MER Article Calculating "Collateral Damage" Early reports of casualties in Iraq provided only a scattershot picture of damage to residential areas and loss of civilian life, not a clear sense of scope or scale. Only on February 11, after four weeks of intense bombing, did Iraqi officials acknowledge that civilian deaths were in the range of 5 Joost Hiltermann • 4 min read
MER Article Message of National Churches of Christ on Gulf Crisis A MESSAGE OF NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN THE USA ON THE GULF AND MIDDLE EAST CRISIS, NOVEMBER 14-16, 1990 [Excerpts] We stand at a unique moment in human history, when all around us seemingly impregnable walls are being broken down and deep historical enmities are being healed. And y (Author not identified) • 5 min read
MER Article Al Miskin The first “instant book” on the Gulf crisis has already reached stores across the United States. In his October 22 column in The Nation, Alexander Cockburn related how Judith Miller of the New York Times sought unsuccessfully to induce Samir al-Khalil, the pseudonymous author of Republic of Fear, to Al Miskin • 4 min read
MER Article Washington Watch House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Lee Hamilton (D-IN) offered the first criticism by a Washington insider of the Bush administration’s handling of the Gulf crisis when, on September 18, 1990, he blamed Assistant Secretary of State for Near East and South Asian Affairs John Kelly for not sending Fred Halliday • 4 min read
MER Article Economic Impact of the Crisis in Egypt Egypt was facing a severe foreign exchange shortage when the Gulf crisis broke out. Its debt arrears were piling up and it was finding it more and more difficult to obtain new loans. The Gulf crisis threatens to make this situation even worse. Here’s how: Remittances sent home by some 1 million Egy Marsha Pripstein Posusney • 3 min read
MER Article Mubarak's Gamble Egyptians pride themselves on their historic endurance and their ability to survive under almost all conditions. But even before the Gulf crisis erupted in August, there had been a great sense of worry and uncertainty regarding the future. The juncture of a new century with a new millennium is notic Ahmed Abdalla • 10 min read
MER Article The Gulf Crisis and the New World Order The Gulf crisis cannot be regarded as a purely local or regional issue, or a crisis whose worldwide significance is derived only from the importance of Arab oil. More fundamentally, it has become the main testing ground for the rapprochement between East and West as applied to North-South relations. Mohamed Sid-Ahmed • 4 min read
MER Article Kuwaiti Rights Are the Issue Are the United States and the Arab world “on the edge of war,” as the editors of Middle East Report put it in their September-October 1990 editorial? I think not. Rather, Iraq, a criminal state, has extended the violence that rules inside its own borders into Kuwait. This act by itself and before th Samir al-Khalil • 6 min read
MER Article The Mythology of a Conquerer The Gulf crisis? The threats of Saddam Hussein? The Western and other hostages? Two worldviews clash over these questions -- two public opinions, each engaging masses of people, ardently take opposite sides, each with good arguments. How is it possible for “Westerners” (in the broadest sense) not t Maxime Rodinson • 4 min read
MER Article Arms Limitations Must Include All Parties As the United States stands on the brink of its first full-scale war with an Arab country, it is incumbent on all of us to share our expertise and our experience with the broader public. The consequences of a major war in this region have not been fully thought out -- by the public, by the politicia Rashid Khalidi • 4 min read
MER Article A Military Solution Will Destroy Kuwait Ahmad al-Khatib has been active for many years in the Kuwaiti opposition movement and was a member of Kuwait’s parliament until its dissolution in 1986. Al-Khatib attended the assembly of Kuwaitis in Jidda, called by the ruling Al Sabah, in October 1990. Fred Halliday spoke with him in London upon h Fred Halliday • 5 min read
MER Article A New Balance of Forces Samih Farsoun, a contributing editor of this magazine and professor of sociology at American University, recently visited the Middle East. He spoke with Joe Stork in early November 1990. What is your assessment of the impact of this crisis on the balance of forces in the region? Joe Stork • 9 min read
