
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 14, 1991                   TAG: 9102140492
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

DOES U.S. TRAVEL `HIGHER MORAL ROAD'?

AFTER CENTURIES of civilization, it is discouraging indeed that we humans continue to resort to war as a way to resolve our disputes. Given this reality, Cal Thomas attempts to reassure us (in his Feb. 6 column) that our war with Iraq is being fought for a just cause. Citing the well-documented atrocities committed by the Iraqi army against the Kuwaiti people, Thomas assures us that we are taking a "higher moral road" in going to war.

But I wonder. During the 1980s, Saddam Hussein waged a brutal war against not only Iran, but also his own Kurdish people. The American policy toward Iraq during this period ranged from political support to indifference. There was no talk of moral high ground in those days, because it was convenient for us as a nation to look the other way.

I, for one, feel deep shame at our country's complicity in the gassing of thousands of Iraqi Kurds. Far from occupying a moral high ground, I think we Americans find ourselves once again in a moral muddle. MARGARET MURRAY BLACKSBURG

by CNB