Desert Storm question

Jim heartfield jim at heartfield.demon.co.uk
Mon May 10 17:57:40 PDT 1999


In message <2.2.32.19990510213418.006b92e8 at uclink4.berkeley.edu>, Adam Stevens <a_ste at uclink4.berkeley.edu> writes
> Can anyone reccomend a good book on the Persian Gulf war?

Not a comprehensive account, but this pamphlet on the aftermath was prescient:

'In endorsing British involvement in the Gulf War and in the subsequent Kurdish crisis, and in demanding more British military interference in the former Yugoslavia, the New Statesman reflects the view of a substantial body of radical opinion. At the heart of their support for what one of their number calls "liberal interventionism" lies a faith in the essentially beneficent nature of Western, particularly British, imperialism. ... The Gulf War is a watershed in transforming liberal perceptions of imperialism. Many radicals joined in the mainstream vilification of Saddam Hussein and gave their support to Western military action against Iraq. Even those groups, like CND itself, which refused to support Desert Storm, nevertheless supported the use of Western economic sanctions to bring Saddam to his knees. ... By the beginning of 1993 the metamorphosis of what had long regarded itself as a peace movement into a war movement was complete. In a contribution to the continuing debate in the pages of the New Statesman, former revolutionary socialist and veteran anti-war activist Martin Shaw set about explaining "the irony that any peace politics can only start now with the use of force".'

Mike Freeman, The Empire Strikes Back, 1993, Junius. -- Jim heartfield



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