DATE=01/16/01

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

NUMBER=5-48793

TITLE=GULF WAR / ANNIVERSARY

BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB

DATELINE=CAIRO

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// ED'S: LAURIE KASSMAN WILL FILE A BACKGROUNDER WEDNESDAY

ABOUT HOW THE GULF WAR AFFECTED ISRAEL'S ROLE IN THE MIDEAST ///

INTRO: Ten-years ago, in the early morning hours of January 17th, a coalition of Arab and Western forces launched operation Desert Storm, the military offensive aimed at driving Iraq from Kuwait, which it had occupied six-months before. Middle East Correspondent Scott Bobb takes a look at the effect of the six-week war on Iraq and the Arab world 10-years later.

TEXT: Operation Desert Storm began with a massive aerial bombardment.

Then-President George Bush announced the launch of the operation two-hours after it began and put the blame squarely on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

/// BUSH ACT ///

This conflict started August second when the dictator of Iraq invaded a small, helpless neighbor. Kuwait, a member of the Arab League and a member of the United Nations, was crushed, its people brutalized. Five-months ago, Saddam Hussein started this cruel war against Kuwait. Tonight, the battle has been joined.

/// END ACT ///

When the U-S president declared victory six-weeks later, coalition forces had retaken Kuwait and driven deep into Iraq. The war severely damaged Iraq's infrastructure, destroyed a great deal of its military armament and killed thousands of people, many of them civilians

The war united most of the world community against Iraq and raised U-S influence in the Middle East to a level not seen in decades.

Ten-years after the war, the Iraqi economy remains crippled by international sanctions and the Iraqi people suffer from unemployment, low salaries, and high rates of malnutrition and infant mortality.

But the Iraqi government remains defiant. President Hussein, in his message last year on the anniversary of the war, told Iraqis not to lose hope, despite their sacrifices.

/// HUSSEIN ACT IN ARABIC ///

The Iraqi president said the heads of Arabs and Iraqi's are still high and proud because of the struggle. He vowed to remain defiant, saying despite international scheming, Iraqis will not bow.

During the past year, rising sympathy for the suffering of the Iraqi people has led to erosion of support for the sanctions.

The deputy director of Cairo's Al-Ahram Center for Strategic Studies, Mohammed Sayed Saiid, says the Arab people oppose sanctions because those who are punished are the people rather than the leaders.

/// SAIID ACT ///

The sanctions regime, as it worked out in the last 10 years particularly against Iraq, caused general revolt against the American militancy on this issue. And now, people are in general agreement that we need to lift sanctions immediately and to re-integrate Iraq back into the international system, perhaps through a more dynamic and negotiated approach.

/// END ACT. ///

Moreover, Arab anger over the violence in Gaza and the West Bank has helped to bring Iraq back into the Arab fold and re-united the Arab world. At an October summit of Arab leaders in Cairo the first such summit Iraq has attended since the Gulf War - Arab leaders expressed support for Iraq and condemned U-S policies in the Middle East.

Syrian political analyst Georges Jabbour says that the U-S policy of using sanctions to punish governments that are viewed as overly aggressive is coming under increasing opposition. He says this is because these governments are becoming more moderate.

/// JABBOUR ACT ///

The world is more suspicious (of) the way Americans call these states rogue states, or whatever. I think what we are witnessing in the world is some sort of lack of credibility with U-S policy toward such states.

/// END ACT. ///

The U-S government says sanctions against Iraq should be maintained until it resumes cooperation with U-N monitoring meant to ensure Iraq does not begin re-building its military. Iraq suspended the monitoring two-years ago and says the inspectors will not be allowed to return.

Iraq says it no longer has weapons of mass destruction. It is hoping for a general collapse of the sanctions, or a change in policy under the administration of President-elect George W. Bush, the son of the U-S president who launched Operation Desert Storm. (SIGNED)

NEB/SB/KL/RAE