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EDITORIAL

THE

WIDER WAR

The twenty-four weeks crisis,from the expedition of

U.S.

forces

to the Persian Gulf right up to the eve

of

destruction, had an

extraordinary impacton American history, more emphatic and

precise, perhaps, than any such hort span

of

events since he run-

up to Pearl Harbor. The fury, anxiety and vengefulness of the

war itself dramatically changed the scenery on view since sum-

mer, but it as not altered the context. As we go to press with the

first bombs still bursting over Baghdad, it

s

impossible to peer

far into the dark future

f

the conflict. The exultant triumphalism

of the American media, he bizarre confidenceof Saddam Hussein,

the gyrationsof the stock marketand the price of

oil

and gold make

the war worldparticularly opaque. But it is clear that the irst act

of this crisis has already introduced ew patterns of power, cat-

egories of thought andpossibilities for politics that together form

the basis

of a

textbook

of

gulf war lessons

to

be learned.

The most startling piece of

news

on the home front during

the period

of

phony war was hat the ld coldwar consensus,

which automatically provided support for American military

thrusts around the orld, had comeapart andwas for

all

practi-

cal purposes roken beyond repair.Thats not to ay

0 5

that this and future administrations ill refrain from

(Continued

on Page 111)

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112 The Nation.

February 4 19

on e military state. But for the first timeince the consensus

was

formed after World

War 11,

the foreign p olicy w ise m en,

those out-of-office strategists in the top corporate and aca-

demic echelons, did not agree.

Both liberal an d conservative mem bers of that elite refused

to join theonsensus. Former Secretary of State Cyru sance

and former NationalSecurity Adviser Zbign iew Brzezinski,

who fought each otherver cold war issues in the Ca rterAd-

min istration, both opp osed Bushs war in the gulf, as did

James Schlesinger and

Paul

Nitze, longtime advisers and mis-

sionaries for P residents of all political persuasions. In fact the

old right, the paleolithic pre-Reagan Republicans who had

staked their lives o n unremitting anticommun ism, were the

first to revive the

Sam

Goldw yn imperative: Include me o ut.

None

of

them cared a whit for Saddam Hussein or treas-

ured Arab nationalism, none opposedhe pruden t xtension

of America n impe rial sway, and they

all

had backed th e use

of

Am erican soldiers as cannon fodder gainst commun ism in

earlier conflicts,

so

their change

of

mind had nothing to do

with moral o r political ideology. Rather, they understood that

the gulf war-and probably every ma jor

U.S.

military und er-

taking in the foreseeable future-would be aprescription for

economic disasteran d imperial decline. They don t fear de-

feat; they believe hat A merica cann ot win such a war an d still

com pete in the worldwide intracapitalist sweepstakes. BU SI-

ness people an d Republican boosters may suppo rt war

for

pa-

triotic o r

party

reasons, but th e grand strategists are dead sure,

beyond the shadow of a do ub t, that war-even the quick ,

decisive, overwh elming victory tha t B ush promises-will be

hell on the emp ire.

O n the othe r ide of the social structure, ordinary Am eri-

cans also efused to join the usualonsensus formed t o wage

wars

of

glory.

For

many, the mem ory

of

Vietnam persisted

despite Bushs repeated attempts todeclare this war differ-

ent from th e other. Was all the firepower, the killing and

the dev astation

of

Indochina evidence only of Americans

fighting with one hand ied behind their back? Will any-

on e challenge Bushs absurd revisionism?) Many mo re Am er-

icans simply couldnt see the p oint

of

a potentially deadly

conflict un dertaken for no good reason. Families

of

reserv-

ists who had joined up for the educational

or

career breaks

were especially traumatized and moved to action. After all

Bushs rationalizations, oil still seemed to drive war po licy,

an d N o blood for oil was a perfectly sincere slogan.

Th e leftists a nd liberals who created a nd crafted antiwar

mov ements all during the old war period were put off by the

chang es taking place in this instance. Like Bushs advisers,

they were planning for old battles, when a small group of

idealists and ideologues slowly an d painfully builtan oppo-

sition based on the orrors of

war

the bod y bag syndrome)

an d targeted at everyone else inhe country-from nght-wing

Republicans to liberal Democrats, from labor hard hats to

returning vets.

Suddenly, many of th e peace organizers traditional ene-

mies emerged amo ng the firsto oppose a

war,

without hav-

ing been organized

by

the activists.

Sectors,

classes an d con-

stituencies shiftedcrazily, with out regard to the old rules of

political behavior. From au tum n

to

early winter, Congress,

and particularly he Dem ocrats therein,became the antiw

movemen ts favorite villains. It seemed like he mid-sixties

over again . Th eCong ressional leadership was cowardly a

deceitful. Th e war shou ld have been deba ted mo nths befo

January, and if it had, the Administration might have be

more constrained. T he message Cong ress sent was no t to Sa

dam Hussein but toGeorge Bush:

Do

what you like, wereb

hind you.

But then, in one weekend, it seemed

o

change. As the clo

r n

out o n Bushs January

15

deadhne, the antiwar moveme

moved, for a few heady hours, from the am puses an d stre

into the Cap itol. Sam Nunn, George Mitchellnd Tom Foley

all architects of militarism throug hou t the1980s-were wo

ing into the night

o

keep Am erica out of thewar, weeks

fore the first ma jor grass-roots dem onstrations were

to be

he

As for th ose rallies, still scheduled for successive Janu a

Saturdays in Washington, they illustrated th e weakness a

disunity of progressives and the eft as much ashey show

resolve. In the early days of the V ietnam War, Studen ts f

a Dem ocratic Society gained legitimacy s an umb rella orga

ization that could authoritativelycall rallies and antiwar

tions because of

Its

clear analysis of the po litics of th e co

flict and its inclusiveness and tolerance orallies of

a l l

ide

logical stripes. The ma jor conflict within the m ovement

those days was the old red versus red-baiter dispute; now

days, the fights within coalitions are abo ut ace, mu lticult

alism, gender, sexual orien tation , class, Marxist revisioni

and everything else in the boo k

f

sectarian autodestructio

Later, when

S.D.S.3

analysis became murk y and ts vario

factions became exclusive, a grand c oalition o f antiw ar forc

took over as the ecognized autho rity for the movem ent. Th

time, no group or coalition has instant legitimacy. Most

the hundreds

or

thousan ds of rallies and protests that prol

erated in the weeks before Janua ry

15

and after the war h

begun were locally inspired and organized.

T

e antiwar movement facesnew realities, jus t

as

he

w

movement

of

Bush

Co.

does. The remarkable o

pouring of op position before the war started indicates t

a cortege

of

body bags

is

not necessary to induce signific

protest. Neither is a draft required to concentrate the co

sciousness

of

the coun try against ar; an all-volunteer Arm

provokes its own political openings. Because so much sen

ment

for

peace already exists, the movement can be mu

bolder in building coalitlons without regard to ideologi

tests. At the sam e time, it sho uld be clear that antiw ar fe

ings are not venly distributed throughout theountry.

A

l

CBS/New

York

Tlmespoll on January

11-13

showed that mo

women, African-Americans, poor and working people

o

posed war. Increasingly, as the possibility of a draft loom

young people are moved to protest. Onlyamo ng white male

especially in the South and the unbelt-is war clearly po p

lar. Leadership of th e movem ent must reflect such sounding

The antiwar movement has persisted in m any form s sin

the end

of

the V ietnam era,

from

antinuclear campaigns

Cen tral Am erica solidarity ork. But in many ways the va

ou s forces taken a s a whole were unprepared for the gulf c

sis. The re is no widely recognized an alysis of the Americ

8/10/2019 January 12, 1991

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4, 1991 The Nation. 113

f

ago. The divisions among the ations managers,

are

similarly under-appreciated and thus

be exploited in time of crisis. The emergence of small

of

progressive politicians, organizers and

ts, both outside andn the inner margin of the Demo-

Party, s a development that must change old ideas

of

And for too long the movement (again, like the Ad-

stration) has been wholly reactive.

A

really effective peace

to address the bases of conflicts before they

this case energy policy and relations between de-

d and developing nations-and work for the creation

international organizations with peacekeeping

and permanent political presence, perhaps in the form

a party or independent caucus.

Many of the demands and the slogans of the first act of

conflict are utterly outdated. The focus on Congress is

The

Capitol has olded

into

the war ethic, with the not-

of

Representative Henry Gonzalez of Texas,

with criminal and immoral conduct.bsolete too is the

of

war and sanctions. On the street,as

to

say, the cry will still be

No

for oil,

no

matter what the various antiwarsects and

up with. Within theorganized movement, if

of

unity, the overriding demand

for

peace and pullout.

I f

Bush does get his quick victory, the wider war will still

f victory are staggering, not

economically but in domestic nd internatlonalpoliti-

of a despised and de-

it will not produce the stability the

of

America will

ociety. Standards of living have been

for twenty years; the structuralflaws in the system

Part

of

the purpose of Bushs action was to destroy the

to

show Americans that war need

be costly, either in lives or treasure. The jobof the peace

the expenses of the military/

oject: not only for ourselves but for billions of

struggling and suffering, in confused and imperfect

ys, to get some control ver their lives and destiny. What

is

talking, not bombing, disengagement,

peacemaking rather thanwarmaking, and

all, respect for those whowould be truIy independent

ANDREW

OPKIND

WHAT

TO DO

war and the trend toward militariza-

As a service we publish the following list-by no means

organizations that in various ways are

hose ends. We need their help; they need yours.

Cherry

St.,

Philadelphia, PA 19102 215) 241-7165

chaptersnatlonwlde;advocatesreclaumng peace dlvldend

Gulf Alternat~veCampalgn

Arab-American Anti-DiscriminationCommittee

4201 Connecticut Ave, N.W., Suite 500, Ufrshington, DC ZOO08

202) 244-2990

Works to oppose antl-Arab wolence and F.B.1. harassment

of

Arabs.

Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors

2208 South St., Philadelphia. PA 19146 215)5454 6

hb ll sh es handbooks. counsels registrants, reservists, enllsted people.

Clergy and Laity Concerned

17 North State St., Room 1530, Chiago, IL 6 6 2 312) 899-1800

Provldes mllltary counseling and public education on peace Issues

36

East 12th St., New

York. NY 10003

212) 777-1246

Coalition lo

Stop U.S.

loteneation in the MiddleEast

National network sponsoring rallies, teach-ins, petmon drive. January 19

demonstration in Washmgton

Dnllns

Coalition lor Middle East Peace

c/o The Peace Center, 3100 Martin Luther

King

Blvd., Dollas

TX

75215

214) 421-4082

Holds

daly peace ralhes

Fellowship of Reroodlintion

Box 271,

Nynck,

NY 10960 914) 358-4601

Organizes people-to-people delegations to Iraq; appeals to Congress, the

Whlte House, through I ts

No

Blood for

0 1 1

Campalgn.

Gulf Peace Action Team

Box 598, Putney, VT

05346

802) 387oo

Operates peace camp between hostile forces in the lraql desert.

Hands

Off

111 East 14th St., Room 132, New

York NY 10003

212) 353-2445

Advocates polltlcally on behalf

of

mllltary resnters

Los Ang ela Coalition Against

U.S.

Intervention in the MiddleEast

8124 West

3rd

St., L o s Angeles,

CA 90048

213) 655-3728

Provldes educational materials, counsehng referrals; organizes protests

Middle E a s t Peace Action

2140 Sbattuck Avo. mO7, Berkeley, CA 94704 415) 548-0542

Holds candlehght

vigils

wery Monday at

5 30

P.M

Military Families

Supporl

Network

Box 11098, Milwaukee, WI 53211 414) 964-5794

Organizes protests, reslster counseling, community support

Mobilization

to Bring

the

h o p s

Home

Now

c/o ILGWU. 255 9th St..

San

RPncisco, CA 94103 415) 616-8053

Offers speakers, educatlonal material; organlzrng local demo wlth labor,

others

for

January 26.

National Association of Black Veterans

Box 432, Mtlwnukee,

W I

53211 8 0 0 ) 8424597

Combmes support

for

veterans rlghts wlth antiwar action.

Natlonal Campaign for Peace

in

the Middle

East

104 Fultoa

St.,

Room

303.

New York, NY 10038 212) 227-0221

Network sponsonng rakes teach-ins,m a i m ampaup. January 26 march

on Washlngton

Confinuedon Page Z30)

O N

THE RETURNOF

THE

FULLERIGURE

A

womans shape again

is

cause

for joy:

Shes not a

boy

The hourglass is back, and fmhion groans

At

skin

and

bones.

So

f your w,$e hm grown

a

little plumper,

You shouldnt dump her.

And l fyour

gut rests

softly on your desk

Youre Rubenesque.

Calvin Trillin

8/10/2019 January 12, 1991

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130 The Nation.

February

4 2

druggies are more desperate and dangerous individuals,hat

the insatiable demand

for

better livmg through chemicals is

unique to this country. But such conclusions-though they

are probably, at the simplest factual level, true-beg the real

question, which iswhy we havebecome such drug-dependent

society. The European ountries that are trying more nuanced

drug policles than oursare not only less bedeviled y drug ex

cesses than we are; they are also not gun cultures, and they

provide more social and medical supports to their citizens.

Harm reduction and normalization may indeed not be

meaningful in a n American context. If so, however, it is not

because our drug users and sellers are beyond the reach of the

forgiveness and succor implied by these concepts. Instead, t

is because they know that the life into which many would be

normalized yields only the minimal rewards ofdead-end jobs,

atomized social relationships and empty consumerism. That

may soundleak,ut welcome to the 1990s.

EDITORIALS.

(Continued From Page

13

Natlonal Student and Youth Campaign for Peace in the Middle East

c/o USSA, 1012 14th

t..

N.W., uite 200,Washington. D C 20005

Coordlnatlng natlonal student meetlng in Washmgton, January

27

New England War Tax Resistance

Box 174,

M.I.T. Branch Post Office Cambridge MA

02139 (617) 859-0662

Holds monthly tax reslstance sem~nars, rovldes counsel~ng

64

Fulton

St. 1100,

New York NY

10038 (212) 227-5885

New Jewish Agenda

Organlzes natlonally and through local chapters, supports two-state solution,

~nternat~onalonference

OperationReal Security

2076 East Alameda Dr., Tempe AZ 5282 (602) 921-3090

Provldes speakers, videocassettes, ~ n f ormat ~ onor local groups

Palestine Solidarity Com mittee

Box

372,

Peck Slip Station New York NY

10272 (212) 964-7299

Works

In support of Palest~n~anelf-determmatlon

Pap er Tiger/Gulf Crisis T V Project

339 Lafayette St. New York NY 10012 (212) 2284370

Produces, dlstrlbutes v~deotapes

ecording

reslstance

work

natlonwlde

Seattle Coalition for Peace

In

the Middle East

Organlzes

marches, mass

CIVII

dlsobedlence, publlc education

Southern Rainbow Education Project

6

East ht to n Av c Montgomery AL

36105 (205) 288-5754

Comblnes work for soclal Justlce wlth antlwar actlv~tles

War Resisters League

339

Lafayette St. New York N Y

10012 (212) 228-0450

Provldes legal referrals, counsehng. outreach to reservlsts

c o

SEIU

Local

722, 1673

olumbla Rd. N.W. Washington DC

20009

Wnshlngtoo Area Labor Committee Against War in the Middle East

(202) 483-6221

Conducts worker

education,

rnob~hzat~on;ims to bulld offlcial labor support

aga~nsthe

war.

(202) 462-1801

4554 12th A v ~.E.

S d l k ,

WA

98105 (206) 632-7207

Death

n

Vilnius

A

stake

In

the drama now unfolding in Vilnius is

not Just theate of Lithuania

or

the Baltic States

but the destinies of Mikhail Gorbachevandper-

estrorka and the immediate future

f

progressive

change in the Soviet Union. Eduard Shevardnadze knew

what he was talking about when hewarned just before Christ-

mas of the imminent danger of dictatorship. There is still

some mystery about what happened n the weekend of Ja

ary

12-13,

when a delegation of the Federation Council,

new highest executive organ

of

the Soviet Union, was sen

the Lithuanian capitalo negotiate and Soviet troops sim

taneously stormed theelevision tower, killing fifteen peo

and wounding more than aundred. Gorbachev may not h

ordered the armed ntervention himself but merely accep

the fait accompli. In ny event, he is now in a position

which he will find it

difficult to extricate himself.

The analogy with 1956, when Russia ook advantage of

Suez crisis

to

invade Hungary, should not be overdrawn.

Soviet Union is now a very different place. Gorbachevs

vocates can plead that any republic may now secede if i

spects the rules of the new const itut ion. They can claim

Lithuanian PresidentVytautas Landsbergis is no great lo

of compromise and that ome people around him are

no

gels. They can argue hat the roblem of non-natives-abo

a quarter of the population n Lithuania, more than a t

In Estonia and nearly half in Latvia-must be tackled

ously and fairly. But the plain truth remains that you d

spread democracy, let alonesocialist democracy, by send

tanks against the people.

Of

all leaders, Gorbachev seemed to have learned that

son. After

his glorious

beginning with glasnost, he got bog

down. As the Soviet Union has moved from crisis to cr

he has displayed an extraordinary talent for brinkmans

Like one of thoseRussian dolls called VQf?ka-StQn a,e

ways recovered his balance. ndeed, he seemed o emerge f

each crisis with greater nominal powers. The snag is that

increase in legal prerogatives has been coupled with a los

popularity. Thus, when this winters discontent reache

explosive point, forcing him to act, he found himself ra

lonely. Deserted byhe so-called radicals of thepriviligent

for whomhe is

too

slow in his drive

to

the capitalist mar

he has not yet built an alternative constituency, notably am

the workers. Paradoxically, Gorbachev the reformer fo

himself increasingly reliant on the army, the police and

half-broken Communist Party.

Did the logic of that alliance drive him to the confro

tion in the Baltics, or did he himself assume that he co

teach a cheap lesson in the Baltics, warning the Geolgi

the Moldavians and, above all, the Ukrainians that he m

now be taken in earnest? Whatever his reasons, he clearly

not bargain for the conflictbeing so bloody or having s

wide international repercussions. This is not the place o

cuss Gorbachevs evolution.

For

today, it s importan

condemn the use of tanks against the people and

to

warn G

bachev of the political consequences.

At the big January

12

demonstration in Paris against

in the gulf, among the

100,OOO or

so marchers the most

quently seen poster quoted a phrase rom the poet Jac

Prkvert: Quelle connerie la guerre-What fucking folly

is. Amid he clamor of condemnation of the bloodshed

in

nius

only those who categorically reject the much bigger m

winter madness in the gulf haveearned the right, and the

to condemn the Soviet intervention. DANIEL

IN

Damel Singer

S

The Nations Europe correspondent.

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