The Gulf War Reader

Contents

An Introductory Note / v

Roots of Conflict
Imperial Legacy
Phillip Knightley / 3
Lines in the Sand
Glenn Frankel / 16
Oil: The Strategic Prize
Daniel Yergin / 21
U.S. Intervention in the Middle East: A Case Study
Micah L. Sifry / 27
From Rapid Deployment to Massive Deployment
Joe Stork and Martha Wenger / 34
American Hubris
Theodore Draper / 40
Iraq vs. Kuwait: Claims and Counterclaims
Walid Khalidi / 57
The Rise of Saddam Hussein
Judith Miller and Laurie Mylroie / 66
The Iraq Lobby: Kissinger, the Business Forum & Co.
Joe Conason / 79
What Washington Gave Saddam for Christmas
Murray Waas / 85
Prelude to War
Kuwait: How the West Blundered
The Economist / 99
Realpolitik in the Gulf: A Game Gone Tilt
Christopher Hitchens / 107
U.S. Senators Chat with Saddam (April 12, 1990) / 119
The Glaspie Transcript: Saddam Meets the U.S, Ambassador
(July 25, 1990) / 122
Nightmare From the Thirties
Charles Krauthammer / 134
The U.N. Resolutions: The Complete Text / 137
Iraq’s Occupation of Kuwait: Excerpts from Amnesty
International’s Report (December 19, 1990) / 157
Why Some Arabs Support Saddam
Walid Khalidi / 161
The Geneva Meeting (Remarks of January 9, 1991)
James A. Baker 3 D, Tariq Aziz, George Bush / 172
The Letter to Saddam (January 9, 1991)
George Bush / 178
Washington Prepares for War.
Elizabeth Drew / 180

Intervention and Escalation:
The Debate
In Defense of Saudi Arabia (Speech of August 8, 1990)
George Bush / 197
Saddam’s Next Target
A. M. Rosenthal / 200
Washington’s “Vital Interests”
Thomas L. Friedman / 203
If My Marine Son is Killed…
Alex Molnar / 207
The Hitler Analogy
William Safire / 210
Have the Neocons Thought This Through?
Patrick Buchanan / 213
EnGulfed
Andrew Kopkind / 216
The Myth of Iraq’s Oil Stranglehold
Doug Bandow / 219
Taking International Law Seriously
Michael Kinsley / 221
The Need to Negotiate
Jimmy Carter / 225
The Need for an Offensive Military Option
(Speech of November 8, 1990)
George Bush / 228
On the Gulf and Middle East Crisis
National Council Of Churches Of Christ / 230
Give Sanctions a Chance (Testimony Before the Senate Armed
Services Committee, November 28, 1990)
Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr / 234
How to Cut Iraq Down to Size (Testimony Before the Senate
Armed Services Committee, November 28, 1990)
Henry A. Kissinger / 238
How Close Is Iraq to the Bomb? (Testimony Before the Senate
Armed Services Committee, November 30, 1990)
Gary Milhollin / 243
The Drift to War (Testimony Before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, December 5, 1990)
Zbigniew Brzezinski / 251
Sanctions Work: The Historical Record
Kimberly Elliott, Gary Hufbauer, Jeffrey Schott / 255
The Obligation to Debate (Speech of January 4, 1991)
Senator Tom Harkin / 260
White Slaves in the Persian Gulf
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr . / 265
The Case for Intervention
Representative Stephen J . Solarz / 269
A Return to Cold War Thinking (Speech of January 10, 1991)
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan / 284
Authorization for Use of Military Force (Joint Congressional
Resolution of January 12, 1991) / 287
Agencies of Disorder
Edward N. Luttwak / 290
Who Wants Another Panama?
Barbara Ehrenreich / 299
A Just War?
Michael Walzer / 302
The Use (and Abuse) of the United Nations
Noam Chomsky / 307
The Liberation of Kuwait Has Begun
(Speech of January 16, 1991)
George Bush / 311
The Mother of All Battles (Speech of January 20, 1991)
Saddam Hussein / 315
Is This Any Way to Wage Peace?
John E. Mack And Jeffrey Z. Rubin / 317
Toward a Difficult Peace Movement
Todd Gitlin / 320
The Forgotten War
Robert Massa / 323
Hymn for the Unsung
Ariel Dorfman / 326
The Illogic of Escalation (Statement of February 9, 1991)
Mikhail S. Gorbachev / 329
Bombing Baghdad: No Cause for Guilt
Charles Krauthammer / 331
Top Gun Party
c o lm a n McCarthy / 334
Iraq Is Ready to Deal (Radio Address of February 15, 1991)
Revolutionary Command Council / 337
A Cruel Hoax (Speech of February 15, 1991)
George Bush / 343
Soviet Peace Proposal (February 22, 1991) / 345
Why Moscow Wants To Save Saddam
A. M. Rosenthal / 346
The Ultimatum (Statement of February 22, 1991)
George Bush / 349
Criteria for Withdrawal (Statement of February 22, 1991)
Marlin Fitzwater / 351

The First Casualty
How the Media Missed the Story
James Bennet / 355
A Muzzle for the Press
Sydney H. Schanberg / 368
Free to Report What We’re Told
Robert Fisk / 376
What Is There to Hide?
Walter Cronkite / 381
Television and the Instant Enemy
David Halberstam / 385
Briefingspeak
George Black / 389

The Agony of the Middle East
The Crisis of the Arab World
Fred Halliday / 395
The Bitter Fruits of War
Rami G. Khouri / 402
The Decline of Pan-Arabism
Bernard Lewis / 405
A Few of Our Favorite Kings
Dilip Hiro / 408
In the Wake of “Desert Storm”
SCOTT Macleod / 412
The Palestinians and the Gulf Crisis
Rashid Khalidi / 423
War and Peace in Israel
Robert I. Friedman / 431
On Linkage, Language, and Identity
Edward W. Said / 439

Pax American a Redux
Kuwait Is Liberated (Speech of February 27, 1991)
George Bush / 449
Onward Christian Soldiers
Lewis H. Lapham / 452
A False Dream
Henry A. Kissinger / 461
The Pentagon’s New Paradigm
Michael T. Klare / 466
Why We Need to Police the World
Anthony H. Cordesman / 477
What Will This War Mean?
Marcy Darnovsky, L. A. Kauffman, Billy Robinson / 480
More Likely a New World Disorder
William Pfaff / 487
What a Wonderful War
Robert Scheer / 492

Further Reading / 498
Index / 511