WAR IN THE GULF

At this time, the war in the Persian Gulf is a month old. The United States and its coalition partners took military action against Iraqi troops and military targets after the United Nations deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait expired on January 15. The decision of the United States to engage the Iraqis militarily was taken after a lengthy Congressional debate that culminated in a vote to allow the President to take such action.

While Congressmen and the U.S. public were divided over the issue of whether to take military action then or to allow more time for sanctions to force, Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, the country was not divided over the need to oppose the expansionist ambitions of Saddam Hussein. The character of the Hussein regime was demonstrated in the 8 years of war with Iran when chemical weapons were used against Iranian troops and against the Kurdish population of Iraq and again when Iraq invaded and pillaged Kuwait.

Once the decision was taken to oust Hussein from Kuwait by military force the vast majority of the American people and the Congressional leadership expressed their belief that the war must be brought to a victorious end, quickly, if possible, and with as little loss of life as possible.

Typically in past decades, the U.S. has framed its war aims as wars for democracy and against tyranny. Since neither Kuwait nor certain other coalition partners are democratic societies some in the U.S. have assumed this war must be about oil-thus the slogan at anti-war rallies, "No blood for oil." But, the underlying reason for the United States concern with Iraqi aggression and its potential for control over the oil resources in the Gulf is the impact that it would have on the industrialized democracies of Western Europe and Japan and for long-term prospects for peace and democracy in the Middle East.

There are other factors that contributed to the decision of the U.S., its coalition partners and the United Nations Security Council to oppose Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, with force if necessary. This was one of the few instances in post WW-ll history that one U.N. nation took over another. The Saudis and Kuwait invited the U.S. and other forces in to oppose Iraq. And Hussein is not just another dictator. He is an aggressive madman with sufficient weapons¾conventional, chemical, biological and, possibly, nuclear¾to threaten the whole of the Mideast.

Hussein's indiscriminate use of SCUD missiles against the civilian population of Israel, his ecological terrorism and the inhumane treatment of POWs has strengthened American resolve to end Iraqi occupation of Kuwait and to deter any further military ambitions by Hussein. We have learned from experience that human rights and peace will not be secure unless we stand up to dictators such as Hussein. (Executive Council)