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St. Cloud State University
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'Desert Storm' video educates
By Joe Palmersheim
Published:
Monday, October 14, 2002
SCSU student organization People Uniting for Peace showed the video "The Hidden Wars of Desert Storm" Thursday in the Mississippi Room of the Atwood Memorial Center.
The presentation of the video is one of the steps People Uniting for Peace is taking to expel myths about Iraqi conflicts.
"The Hidden Wars of Desert Storm" begins with U.S. and British companies expressing avid interest in the oil-rich Middle East as early as the 1950s. This interest continued, and in 1968, the Baath Party and Saddam Hussein rose to power in an overthrow backed by none other than the CIA. He remained an American ally until 1972 when Iraq's oil fields were nationalized, driving up the cost of crude oil.
The 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War weakened both countries dramatically.
The United States supplied weapons to both sides in an effort to keep the two nations from becoming strong enough to interfere with U.S. oil interests in the region. The public was unaware of the majority of the weapons sales, as the U.S. maintained a public facade of neutrality.
The current concern over biological and chemical weapons can also be traced back to this conflict, when the U.S. helped Iraq develop unconventional weapons for use against Iran.
The germs and the technologies to manufacture them were bought with US funds, and when the dust finally cleared after the war ended, Iraq was in $40 billion in debt.This debt played into Iraq's decision to invade Kuwait.
In 1989, Kuwait exceeded OPEC's yearly oil production quota by 20 percent, which robbed Iraq of money and gave rise to sentiment against Kuwait.
The United States claimed neutrality when Iraq was poised to invade, and on August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The Pentagon was not surprised by this, as they had been preparing for it for several months.
No Arab country wanted a significant U.S. presence on their soil, and in an effort to get a foothold in the region, Saudi Arabia was pressured, being told that if they didn't allow for a U.S. base, Iraq would soon invade them next.
According to a government press release, there were satellite photos in existence that showed a massive armor build-up on the Saudi border. No such photos, in fact, exist.
"The U.S. Administration lied to the Saudis, lied to the world, really, to get an invitation to the Middle East," said an investigative reporter on the video. "And if they lied, would that really surprise anyone?"
On August 7, 1990, Saudi Arabia accepted the U.S. "protection offer," and within hours the troops and materials were on their way.
In the time before the assault began in January, the U.N. Secretary General himself traveled to Iraq to convince Hussein of the growing threat poised to his forces in the shape of the Coalition. Hussein expressed a willingness to negotiate, and even to withdraw, but such notions were struck down by the United States, who apparently had no interest in a diplomatic solution.
The war began in earnest on January 17, 1991, with airstrikes destroying much of the Iraqi Air Force on the ground and also taking apart the infrastructure of the Iraqi armed forces.
What Americans were shown on television were grainy images of smart bombs flying into buildings, but in reality, the airstrikes were far less precise.
There were over 10,000 sorties into Iraq, and over 288,000 pounds of unguided munitions were dropped. There was also a deliberate plan to destroy the civilian infrastructure. In the first hours of the raids, power plants were hit, as water purification plants. Food supplies were also targeted.
Civilians seem to have suffered the most from the war, with sanctions having killed one to one and a half million people over the past 10 years, minly children.
"The embargo strengthens Saddam Hussein's hold on power. He controls the food for a starving population. Those close to him are quite well off, and if he goes, their lifestyle also goes," a video correspondent said.
Groups like People Uniting for Peace have a goal of keeping the public informed about what is really going on, and video presentations such as this one are an effective way to do that.
"We showed a video a few weeks ago called 'Let Iraq Live,' and 60 people showed up. We really feel that people want information on the situation in Iraq, and that's why we decided to show this video," said Kaylo Brooks, a social work major at SCSU.
"The Hidden Wars of Desert Storm" will be replayed October 22 in the Voyageurs room at Atwood Memorial Center.
Students interested in People Uniting for Peace,can contact Polly Kellogg at 255-3175.
