Canada/World

_Use UN troops only say peace groups

The following is an international appeal
being circulated by peace groups on the
current situation in the Middle East. It is
reprinted here from the Denman Island
Peace Group which added the final three
deamnds aimed at the federal government.

q A United States military plane touches
down in Saudi Arabia every eight minutes
with its cargo of young people and military
hardware.

EY By the end of August, 200,000 U.S.
military personnel are expected to have been
deployed to the Persian Gulf region.

* The President of the United States is
authorized to assign, without congressional
approval, 200,000 U.S. military reservists to
active duty. It is expected that 40,000 reser-
ves may join operations in the region before
September.

* Over one billion pounds of ammunition,
weapons, food and other supplies have been
shipped to U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf in

To be silent is to be
complicit. It is
incumbent upon
peace-loving people
everywhere to
impress upon
decision-makers that
although there may
be general unanimity
of condemnation of
lraq’s flagrant
violation of
international law,
there is no unanimity
on the use of.
violence as the
means to ‘resolve’
this crisis.

the past two weeks — the largest airlift ever
undertaken by the United States. The direct
monetary cost of sustaining this operation is
$14.6 million per day.

¢ An armada of 45 U.S. warships with
some of the most sophisticated and deadly
weaponry in the world, including nuclear
Tomahawk sea-launched cruise missiles,
plies the waters of the region on the highest
level of war readiness.

¢ With the inclusion of U.S. naval air
forces, the total number of U.S. aircraft in
the region exceeds 500. Every U.S. state-of-
the-art “Stealth” offensive bomber will be
deployed to the Gulf.

¢ The United States is in Saudi Arabia to
protect its “vital interest” — cheap oil.

¢ In addition to sending its warships, the
United Kingdom has deployed the strike/at-
tack version of the Toronado fighter to Bah-

rain — providing the UK with potent offen-
sive capability.

* Up to 170,000 Iraqi troops and 1,800
armored tanks are currently occupying
Kuwait. In total, Irag.can muster 6,000 battle
tanks, 50 divisions, 42 infantry divisions,
and 500 aircraft.

¢ Iraqi SCUD-B missiles, capable of car-
rying chemical weapons and with a range of
298 km, have been deployed in occupied
Kuwait within easy reach of foreign targets.
The AL-HUSAYN missile is believed to
have a range of 640 km and also can be
equipped with a chemical warhead. Iraq is
understood to have a variety of guided mis-
siles capable of delivering warheads up to
2000 km. Iraq is believed to have 50 tons of
nerve gas and 500 tons of blister agents.
There is reason to believe that Iraq may also
have biological weapons including bot-
ulism, anthrax, typhoid and equine en-
cephalitis. Reports from the Non-Prolifera-
tion Treaty conference in Geneva suggest
that Iraq is within two years of missile-
deliverable nuclear weapons capability and
may have the capacity to produce a crude
nuclear weapon within six months.

¢ Iraq armed forces have surrounded
selected Western embassies and are present-
ly preventing free passage of foreign nation-
als associated with those embassies.

* Over 185,000 displaced persons have
streamed over the border into Jordan since
the beginning of the crisis on Aug. 2.

¢ The world has entered a “war mindset”
against Iraq that will be difficult to shed,
according to French President Francois Mit-
terand.

The rapid escalation of the precarious
situation in the Middle East may render the
preceding description obsolete in a matter of
hours or days. However, as this pervasive
and insidious “war mindset” becomes in-
creasingly entrenched, it is critical that alter-
native voices be heard. To be silent is to be
complicit. It is incumbent upon peace-
loving people everywhere to impress upon
decision-makers that although there may be
general unanimity of condemnation of Iraq’s
flagrant violation of international law, there
is no unanimity on the use of violence as the
means to “resolve” this crisis.

We have been encouraged by the prompt
and unprecedented act of international co-
operation evidenced by the UN Security
Council’s imposition of economic sanctions
against Iraq. This rapid action characterizes
anew United Nations liberated from its Cold
War ideological constraints. The consensus
inherent in this UN stance, given time to
ripen and mature, could provide fertile
ground for a non-violent solution of this
crisis. As well, this consensus establishes a
model for the resolution of serious conflicts
in other regions of the world.

However, we are gravely concerned that
the precipitous and virtually unilateral U.S.
military reaction, coming before the UN
sanctions have had time to be effective, will
undermine this new global consensus.

The scale of the U.S. forces in the Persian
Gulf region has far surpassed that required
for purely defensive purposes. The risk is
great that a minor error in this charged and
militarized atmosphere may provoke unin-
tentional war. U.S. efforts to further
militarize the Gulf region escalate an al-
ready tense situation which vastly increases
the likelihood of military confrontation with
untold human suffering, environmental
devastation, and serious implications to
long-term global security.

The arms build-up in Iraq, made possible
by the United States, USSR, France, China,
Italy, the United Kingdom, and Germany,
and the inherent tension in the region may
combine to make any conflict likely to in-
volve the use of weapons of mass destruc-
tion. The notion of a “short, sharp crisis”
featuring a “swift surgical strike” is
dangerously illusory, ignoring the historical

record and underestimating the horrific real-
ities of modern warfare.

We are concerned that a violent response
by the United States to the crisis may be
perceived as legitimizing the use of violence
by other states in the region with cat-
astrophic consequences. We believe that the
presence of U.S. armed forces will serve to
exacerbate longstanding resentment of
western policies which are insensitive to
cultural and religious values of the Middle
East.

1) We appeal to all parties in this conflict
to exercise the utmost restraint and modera-
tion so that the present crisis in the Middle
East can be contained and resolved without
further human suffering, loss of life,
squandering of precious resources, and en-
vironmental degradation.

2) We urge all parties to support and work
within the authority of the United Nations
and to implement all mechanisms which
may facilitate a negotiated settlement of the
present crisis in recognition that a political
solution holds the only hope for lasting
peace in the region.

3) We urge the immediate withdrawal of
the military forces of Iraq from Kuwait.

4) We urge Iraq to permit and facilitate
the immediate departure from Kuwait and
Iraq of all nationals of foreign countries, and
to take no actions to jeopardize the safety,
security or health of such nationals.

5) We urge the immediate withdrawal of
United States and other military forces from
the Persian Gulf region.

6) We urge patient aderence to United
Nations Resolution 661 which calls for a
boycott on economic relations with Iraq,
with an understanding that the effectiveness
of such a boycott may not be evident for
months. We urge individual states to be
motivated by long-term collective global
imperatives rather than short-term domestic
self-interest.

7) Should a military presence be required
to enforce United Nations Resolution 661,
we urge that such enforcement be conducted
with the most minimal and restrained
military deployment and force, and that it be
under the authority and command of the
United Nations.

8) We urge the United States to permit the

delivery of humanitarian aid in the form of
food and medicine to Iraq and Kuwait.

9) We urge the media of the world to
cease and desist the use of imagery and
words which feed the “war mindset” and
romanticize warfare. 3

In the longer term,

10) We urge the withdrawal of all U.S.
military forces from the Middle East and
Persian Gulf, the elimination of U.S.
military bases in the region, and a pledge of
non-intervention.

11) We urge negotiations among the
United States, Soviet Union, China,
European nations and other arms suppliers
in order to permanently halt the transfer of

arms and military technology to Iraq and all.

other nations in the Middle East.

12) We support national energy policies
which reduce dependence on imported oil
through conservation and the development
of safe, renewable energy sources.

13) We vigorously support all diplomatic
efforts to resolve deep-seated disputes in the
Middle East.

14) We support diplomatic initiatives
directed at resolving the future status and
government of Kuwait by a democratic
process of sef-determination, preferably
under the supervision of the United Nations.

We call on the Canadian government to:

1) Immediately recall Parliament in order
that a process of democratic decision-
making may be initiated to adddress this
issue of global consequence.

2) Place the Canadian Forces currently in
transit to the Middle East under a unified
United Nations Command in a peacekeep-
ing role.

3) Revitalize Canada’s former role as a
world peacemaker. We further urge the
government of Canada to encourage all par-
ties to the conflict to support and work
within the authority of the United Nations
and to implement all mechanisms which
may facilitate a negotiated settlement of the
present crisis in recognition that a political
solution holds the only hope for lasting
peace in the region.

Pacific Tribune, September 10, 1990 * 7

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