Please, not again!

For crying out loud get this over with. It is ironic, don't you think, that we should witness a sudden escalation of tension in Iraq on Veterans Day? Perhaps some of the servicemen who took part in memorial services will have their names carved in granite before too long. They'll be the 'heroes' who died for the mistakes made by often corrupt, usually self-seeking and frequently stupid politicians.

Y'know, have you ever considered how would it be if only the sons and daughters of politicians were allowed into combat? I reckon wars would stop in a hurry. What about if only the sons and daughters of multi-national industrialists who buy off politicians so they can sell their military hardware to rogue nations were allowed to enlist? I guess the recruitment offices would be empty - or the sales would stop.

As we, the people, remember the senseless carnage of every war this century our political leaders are taking time out from the ceremonies to plan first strike and calculate 'collateral' damage with their generals. Almost 300 young Americans died in the Gulf War - for what? To liberate a democratic country? Ain't that a joke. Here we are in 1998 and the younger brothers and sisters of veterans in hospitals suffering from Gulf War Syndrome are about to be launched into another conflict - to achieve what? The great-great-grandchildren of soldiers who saw their comrades forced at gun-point to climb over a parapet of mud and charge into withering machine-gun fire are now preparing to risk their lives. For what? Tell me, because I surely do not understand.

Are they fighting for freedom, democracy and the pursuit of happiness? If yes, then whose? Not the kids of Iraq, that's for sure. This latest round of likely hostilities is to reinstate the weapons inspections, enforce sanctions and maintain a U.S.-led military presence in the Gulf - it is not intended to install a democratic government in Baghdad. That wouldn't suit geo-economic-political strategies. So some folks have do die, just as long as it ain't those who actually make the policies - or benefit from them.

How many baby-formula factories are going to be bombed this time to demonstrate that Iraqi air-defense isn't everything that it should be? And will Washington and London press home their attacks to bring down the regime of Saddam Hussein, or will they just go far enough to force Baghdad into accepting another half decade of weapons inspections and crippling sanctions?

I was quietly amused to see State Department spokesman, James Amanpour, warn that Iraq could re-deploy its weapons of mass destruction within months if the U.N. weapons inspection regime wasn't maintained. Excuse me? A war, years of sanctions, years of intensive inspections, and the knowledge of who sold what to whom - and Saddam could launch a chemical or biological missile within a couple of months? I wish I could click my heels three times and go back to Kansas. If all that sacrifice, money and effort has set Saddam back by just two months - will you or one of your counterparts over at Defense or the White House tell us what everyone has been dying for?

Frankly speaking, if I was still in the military I would apply for voluntary discharge by purchase - or if I was already on the transport en-route to the Gulf - I'd do the decent thing and shoot the pilot. Only a flesh wound that would force a landing somewhere far away from Iraq. No reason why he or anyone else on the plane should die for State/Defense/White House political shinola. Remember, almost 300 young Americans are pushing up daisies while the folks who gave Saddam Hussein the means to kill them are still enjoying executive lunches at the finest restaurants in Washington, London, Paris and Bonn. Today, perhaps a few of them stood in silent memory of those who gave their lives so they could enjoy a second or third gin-and-tonic before going back to the office.

Back in the 1960s and early 1970s returning U.S. servicemen from Vietnam were called 'baby-killers' - and God knows there was enough evidence to show that children were often the victims of indiscriminate bombing and mining. But while individual soldiers may have been guilty of atrocities - the real baby-killers occupied the offices that are now home to those who are planning another assault on the innocent victims of the West's former Persian Gulf puppet and one of its biggest military hardware customers.

Even the United Nations accepts the horrific fact that sanctions are killing thousands of children in Iraq - kids that weren't even born when Kuwait was invaded. This is institutional baby-killing - backed by the Security Council. I once believed that honourable nations did not make war on civilians. I stopped thinking along those lines a long, long time ago.

But having said all that - if another conflict is inevitable - for crying out loud do it right this time. Let's end this once and for all. Let's end this once and for the good of all.

Newtered!

Way to go Newt! Back in October we were still speculating on whether Newt's 'Lewinsky Gambit' would cripple the Democrats at the polls and give the G-O-P the public mandate it so badly needed to force POTUS from office. Around the news desk here at Metro in Hong Kong we were inclined to feel that it was a mistake. We never really understood the fuss to begin with. Mid-term elections in the U.S. attract little general interest here, but with a large American population in the territory, we followed it closely. Not least in part because the 'sex' angle and impeachment ramifications made these elections a little out of the ordinary.

And out of the ordinary they were. Friday night's development made headline news for me on Saturday morning - pushing an easing of sanctions against India and Pakistan off the number one slot. Thanks Newt, Saturday mornings here in Hong Kong are usually tough news days.

There are a lot of stories that a journalist and editor is obliged to cover, whether or not we have any enthusiasm for them. The Lewinsky Affair and the subsequent G-O-P drive towards impeachment falls neatly into that category. Not that we thought the stories were not worth covering per se, but we were just plain astonished that Washington should be making such a big deal over what would be quite unremarkable in regions East of Suez.

In common with more than 60-percent of the American public we here around the news desk just wished these particular issues would go away. There are a lot more important things going on in this world that are deserving of our attention. And I include politicians and journalists in my use of the word 'our'. It looks like wishes do come true after all.

With Ken Starr being investigated for possible illegal leaks to the media and the demise of Gingrich it looks like the right-wing 'Get Clinton' monster has been effectively neutered. What are the Sunday pundits going to talk about now, I wonder. Perhaps they'll turn their collective attention to issues that directly impact on the American public and indirectly on the world at large. Heck, they might even be worth watching!

--Chris Gelken