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Entry: Endstation Moscow Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/endstation_moscow#12682 Post contents: Whenever I think of our mess in the Middle East, I’m reminded of April Glaspie and her purring 1990 reassurance to Saddam Hussein: “We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait. Secretary Baker has directed me to emphasize the instruction… that the Kuwait issue is not associated with America…” Sure sounded to him – and the rest of us – like our blessing to his intentions. He invaded Kuwait. We “liberated” Kuwait in the snort of a gnat. Subsequently, there have been sanctions to torment the Iraqi people, and, finally, an enfeebled Saddam handily bumped off a decade later. Oh: And we stationed a standing American force in Saudi Arabia. In perpetuity. That’s the important legacy, that American army, sitting on Arab soil and so enraging Osama bin Ladin. We were, for the first time, an armed player in the Middle East. For all the yap about oil as a factor in our policy, armed occupation had never before been proferred. The next time we saw April, later in 1991, she wasn’t so kittenish – chewing out Congress for having the audacity to question her – and the Bush I presidency – about the shadowy path to Desert Storm. So we’re still there – in an expanded form, of course. Not only are we based in Saudi Arabia, but in Iraq, as well. We threaten Iran and Syria. Over there, we just keep…protracting. For a long time, the events of 1990-’91 were a great mystery to me. Now I see those times as the salad days of the Neoconservative Pax Americana. Step by step, we are bestriding the Arab world. Who benefits? Really? Sent at: 2008 09 07