THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511260181
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
There wasn't much question why the United States went to war in the Persian Gulf in 1991, local citizens agreed.
It wasn't about freedom, democracy or human rights.
It was about oil.
Iraq was trying to get a stranglehold on the region's rich petroleum reserves, which would have threatened the West's way of life. The United States responded with force and won a resounding victory. It was as simple as that - an unequivocal success story for American foreign policy in a confusing and uncertain era.
Then someone asked: Was it right?
Was it an appropriate use of military power? Was it morally defensible?
Fred Adams did a double take.
A naval architect who attended the Naval Academy and MIT, Adams retired to Virginia Beach after a 20-year military career. An interest in environmental issues spurred him to join the ``Choices for the 21st Century'' discussion series.
But the Gulf War discussion led him to re-examine some fundamental assumptions about war and peace.
``How quickly I accepted the idea that that was all right to do on just an economic basis,'' he said later. ``And it wasn't even our oil! It was for western Europe.
``And I'm sitting there saying to myself, `That's fine; we did good.' ''
Grappling with the underlying issues of the United States' role in the post-Cold War world was a valuable, if unsettling, experience, Adams said.
``I'm sort of recognizing that my politics have become very practical. It's like, `I know how politics works.' But I seem to have lost sight of the principles. . . .
``It reminds me of when I was a kid growing up, and we were going through our education. People were going to war over principles; they were arguing over principles. Well, we, fortunately, are way beyond that. I don't even seem to remember what they were anymore!'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
GARY C. KNAPP
Fred Adams, a retired naval architect who attended the Naval Academy
and MIT, was willing to re-examine his views of the U.S. military
role in the world.
by CNB