Because You Never Asked

     (This essay, written in the early 90’s, is the companion to the essay “Saddam Hussein”.)

     Anyone looking in a respectable atlas will find maps showing the kinds of products and resources each country is possessed of. This includes such things as the crops cultivated, the domestic livestock diversity, the minerals exploited and the variety of goods manufactured in its industrial areas.

     One looking at such a map of Kuwait will find only one mineral listed, that being oil, and only one manufacturing activity, that being “oil refining”. There are no crops grown, animals grazed, or any other of the countless endeavors our species occupies itself with in providing for its material needs. The land surface of this country is being used exclusively for two purposes: 1) the extraction and exportation of petroleum, and 2) to stand upon. It’s as if someone took a pencil, drew a line around the oil deposits, and decided to call it a country.

     How’d you guess?

     Shortly after WWI, as the cornerstone of Christian theology was evolving into a “cheap and secure supply of oil” (see essay “Christians”), the dominant colonial power in the Fertile Crescent, that being merry old England, created the immensely oil rich country of Kuwait. This provided for a client state directly over one of the richest deposits of the precious liquid known to man. The deal was quite simple --- the oil is secured, and the “Kuwaitis”, less than a million of them, receive a juicy share of the take for their cooperation.

     Being that the Gulf War was not being fought for oil, another of the great rationalizations used to justify it was that of coming to the aid of a beleaguered, bullied nation. It wasn’t long before we were all feeling sorry for little old Kuwait, as if we had always held this tiny enclave of noble, desert princes as close to our hearts as Bob Hope and turkey stuffing on Thanksgiving. How could we look our kids in the eye if we let that fart-faced villain Hussein, the next Hitler, overrun such an innocent, peace loving, law abiding nation?

     Given the almost diametrically opposed cultural, intellectual and philosophical fundaments of our society with that of Kuwait’s, I assume most Americans did not buy into such candy-coated nonsense --- and this, for me, is what hurts the most. Instead of reacting to such hypocrisy, my countrymen decided not to quibble with these theatrical justifications and acquiesced in the charade.

     “We’re defending a little country from a bully. Shut up and enjoy it”.

     The real story is this: the people now known as the Kuwaitis signed a pact with the devil and became the well paid oil whores of the Occidental Karmic Factory. The money is good, but being a whore can be greasy, nasty work. Life on the streets can be dangerous and you might get roughed up a bit. When that happens, you need a tough  pimp for protection. Kuwait has the toughest pimp around and Saddam found that out.

     The people who run Kuwait somewhat fit this prostitution analogy. It’s surprising to learn that right now, as we approach the next millennium with such noble ideas as equality, human rights, democracy, and other such philosophical fluff being marketed from our newsstands, there still exists a slave trade! There are commercial enterprises whereby young girls are sold into harem-like bondage for the exclusive use, in the manner they see fit, of their purchasers. People like the oil sheiks of Kuwait are regular consumers in this industry. This is the bullied, beleaguered nation we took so much pride in defending.

     The Gulf War is particularly sickening because there are no “good guys” --- not Darth Vader Hussein, not the “humble” Kuwaitis, and least of all the western powers who so gleefully defended their way of seeing the world. In an effort to continue selling a noxious fuel that is fouling our planet so we can go on producing superfluous goods in a way that accommodates our economic system, we have fouled our hands with the blood of greed. This is something I can’t, in all good conscience, be a part of. If this makes me a traitor, I’ll be one with pride.

     (At this point, perhaps the word “greed” is too simplistic a concept. What we are now living has become an addiction, a psychic dependency on a way of life that has been artificially induced and propagated. We now “shoot” consumerism like a chemical dependency. The necessary modification of these habits, hopefully, is still not beyond our grasp.)

     Ironically, the most honest, unadulterated comment I heard during this whole “oil war” episode, was made by a Kuwaiti diplomat --- you know, one of those guys who dresses like Lawrence of Arabia and hangs out on the Riviera or Costa del Sol in his mini-Titanic yacht --- while being questioned by western journalists. When asked if Kuwait owed the U.S. any debt of gratitude, such as some form of democratization in his country (what a laugh!), the mustachioed playboy replied, “No. Nobody was doing anyone any favors. Everyone was simply protecting their interests.”

     Amen.

     Relevant Material: “Although no German would want to admit it, the war was more an endless chain of petty, cowardly acts, than great heroic deeds --- and made up more of simply looking out for oneself than of patriotic convictions. Being a Nazi was the most practical thing to be --- “ From the novel, “Maradentro” (Out to Sea), by the Spaniard, Alberto Vazquez-Figueroa.