered in the fighting Between rebels and the .-backed government he sent scowcroft to Beijing and recommended continued Trade advantages for China even after the massacre of students in Tiana men Square. He sent his Secretary of state to Moscow and continued dealing with Mikhail Gorbachev even after the bloody repression in the Baltic last Winter. The american Public seems to accept these compromises As necessary. Principle separated from a Clear sense of National interest led to such foreign policy a fiascos As Versailles and Vietnam. So Vot cars Welcome a president who tempers principle with prudence but others pay a High Price for the selectivity of our moral outrage. C Washington Post writers group democratic doves sound a hawkish alarm among the doves of Winter some hawkish tendencies Are showing this Spring in democratic proposals for . Protection of iraqi rebel factions crushed by Saddam Hussein a  advice has come from some leading congressional opponents to the Resolution that authorized president Bush to wage the persian Gulf War in the first place. The military counsel entered on Calls for the use of . Air Power to prevent iraqi helicopters from attack Irig rebels comes after the fact a the uprising already has been crushed. And it suggests a limited american role. A nevertheless its a topic that could one Day be used in democratic attempts to deflect the Republican War Issue. In the civil strife and kurdish refugee crisis that have followed the War democrats who voted against the use of Force could find a basis for rebuttal. At this Point the Republican administration sounds defensive. Bush insists that he did not incite rebellion with hints of american backing and then leave the rebels to be destroyed by Saddam. A. A i never in any Way implied that the United states was going to use Force to overthrow the Baghdad regime the president said. The administration says the iraqi strife that flared in the kurdish North and the shiite Muslim South and the refugees now fleeing the country As a result Are problems Tobe dealt with by the United nations. Bush along with Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii and Brent scowcroft the White House National Security adviser has said repeatedly that . Forces Are not going to be involved in the iraqi strife. Democratic sceptics about Bush a january War policy did raise some prophetic questions in Advance saying that the aftermath in Iraq could be chaos and that there should be . Plans to Deal with that contingency. But in peace or War the president still holds the initiative abroad. And Fie used it to order the Airlift of food and supplies to kurdish refugees who have fled into the mountains in Northern Iraq. That preempted the humanitarian argument Likely to be heard in Congress reconvening monday after a two week easter recess. It leaves open the argument Over whether Bush invited the uprising with his wartime Call for the overthrow of Saddam. Sen. Albert Gore jr., d-tenn., a possible 1992 presidential challenger said the rebels a responded to our request in trying to topple Saddam and should have had Protection at least against helicopter attacks. The administrations grounds for ruling out . Military involvement sound a lot like those that democratic leaders used when they voted against authorizing War in january. They warned of the danger of another Vietnam and argued that the United states should wait to see whether economic sanctions would Force Iraq out of Kuwait. After the persian Gulf Victory Republican fund raisers and strategists went to work to make those opposition votes an Issue against the democrats who cast them. A v a the deadly internal struggle in Iraq could undercut that political strategy. For a month after the War ended the administration warned Iraq against using helicopters for military action against the rebels saying they could be flown Only on transport missions. That bar was dropped March 27, with the White House shifting to a policy of no intervention in the civil conflict. Sen. George j. Mitchell a Maine Democrat who is Senate majority Leader and rep. Lee ii. Hamilton d-ind., both said  action against iraqi helicopters even though they generally approved Bush a policy of non intervention. They voted against the War Resolution. So did sen. Carl Levin d-mich., who suggested a . Ultimatum to Saddam to Stop attacking civilians or a we will take whatever actions Are necessary to Stop him from continuing that  that a not unlike the language of the ultimatum the Senate approved Over democratic objections in authorizing the War to drive Iraq from  the associated press