Convene a UN-sponsored Conference Now

By George Thompson

If they could see George Bush now, our founding fathers would be spinning in their graves. Witness this latest foray in the desert to divert attention from conditions at home:

* Sending troops abroad, like the Hessians before us, threatening to spill American blood for Kuwaiti oil.

* Knocking on foreign doors, begging money and/or troops to wage a monarch's war.

* Being foolish enough to forgive loans to win allies for war there when we owe so much for peace here.

* "Cozying up to [Syria's president] Hafez Al-Assad, a proven terrorist, merely to gain support for the use of force against Saddam Hussain." (Senator George Mitchell on TV.)

* Being unable to tell anybody—certainly not Americans—why he was doing any of the above.

Enter Israel, cup in hand, biggest debtor of all: Chafing under Bush's orders to "sit this one out," it wins whether peace or war. But it gains most if we " remove" Saddam. That's why its lobby here has been calling for war since the crisis began. Led by pro-Israeli congressmen, columnists, former administration officials and others, they cry, "Kill him for us now so we don't have to do it later."

Aye, and there's the rub, for it is not the imminence of war that should concern us. First, because it is obvious that Iraq will not fight the forces arrayed now against it. Second, because by the time these words appear Iraq will have released its hostages and may well have begun withdrawing from Kuwait.

What should bother Americans most in this dubious duet in the desert is being lied to. Bush since the invasion has been doing what his predecessor did when faced with a "wimpy" image and/or problems at home: Find a deplorable and vulnerable target abroad.

* Remember Grenada's airport runway it said it was building "for tourists"? Washington said it was "for Russian jets." We completed the runway—for tourists.

* Remember the Berlin blast that killed US servicemen? Washington blamed Libya, but its Promised "irrefutable proof" never surfaced.

* Remember the US-bound Libyan hit squads? When concrete pillars were poured in front of the White House? When admitted Israeli Mossad agent Manoucher Ghorbanifar revealed it was a hoax?

* Remember White House reaction to US downing of an Iranian airbus over the Persian Gulf? That it was "a fighter plane descending out of its corridor"? That Pentagon officials finally admitted it had been "an error"?

Lies. All lies. They were not necessary then. Nor are they now.

It is readily apparent that the machinery is in place for both Bush and Saddam to save face: First, Bush is safe because Iraq will have released the hostages and pulled out of Kuwait without appearing to negotiate. Second, Saddam is safe because (thanks to US behind-the-scenes arm-twisting) Kuwait will give him access to the Gulf and reparations for the Rumaila oil fields—which is why he invaded Kuwait in the first place.

It's sad to see the mess the West has deeded the once-proud Arabs. Their problems lie in boundaries carved by victors of an earlier Western war. But it will take more than another to undo what we've done.

What concerns us now is getting answers to the difficult questions about the uneasy truce that will usher in the new year, including: the still unresolved Palestinian problem; the perception that the still heavily armed and equipped Saddam Hussain still poses a threat to the area; and Israel's announced readiness to remove Saddam's war-making potential if the US fails to do so..

The only rational solution to each of these problems is a UN sponsored international conference.

After all, if access to the Gulf pleases Saddam, his loss of chemical and nuclear potential should do the same for Israel and a Palestinian state would do wonders for everybody else.

Even the founding fathers would like that.

George Thompson, a retired foreign service officer, is a nationally syndicated columnist and television talk show host.