4 - Wednesday, August 19, 1992 — North Shore News George Bush could be a reai loser FOR THE first time in a long, iong time, I’m enjoying an American election. At the moment, it looks like George Bush, lapdog toadie of the oil billionaires, kneecapper of the Earth Summit, and clumsy oaf who allowed Saddam Hussein to get away with the worst deliberate acts of environmental destruction in history, is losing. Of course, Bush was running nearly as far behind in the polls during the last ejection at the same point, shortly after the Democrats’ convention and before the Republicans’. It is perfectly conceivable that he will launch a military assault against Iraq between now and _. voting day in order to cloak himself again-in the flag and a John Wayne image. But it seems unlikely that the trumpets can be sounded again in ’ quite the same way. For one thing, the President of ‘the New World Ordex would have a tough time rounding up the in- ternational posse, everybody hav- ing had pienty of time in the two years since the war against Iraq was launched to see for themselves. that the world has indeed been made safe again for feudalism and the petroleum industry, and that’s about it, folks. The Emir of Kuwait has as many wives as ever. The goid faucets are back in the royal pal- " aces. _ The promises of democracy . have been buried out in the shif- _ ting sands, along with the bodies | of the tens of thousands of pa- thetic Iraq draftees, barely more ‘ than boys, cannon fodder ‘slaughtered fromm high in the skies, During the war, one Saudi - Arabian prince commented casu- ally that there was no danger of ” _oil prices going up, no matter what the outcome, since ‘“‘if we Bob — Hunter STRICTLY PERSONAL nut the price up too high, it would encourage conservation, and we don’t want that.”’ : Neither do Bush’s Texas backers. We, the rest of the world with access to television sets, also all couldn’t help but notice how long it took to put out the off well fires in Kuwait, how the heavy military thinkers hadn’t prepared any con- tingency plans for the holocaust, and what a mess the Persian Gulf, where the largest cil spill ever oc- curred, was — and still is. Can anybody forget the scenes in che mountains of northern {raq 2 the surviving Kurds fled from Saddam's nearly genocidal revenge for the uprising against him, the one George Bush had encouraged, but then did nothing to assist? Talk about arresting moments of high moral consistency! All along, I have contended that, despite its surface appear- ance of madness — fighting to “restore liberty’? to a monarchist dictatorship — at botiom the Gulf War was a struggle to control resources. Why ali that effort for such a small prize? Between them, Kuwait and Iraq only produce 7% of the world’s oil, and just 4% of the Americans’ supply. , At stake, however, was long- term control of the surrounding Middle Eastern oil. Fully 65% of the world’s oil reserves lie under the Middle East. Of its own accord, North America accounts for only 4% of the global total. With the U.S. in decline as an economic power in the immediate wake of the Cold War, the Gulf situation gave Washington a chance to reaffirm its control over the region, and therefere its place as the world’s number one power. One question that ought to be asked about the Gulf War is, why couldn’t the time have been taken to starve Iraq? Seiges have worked before in history, and what was brokered against Iraq was nothing tess than the most effective-look- ing embargo of all time. But no, George had to unleash the smart bombs real quick, and then, just as quickly, turned around and reined in his smart general — leaving the war, and the basic situation, unresolved. He was trying to do the ‘geopolitical thing,’’ and proba- bly just blew it out of sheer stu- pidity, but whatever the case, he blew it. He has portrayed himself as a gallant victor, and the Americans were only ioo happy to go along for the ride, for aif those shame- less and dumb uitra-patriotic tribal reasons. But now that the flag-waving and yellow-ridboning is over, even they — or a majority of them, at any rate — begin to see, in the - Gollins speaks on youth employment CAPILANO-HOWE Sound MP Mary Collins will be the guest speaker at an Aug. 20 open house hosted by the North Shore YMCA Employment Centre, 972 Marine Dr., North Vancouver. '.Collins .will be speaking about youth employmeiit. A second guest speaker sched- uled for the open house will be Bi} Stewart, president and chief executive officer of the YMCA in Vancouver. The North Shore YMCA recent- ly moved into its new Marine Drive offices. “I'm really supportive of the program. The program the Y is offering builds their self—-con- fidence and self-esteem,’’ said Collins. “A lof of young people just don’t know how to go about get- ting a job.” NOTICE TO MOTORISTS . TRANS CANADA HIGHWAY (First Avenue to Brunette) SINGLE LANE TRAFFIC “The Ministry of Transportation and Highways advises that there will be single ‘lane traffic on the Trans Canada Highway between First Avenue and the Brunette interchange until Friday, September 18. Single lane traffic is needed to enable crews to repave the highway and will be in effect as follows: * WEST BOUN D LANES ‘Monday.te Thursday 9:30 PM ~ 5:30 AM Friday & Saturday 11:60 PM - $:00 AM EASTBOUND LANES Sunday to Thursday 10:36 PH - 6:00 AM Saturday 11:00 PM - 9:00 AM . Motorists should expect delays or plan to use an alternative route. Note: There will be no single lane traffic during the Labour Day long weekend, September 5-7.'For further information on details of this paving project, please call the Ministry’s 24-hour road report at 525-4997 (Greater Vancouver) or *4997 dawn’s sobering early light, that their Commander-in-Chief is more like the Wizard of Oz than Charlemagne or Caesar. For all his blundering on the world stage, at home Bush and his buddies have been surprisingly ef- fective in one regard. Since the first days of the Reagan «ra, the Republicans have been methodically and consistently gutting conservation programs, while jacking up subsidies to the oi! companies and the nuclear in- dustry. Mass transit plans have been mostly shelved. Two-thirds of the U.S. Department of Energy’s budget was shifted, under Bush, from energy savings to nuclear weapons production. Solar power and alternative energy plans have been cut by 90%. Guess whose side George Bush, the “environmental president” is on? Bush could still win, of course. 1am leery of Clinton, but thrilled at the idea of Gore. This is, in fact, only the second time in my life { can remember when I actually find myself —_ wishing I could vote in an Ameri- can election. an The other time, unfortunately was when Bobby Kennedy was making his run for the Democratic , leadership, and died at the hands of another one of those “lone gunmen” who have played such a pivotal role ia American history. Come downtown and visit our “30 and — growing” Outlet Centres. You'll find .. big savings on housewares, f everything fr from fashions fo m tui to home ‘entertainment anda m uggege mire besides. - Cquanthies are limited. Persnal shopping only, no phe onders pease: : 1 he complimentary parking with validated ticket, a STORE HOURS: Mon.-Thurs. & Sat. 10:00 am- 6:00 pum. Fri. 10:00 a.m. ~ 200 : : Sun. & Holidays 1200 noon ~ 500 pm 1 Wes Hasings ot Sharea moment thatll = last a lifetime! E (BC Cellular/Cantel). 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