Peacekeeper at war

A personal view of the Gulf War

Peacekeeper at War: A Personal View of the Gulf War is a coherent and emphatic statement that the Gulf War was fought to ensure American access to the oil of the region and not to uphold the sanctity of a sovereign state.

The film is documented with the testimony of those who participated in the war. It makes its case.

The war was authorized by the United Nations Security Council. Although other nations participated, including Canadian air and naval forces, it was an American war fought to defend American interests. Since other countries paid most of the bills, the Americans may even have made money on the war.

No one can prove whether sanctions and negotiations could have persuaded Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, avoiding war. Saddam Hussein certainly could not have seized Kuwait without the American, Russian, and European arms delivered during the war with Iran. And judging from the massive arms sales to countries in the Arabian Peninsula since the Gulf War, Canada and other powers have learned nothing from it except, perhaps, how better to sell arms to fight more such wars.

The heroes were the victims whose lives were sacrificed or diminished and those who provided humanitarian aid, put out fires, and cleared the unexploded ordnance left by combatants. It's a pity that their courage was not matched by the statesmen whose duty it was to make their sacrifice unnecessary.

Far from establishing the U.N. as guarantor of collective security as its founders intended, the war made the U.N. a protagonist and servant of the United States. Canadians have no reason to be proud of their participation.