Only two days after the stock market crash, the US engineered a major crisis in the Middle East. The pretext was the Iraqi Government's (temporary) decision not to allow 'inspections' of their military installations. Like a bully itching to pulverise a small child's face, the US leapt into action when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein threatened to shoot down U2 spy 'planes in Iraqi airspace.
The aircraft carrier 'Nimitz' was soon steaming to the Gulf and there were feverish preparations to garrison more troops in neighbouring countries (none of which, it should be noted, were especially enthusiastic, given that their populations are increasingly resentful of Washington's bullying of their fellow Arabs).
Ominously, Washington has even encouraged Israeli threats to use neutron bombs against Iraq in the event of a new war. Predictably, the Howard Government has rushed to rubber-stamp US policy. The Australian Ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Butler, has foamed with righteous indignation at Iraqi 'insolence'.
The moralising over weapons inspections (paid for, incidentally, by Iraq) is so much hypocrisy. The US and its allies are well-aware of what weapons are possessed by Iraq - after all, they sold them in the first place! It is clear they are merely seeking a pretext to topple the regime in Baghdad. In this they are reliably supported by the mass media, which demonises Hussein and dehumanises the suffering Iraqi people. How else can one explain the almost casual way in which threats to use nuclear weapons against Iraqi cities was reported in the media?
The neutron bomb is possibly the most hellish weapon ever invented. It is designed to cause the minimum damage to property and the maximum of death and suffering to human beings. It is the ultimate weapon for capitalist carpet-baggers intent on making a business and real estate killing in the aftermath of war: and make no mistake, the powers-that-be are working hard to accustom 'public opinion' to the idea of a new Gulf War. Iraq is a society on the brink of disintegration. The damage inflicted on its cities and infrastructure by US attacks during the 'desert war' of January 1990, has been worsened a thousand-fold by the continuing blockade. Although Iraq is now permitted to barter a dribble of petroleum overseas for some food, this will not rebuild the country's shattered infrastructure. The country's medical services are devastated and water and sanitation services are still ruined.
One of the best-kept and most shameful secrets of the last seven years has been the invisible genocide of Iraq's children -- invisible because the Western media has largely chosen to ignore it. Estimates of the number of Iraqi children who have died as a direct result of the seven year long embargo range from several hundred thousand to well over one million. And the requirements for lifting the sanctions constantly change. Clearly the Iraqi people are to be punished indefinitely for their leaders' temerity in standing up to Washington. Equally clearly, as long as imperialism exists, there will be war. We have not seen the last of the sabre-rattling in the Gulf.