With George Bush trailing Bill Clinton by up to 20 points in the opinion polls, a huge aerial bombardment of Iraq is being planned to boost presidential ratings. A prime objective of the assault, according to Bradford University analyst Paul Rodgers, will be to kill Saddam Hussein. The US military build-up ex ceeds anything needed to police the 'exclusion zone'. which covers a least of third of Iraq. Massive numbers of planes, including Stealth fighters and fighter-bombers, have been prepared. US bombers have been armed with air-launched cruise missiles. And a B-52 squadron in Louisiana has been put on alert to launch a long-range attack on Baghdad from the US. A key part of the US arsenal is a new bomb designed for desti ying hardened control bun is. Twenty-five of the bon capable of blasting through 70 feet of earth and then 20 feet of reinforced concrete, are ready to try to wipe out the Iraqi leadership. Bush is having difficulty creating the excuse for the attack. UN weapons inspectors have not been able or willing to create a significant 'incident in their hide-andseek attempt to track down Iraqi military hardware and technology. Saddam Hussein has quickly got his planes out of the exclusion zone, and attacks on Shi'ites and the Arab population of the southern marshlands have ceased, at least for the time being.
Key targets
But odds are that an attack will go ahead, excuse or not. Apart from Saddam Hussein, key targets will include government ministries in Baghdad, airfields, military bases, bridges and other 'strategic installations. Civilians and civilian areas will not be targeted as such; but planners apparently accept that more 'collateral damage' is 'inevitable. The crude cynicism of the Bush leadership in manufacturing a new "crisis is ob Printed by Tridant Press, Edenbridge, Kent. Published by Idolrare Ltd, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU vious. Saddam Hussein's regime is, as the whole left argued throughout the Gulf war, a thoroughly despicable military dictatorship. Saddam's attacks on the Shi'ite population and the Kurds are obscene. But the idea that George Bush is kept awake at night worrying about the fate of Saddam's victims is preposterous. Intervention or non-intervention is entirely a matter of the perceived interest of the United States. Military dictatorships are friends on enemies depending on temporary circumstances. If George Bush were moved by the milk of human kindness, US marines would have been relieving the seige of Sarajevo months ago. Final calculations may ultimately mean that zapping Iraq again is just too damn obvious a ploy in the election game; but don't bet on it. The likelihood is still that some thousands of Iraqis are about to be slaughtered for the good of the Republican party. Eighteen months after the Gulf war, the New World Order is getting into top gear. So far it has brought mass starvation in Africa, havoc in ex-Yugoslavia, the rise of fascism in Germany and more than a 100,000 deaths in the Gulf. Watch this space.