Blood and Gore for Thatcher's Iraqi War
by Michele Steinberg
As the UN Security Council continues the genocidal economic sanctions against Iraq for another year, Al Gore wrote a letter, dated Feb. 8, 2000, to the so-called Iraqi National Congress, a discredited opposition grouping that was assembled by the British Foreign Office, giving the group his support.
Gore's letter capped a nearly decade-long record of serving the interests of the British Crown, in launching the 1991 Desert Storm war against Iraq. In fact, Gore is every bit as faithful to the Crown as former President George Bush, who was later knighted for his service.
Despite Gore's animus against Iraq, when he cast a crucial vote for Bush's war in 1991, Senate colleagues noted that he made sure that he got the most out of it. As the New Hampshire Manchester Union Leader noted in a Feb. 11, 2000 editorial entitled "383 Lives for 20 Minutes: Gore Supported Gulf War To Promote Himself," Gore bartered his vote to the side that offered him the most exposure—the pro-war side, giving him the lead-off speech on the Senate floor of 20 minutes, to be carried on national prime-time TV. The scandal was so intense that, in 1992, during the first Clinton-Gore election campaign, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) defended Gore. "The question of when he [Gore] spoke or how long he spoke," said Lieberman, "was irrelevant. The decision ... was critical. It was pivotal; it was one of the decisions that authorized that war and led to what I believe was not only the appropriate action ... but probably the finest hour of the Bush Presidency."
Indeed, Gore has been one of the most virulent Iraq bashers, as shown by the Congressional Record of 1991-92:
Jan. 12, 1991: Gore's 20-minute speech supporting Bush, out-Goebbeled Goebbels: "Had this President [Bush] and his predecessor [Reagan] not grossly misunderstood Saddam Hussein, we would have taken action against him sooner.... Saddam Hussein has more troops than Hitler did in the early years of World War II. He is not Hitler ... but he is using weapons of mass destruction. He is threatening to continue his march throughout the region.... He is seeking now to acquire ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons."
Jan. 30, 1991: Gore said, "We shall not have peace ... in the Middle East.... However, we can have a balance of power," which would require constant monitoring. Gore suggested means to bar Iraq "from access to nuclear materials and nuclear technology, [and] demand full international inspection on demand of any industrial, scientific, or military facility." He suggested that the United States support "exiled Iraqis" who cannot come to power "unless we were to install them."
September 1991: Gore criticized Bush for ending the war with Iraq without marching on Baghdad, and eliminating Saddam. Gore said that "stability" will only come when the policy is "successful in removing the regime of Saddam Hussein from power ... and if his Baathist regime is dismantled as well." Gore added, "I want to propose how that might be done." He suggested blocking access to international support, building the resources of the opposition, and "cutting off access to any resources."
Expressing the hatred of the Third World shown in his book Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit, Gore continued, "It is a tragedy that the people of Iraq will have to suffer ... economic stagnation," but they have to get the "message" that Saddam Hussein is the "cause of their misery."
Condemning the entire population of Iraq, Gore added, "In general, the world does not need the contributions of Iraqi space science or of Iraqi work in nuclear physics—practical or applied. The U.S. should work to completely block future Iraqi activity of any kind in these areas. There is no way to think about certain branches of science and engineering in Iraq except as tap roots for programs aimed at programs of mass destruction."
