BACKGROUND
.......... .
W
hen George Bush
sat down with
Mikhail Gorbachev
in Helsinki's huge Finlandia
Hall for-their joint post-
summit press conference, he
put the best possible com-
plexion on what will un-
doubtedly become the most
serious long-term problem
for his administration.
The sooner U.S. troops can
be pulled out of the Middle
East, he declared, the better.
"We have no intention of
keeping them there a day
longer than is required."
Bringing home the boys is
indeed a noble objective, but
it begs the question: Just
when will that day arrive?
According to the best esti-
mates now available,
Americans should not hold
their breath: the day may be
years, even decades, away.
All states participating in
the American-led multi-
national force have so far
taken care to define their
aims strictly in terms of the
United Nations resolutions,
which call for sufficient
measures to enforce man-
datory sanctions in support
of the demand for Iraq's
withdrawal from Kuwait.
The Bush administration,
however, must be aware that
it will not be able to pull its
forces out even if it achieves
A Foot In The
uicksand
Having intervened in the Middle
East, the U.S. has committed itself and
its troops to a long-term presence in
the desert.
HELEN DAVIS
Foreign Correspondent
the primary objective of forc-
ing Iraq to disgorge Kuwait;
such a pullout will not be
feasible even if it goes fur-
ther and succeeds in toppl-
ing President Saddam Hus-
sein, neutralizing Iraq as a
regional threat and destroy-
ing its potential for waging
chemical, biological or
nuclear war.
There will be no quick fix,
no return to the status quo
ante after the current crisis.
The Middle East has been so
thoroughly shaken up by
Iraq and so traumatized by
the presence of "foreign
forces" that, like Humpty
Dumpty, it will be impossi-
ble to put together again.
In attempting to divine
America's future intentions
in the region, it is necessary
to understand precisely why
it is there in the first place.
Ostensibly, it is acting in
compliance with United
Nations resolutions; but
then, it did not rush 150,000
troops and billions of dollars
worth of war materiel to
help enforce other United
Nations resolutions involv-
ing mandatory sanctions —
notably, those aimed at the
renegade state of Rhodesia
and, more recently, at the
apartheid regime in South
Africa.
It is, moreover, stretching
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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