Gulf oil

Based on oil supply considerations, America's entry into the Gulf war is quite unnecessary: the oil it gets from the Gulf (about 15% of imports) is easily replaceable from the Western hemisphere, and very little (about 4%) of Gulf oil goes to the US. Oil is not that crucial for the US: the artificial idleness of Seabrook and Shoreham alone costs 18 million barrels/year of it, along with the public safety and health sacrificed for the greater glory of Dukakis, Cuomo and Markey.

The idea of keeping shipping lanes open, on the other hand, would be a laudable one for a power that is (still) considered the Free World's leader. The US has enough clout in its purse strings, diplomatic channels and military arsenal for decisive action to stop the brawl of two small-time crooks in a public thoroughfare. With the threat, and if necessary, the use of large-scale, no-nonsense military force, the US could have whipped both sides into civilized behavior in a matter of days. It would have been followed by the howls of the media and Congress, but (as in Grenada) with the overwhelming support of the country, and without fear of congressional meddling.

Instead, the US picked sides between two crooks and, com-pounding the irrationality, chose the one that had just crippled the USS Stark. It is lending the US flag to "neutral" Kuwait, Iraq's closest ally. By its involvement, it is encouraging Iraq to step up its attacks on the Iranian oil trade, while it is directing feeble token responses at Iranian forces only. It is getting in-volved one-sidedly, in the half-hearted and vacillating manner that may, once again, end up in debacle, and strengthen the hand of two-bit pols like Biden, Weicker and other congres-sional opportunists.

More insolent still is the medieval monarchy of Saudi Arabia. It has purchased close to $3 billion's worth of US arms on the false pretense of protection for itself and its shipping lanes; it now refuses to provide shore and air bases to the US, which has to keep three times as many ships in the area at a cost of $100 million/month billed to the US taxpayer. A feudal slave state and one of the world's great offenders against human rights (always billed as "moderate" by the State Department), Saudi Arabia is afraid of fellow feudal lord Iran and accepts US help for that purpose; but it nevertheless lavishes its extorted money on Iran's staunchest ally Syria to the tune of some $750 million/year, enabling Syria to purchase Soviet arms and to finance worldwide terrorism (which the Saudis also support directly by levying a PLO tax on its foreign Arab workers).

America is in no desperate need of Gulf oil; it does not need the tyrannical and devious Arab governments of the Middle East, just as it does not need the "People's Republic" of China, or for that matter, the Soviet Empire. What it does need desperately is respect and credibility, and that is gained by deter-mined support of those who genuinely share the principles of Western civilization; it is squandered along with blood and treasure when help is given to crooked tyrants around the globe.