Newsgroups: alt.desert-storm,talk.politics.misc,soc.rights.human,alt.activism
Subject: Where in the World does the U.S. stand?
Summary: 
Expires: 
References: <1991Feb15.131326.18031@cbnewsj.att.com>
Sender: 
Reply-To: harelb@cabot (Harel Barzilai)
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Distribution: world
Organization: Dartmouth College
Keywords: 


The Gulf War, Domestic Policy, and the Military Industrial Complex
				(staring in 3rd-4th paragraphs)
==================================================================

In article <1991Feb15.131326.18031@cbnewsj.att.com> twheeler@cbnewsj.att.com (theodore wheeler) writes:
>
>Between the time I shut off the radio in the car and walked
>to my office, got onto the net, and posted the WAR OVER
>message, Iraq came back on the air and added some conditions
          ===================================================
>to the earlier broadcast.
========================


I posted (part of) the text of the Iraqi declaration, which contained
a listing of their conditions for withdrawal from the beginning.

If is a statement about the nature of the Free Press reporting of the
gulf (e.g. Headline: "Saddam Offers ``Cruel Hoax'' " in our free
press) that the poster came under the impression that he did, and not
unlikely also a statement about the mindset which several months of
such reporting has put the poster in.

Anything THEY do is bad. THEHY are devious, looking to buy time. THEY
can't possibly look for a way out of Kuwait without humiliation (as
usual, we conveninetly confuse Saddam, who deserves "humiliation" with
the Iraqi people, the "humiliation" of which, for the pro-war folks
(not in stated beliefs, but in results fo policies promoted) is their
mass-slaughter, after years of U.S.-backed repression by the person
now called "Hilter" by his old pals); no, they don't want a way out
without humiliation; it's just a trick, at least that's what Bush
says, and Bush can't possibly be saying this because he doesn't want a
diplomatic, *negotiated* way out, just like he doesn't want a
*negotiated* way out of the Israeli/Palestinian issue

Bush couldn't possibly be looking for war for reasons having to do
with a military budget that is according to many studies and experts
amore than $100,000,000,000 higher than what is necessary for defence,
could he?

Bush's motives could have nothing to do with squashing the "Peace
Dividend" from this military budget, or to try to perpetuate the
military-driven economy and divert attention from the domestic toll of
this policy, including the U.S. ranking in

Literacy:		50th in the world

Infant mortality rank:	20th in the world

Life expectancy:	lower than Japan, Italy, Sweden, Austria,
			Finland, France, New Zeland, Denmark, England,

		and Canada (whose citizens pay, under it's National
		Health Insurance policy, 3/4 of what U.S. citizens
		have to pay, while having a life expencancy of 2 years
		longer; covering all its citizens, and whose infant
		mortality rank is not 20th (U.S.),  but 5th)

The U.S. is THE ONLY WESTERN industrial nation, or the only one save
for South Africa if it is counted (Amnesty does not) which does not
provide universal health care for all its citizens;

The U.S. and South Africa STAND OUT again as the lone duo for states
practicing the Death Penalty;

Per capita in prison:	FIRST IN THE WORLD [28% more than South Africa
			(2nd); 59% more than Soviet Union (3rd)

per capita executions: 2ND IN THE WORLD (after South Africa)

		...
		...

I am compiling these and other statistics (w/references) for a future
and more comprehensive post; for those willing to listen, to step back
and examine where the U.S. ranks superlatively high, and in what
features is ranks superlatively low, it starts becoming clear what
directions years of military Keynesianism have taken us towards *and*
simultaneously what motives might underly today's policies as Bush
tells us he is promoting the exact ideals he has and still does oppose
all over the world except, as in the case of Iraq, where it is of more
utility not to do so (see Z Magazine's Gulf Crisis Analysis, to be 
posted soon)

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