European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 10, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                May 10, 1991 the stars and stripes Tom Wicker Page 13 commentary military did t have to create War news mow we see through a 61ass Mrky a no news was manufactured or created by the. Pentagon or the armed services during the persian Gulf War. A none  there was no real dispute about this statement by Navy capt. Michael t. Sherman at a California forum of the first amendment Congress meeting this week at Stanford University in Palo Alto Calif. Pete Mccloskey an sex congressman and former Marine led the session. But was a a manufactured news the real question Carl Nolte a Veteran reporter for the san Francisco chronicle thought not. In his 10 weeks covering the Gulf War he said the government succeeded instead in censorship by a Access and  explained that the military ground rules that a really counted during operation desert storm were those that organized reporters into supervised pools then provided Access to operational areas to Only the pools and later imposed military review on the Pool reports. Under such a system he made Clear the military did not have to a a manufacturer news to control information going out to americans at Home. A retired army colonel Darryl Henderson a decorated Vietnam combat Veteran and a graduate of the National War College argued against the necessity for such censorship he said the reason most often Given for the strict military control of Gulf War information a operational Security the need to protect military secrets a was  the actual reason Henderson suggested was a a Vietnam syndrome within the military that blamed the press for the erosion of Public support for that cry Rier War. As a result he said the military started years ago to study and train personnel in the techniques of a marketing the military viewpoint a primarily by seeing to it that Only a a upbeat reports went out to the pub a lie. This planning and the performance of Public information officers trained in marketing techniques paid off for the military in the Gulf War he said. Henderson a former commander of the army a research Institute for the behavioural and social sciences said lie had himself undergone such training. Judith Coburn a reporter who covered wars  America and the Middle East As Well As in Vietnam and who now lectures on mass communications at the University of California at Berkeley disputed the Validity of the military attitude toward the Media a responsibility for defeat in  argued that press coverage of that War had been largely favourable until Home support for it began to Wane in the late �?T60s. Thus she said the Public did not follow the press into disillusionment with the War it was the other Way around. Coburn also addressed herself to the question of operational Security. She cited the fact that correspondents in Vietnam including herself were briefed Well in Advance of the forthcoming  invasion of Laos by South vietnamese forces. Reporters in Vietnam she said did not expose this military secret. Instead officials in Washington leaked the in formation to the press there. Coburn Drew a distinction Between British and american press performance in the Gulf War. British correspondents she said a did no to enlist in the War Effort a As she said too Many american reporters did. She pointed out that iraqi refugees were questioned by British journalists in Jordan enabling them to arrive at iraqi casualty estimates a More than 100,000 a Long before official estimates were available. Nolte also was critical of some american reporters in saudi Arabia. Few tried to stretch a Pool rules and most a took handouts and Standard briefings from the military he asserted. He reserved his strongest criticism however for the american journalists who organized the press pools for the military a mostly by a a favouritism a As Nolte saw it. Sherman who set up and directed the military a joint information Bureau in saudi Arabia put much emphasis on what he called the a incredible technology Quot lie said the military provided Foi reporters trying to cover the War. He conceded that in some respects the information system had a failed miserably but Coburn to applause from the audience said the military had in fact Quot done a a Brilliant Job Quot in its own behalf. C Tho now York times. A William f. Buckley  does t negate reason for Gulf War you will i know have noticed the Sunburst among critics of desert storm. Several prominent columnists have led the Way and before you know it it is going to be official democratic practice. Here is the schematic 1. Democrats most of them were opposed to operation desert storm. They favored in its place a continuation of sanctions. 2. By a narrow margin their opposition was overridden in Congress and president Bush went ahead. 3. Granted american military losses were slight a 184 in number. But consider the following a some 100,000 iraqis were killed by . And Allied forces. A More than 100,000 kurd were killed by Saddam Hussein in reaction to their opposition to him a and that opposition was triggered by desert storm. A an untold number of shiite muslims in the South who Rose up against Saddam Hussein were killed when Saddam repressed their opposition. A More than 1 million kurd fled Saddam a oppression moving North and East into Mountain areas. They Are suffering greatly and an untold number of them will die of myriad causes. It is moreover unknown when a if Ever a they will re turn to their lands. A in resisting . Intervention Saddam torched the Oil Fields of Kuwait. There Are two consequences of this action. The first if an ecological disaster whose proportions Are immeasurable. We done to even know How Many will die during the summer when the contaminated air combined with the blazing heat of the season will asphyxiated kuwaitis iraqis saudis a who knows How far the toxic fumes will go How Many people will perish that and of course the loss in Oil. We cannot fix this figure exactly but $50 billion would not be an unreasonable guess Given that it will take More than two years to douse All the flames. A and on top of it All Saddam Hussein is in Power. In fact every Day he appears to be More firmly in Power. A a needless to say nothing of a diplomatic new order in the Middle East has been accomplished. Everyone a the saudis Syria Jordan and Israel a is holding fast to his position and All we have done is Burn up a lot of fuel ferrying Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii around and undermining the prestige of . Diplomacy. 4. From which it follows that the democrats were triumphantly Correct when they voted against military action. Those who Are tempted by the above casuistry might play with the following 1. True Pearl Harbor was a heavy blow resulting in the deaths of 2,500 american soldiers and sailors. 2. On the other hand in order to cafe feat the Axis Powers the United states went on to suffer 300,000 Battle deaths participating in a 3 / year world War that Cost the lives All told of. 55 million peo pie and saw the United states explode a nuclear bomb Over two japanese cities with casualties in excess of 150,000, introducing the nuclear age. 3. The end of the War saw the elimination of Tojo in Japan and of Hitler in Germany granted. But it also saw the occupation of Eastern Europe by Josef Stalin. This brought on 44 years of totalitarian Rule Over 110 million people and the strengthening of the hand of a soviet die Tator who Long after the War had ended had 15 million political prisoners in gulag subjected to the worst torture Ever recorded in modern penal systems. 4. There grew out of that terrible tension brought on by the world War two Large scale military engagements one in Korea and a second in Vietnam. The human Cost of these conflicts in . Lives was 100,000. In the lives of koreans and vietnamese it was something on the order of 5 million. 5. The Cost of the cold War has not yet ended with a military budget in the neighbourhood of $300 billion per year. If we add the Cost of the military required by the Power that inured to the soviet Union As the result of the world War you Are talking about trillions of dollars a enough had the Money been used for other purposes to relieve the entire third world of poverty. 6. Therefore we should not have entered the world War. It is a primitive fallacy in going up to the roof to bring Down the 3-year-old who got stranded up there you slip and slide Down yourself. Therefore you  try to Rescue Little children who get stuck. The Little boy grew up to become Jack the Ripper. T therefore you should not have Little boys. It was no inherent in operation desert storm that any of the above should have happened save possibly the deaths of 100,000 iraqis. What we deplore is what Saddam went on to do. Where is the Democrat who was urging All along that we consummate desert storm by marching into Baghdad and Dis possessing Saddam c  press Syndicate