Press for war
Eleven years ago this month, a country which is the cradle of human civilisation suffered one of the most devastating bombing campaigns in history. On Jan 16, 1991 bombs rained down on Iraq in a war which was fought with, yes, little civility.
Desert Storm ended in a grotesque slaughter few had heard about. On Feb 25, 1991, when Radio Baghdad announced Iraq's withdrawal from Kuwait, it was dismissed by George Bush father of the current United States president as a "cruel hoax".
That night, retreating convoys travelling along the 100km stretch of road from Kuwait to the southern Iraqi city of Basra was strafed from the air, leaving the highway strewn with remnants of tanks, armoured cars, lorries, ambulances and dead bodies. There were no survivors.
Bush Sr's intention was clear the war was not so much about liberating Kuwait but to wipe out the Iraqi war machine. However, among the dead were civilians who were trying to get home.
Iranian pilots, patrolling their borders, described the rout as a "rat shoot". American bombers who were throwing everything they got, both smart and dumb bombs likened it to "shooting fish in a barrel".
Others described the massacre as a "turkey shoot". One triumphantly said it was "like flipping on the light in the kitchen at night and the cockroaches started scurrying and we were killing them".
The targets were rats, fish, turkeys or roaches never humans. Ironically, this was a war fought on the land where civilisation began. This, too, is where civilisation ends.
Eleven years ago this month, a country which is the cradle of human civilisation suffered one of the most devastating bombing campaigns in history. On Jan 16, 1991 bombs rained down on Iraq in a war which was fought with, yes, little civility.
Desert Storm ended in a grotesque slaughter few had heard about. On Feb 25, 1991, when Radio Baghdad announced Iraq's withdrawal from Kuwait, it was dismissed by George Bush father of the current United States president as a "cruel hoax".
That night, retreating convoys travelling along the 100km stretch of road from Kuwait to the southern Iraqi city of Basra was strafed from the air, leaving the highway strewn with remnants of tanks, armoured cars, lorries, ambulances and dead bodies. There were no survivors.
Bush Sr's intention was clear the war was not so much about liberating Kuwait but to wipe out the Iraqi war machine. However, among the dead were civilians who were trying to get home.
Iranian pilots, patrolling their borders, described the rout as a "rat shoot". American bombers who were throwing everything they got, both smart and dumb bombs likened it to "shooting fish in a barrel".
Others described the massacre as a "turkey shoot". One triumphantly said it was "like flipping on the light in the kitchen at night and the cockroaches started scurrying and we were killing them".
The targets were rats, fish, turkeys or roaches never humans. Ironically, this was a war fought on the land where civilisation began. This, too, is where civilisation ends.
'Guidelines for journalists'
As a freelance writer then, I trekked from Syria to Jordan, and later across Iraq, to record the war from the ground. In Baghdad, I discovered that journalists and the English language have joined the war.
The Allies had 'guidelines for journalists', and the Iraqis 'censorship'. Allies gave 'media briefings', the Iraqis dished out 'propaganda'. Allied missiles did 'extensive damage', Iraqi missiles caused 'civilian casualties'. Allies 'eliminate and neutralise', Iraqis 'killed'.
The fact that the Americans helped keep the brutal Saddam Hussein regime in power was considered irrelevant. Indeed, Bush Sr had previously courted Saddam with reckless abandon.
Today, many journalists are again cheerleading the war.
The second Gulf War has already begun US and British planes are striking at will in the so-called 'no fly zones' in northern and southern Iraq. That these zones were imposed by the Allies, and not sanctioned by any United Nations resolution, is often ignored by journalists.
True, the 'no fly zones' were to protect the Kurds and Shites after they rebelled with the encouragement of the Allies against a weaken Iraqi regime soon after the war. But the justification for this is no longer valid.
Sheer hypocrisy
Before anyone buys the war against Iraq, one should read the fine print on the label.
Bush Jr may have duped Americans by painting Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden with the same brush. Indeed, Saddam and Osama have little in common apart from their shared hatred for the US. Saddam, unlike Osama, is a secularist and had gone as far as waging a brutal war backed by the US against the Iranian mullahs.
It is sheer hypocrisy for a country which has the largest arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and are actively developing even more powerful ones to tell other countries not follow its lead.
It is also sheer hypocrisy for the US to actively back the one country in the Middle East which has nuclear weapons the Americans have given political, and financial support, to Israel in its defiance of 29 UN resolutions that relate to Palestine, and another 27 that the US has vetoed on Israel's behalf.
While Bush Jr has the support of the majority of Americans, it is increasingly difficult for him to convince the rest of world why there must be a war against Iraq when similar action is not taken against North Korea, which has a nuclear programme far more advance than Baghdad's. But of course, Pyongyang is not the world's second largest oil producer.
Hundreds of thousands lost their lives and the Arab world's most industralised nation was devastated for Bush Sr's 'New World Order'. How many more must die for Bush Jr's 'Axis of Evil'?
