4@ ~ Sunday. August 4, 1991 - North Shore News Losing that romantic edge in the haze of fossil fuel IT IS hard not to turn into a 100% cynic in the modern world. Bob Hunter , | -—e STRICTLY PERSONAL I have a hard-core romantic streak in me and like to imagine that The Force is with us — with our litle planet, at least. And that we will somehow muddle through. But then something like the Gulf War comes and goes, and one sees the fruits of enlightening liberal Western industrial demo- cratic policy-making. It is enough to weep. This was a war to fend off a modern-day ‘‘Hitler,’’ to defend a brave little nation from the might of the world’s ‘‘fourth-largest’’ army. I remember at the time think- ing, Jeez, those Iraqi military ge- niuses sure came out of nowhere, didn't they? Could their vaunted powers be part of a U.S.-led disinformation campaign to hype the inevitable victory to come as a contest be- tween superpowers, Iraq suddenly having become the fourth-most- dangerous country in the world? Obviously, Saddam Hussein was a straw man set up to avoid the problem of the Yanks and their pals being perceived as gang-rap- ing poor, isolated Iraq. A pack of high-tech thugs pummeiling a Third-World coun- try by dropping bombs from the edge of space is hardly the stuff of traditional heroism. The most brilliant ploy of the war was the media build-up of Saddam to gigantic proportions, so that when his primitive army collapsed (as any army would, in- cidentally) it would look as though it had been a fair contest. Arguably, it was a cowardly war, fought in a cowardly fashion — from a distance, with vastly superior firepower. It goes without saying that it was also the most intelligent way to fight it, and any responsible commander would have done the same. Still, it was gutless. I don't see any movies coming out of it. No actual heroes. ‘‘Stormin’ Nor- man?*’ You mean the kinder, gentler face of barbarism? Nope. 1t was, in fact, a war fought over resources, petroleum in par- ticular, upon which the United States and its allies depend to fuel their industrial systems. The raison d'etre of the war was pure- ly and simply to lock up energy reserves in the Middle East, secur- ing an oil supply into the forseeable futu.e. The fate of the Emir of Kuwait, his 40 wives, his gold faucets and his unhappy gaggle of desert tribes only became a matter of planetary concern because the capture of Kuwait gave the Iraqis too large a share of the region's oil reserves. The cynical joke about the war at the start was that it was a war Motor Vehicle Injury Claims Free initial consultation Percentage fees or hourly rates 687-0411 Call Stephen Frame, Loreen Williams or Jim Graham MARPER. GREY. EASTON & COMPANY A law firm established in 1907 - ‘DRY.CLEANING DOES NOT: : SHAVE TO BE EXPENSIVE! © | © GOODY’sS DRY CLEANERS LAUNDERED SHIRTS &% with dry cleaning §1,19 cron he DRESSES TOP COATS SILKS-JUMPSUITS FLEATED SKIRTS “4 $4.99 encu Somss things to nots: Repairs and aherations are not provided - feathers or suedes not clecered - drapes or non-garments not accepicd, Prepaid Services Only - All Cleaning Paid In Advance GOOBY’S DRY CLEANERS Park & Tilford Centre Phone: 988-3393 “ITs THE QUALITY - NOT THE PRICE” 44 The raison d etre of the war was purely and simply to lock up energy reserves in the Middle East...¥7 to make the world safe for feudalism, which is so far all that has occurred politically. There might be some form of rubber- stamp parliament in a couple of years. As for women getting the vote, ho ho. The emir continues to rule, as surely as Saddam — just as surely as the emperor of Japan was allowed to carry on after the Se- cond World War. None deserved to be left in power, but for strategic reasons, they were, All of this would amount to routine political machinations in any period of history but ours. Unfortunately now we have reached the point where we are a threat to ourselves, as well as the rest of the biosphere, thanks to our profiigate use of fossil fuels. if we don’t turn away from oii, we take terrible risks with the future, a future that has already begun to roll in, taking the form of a phenomenon called the Greenhouse Effect. A war about oil is inevitably a war about environment. If Opera- tion Desert Storm had involved going into Kuwait to shut down the oi] wells, so that less oil would be pumped, so that carbon diox- ide levels could start to drop, it would have made rough and ready ecological sense. But it was of course for the op- posite reason the war was fought. It was fought to keep the oil flow- ing cheaply from the Middle East. The inevitable result of this is that the cheap oil is burned lav- ishly, more C02 is pumped into the atmosphere, which begins to percolate, heating everything below. The longer cheap oil is available the longer it will take to begin to reverse the disaster by conserving and switching to alternative fuets. In the rush so secure its oil supply, the West and its allies dislodged millions of human be- ings — families, children, grand- mothers — raining death from safety out of range above, goading the Kurds into a suicidal uprising, setting the stage for a new Mid-East arms race. One tangible result of the war: the Americans alone have sold $13 million worth of arms to Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. I try to hang on to that roman- tic core. It ain't easy. a ae Your Honda In Shape For The Summer. 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