"We are beginning to see practical support. And this is a very significant sign of the movement towards a new era, a new age....We see both in our country and elsewhere... ghosts of the old thinking.... When we rid ourselves of their presence, we will be better able to move toward a new world order...relying on the relevant mechanisms of the United Nations." Soviet President Gorbachev at the Middle East Peace Talks in Madrid (1991)

Prelude to "Desert Storm"

Truth, they say, 'is the first casualty in war': an expression that is particularly applicable to the Gulf War. With the benefit of hindsight it is becoming increasingly evident that the 1990 Gulf War was carefully planned and prepared for long in advance; in effect it provided the perfect opportunity for the New World Order to make its first public appearance on the world stage. According to Thomas Harrison and Joanne Landy, writing in Peace and Democracy News, the Gulf War . . . "served as an excuse for a massive assertion of U.S. power in the Middle East and an opportunity , in the words of Secretary James Baker, 'to solidify the ground rules of the new order. . ."
Thus, Washington Post reporter Scott Armstrong was able to reveal in a November 1981 article that the Reagan administrations decision to sell AWACS to Saudi Arabia foreshadowed a "grand defence strategy" for the Middle East; a strategy that would involve the construction of surrogate bases in Saudi Arabia, ready and equipped for US forces to use.
"This secret strategy," according to Armstrong, "would allow the U.S. Rapid Deployment Force to move 'over the horizon' to these forward bases and pre-positioned supplies if . . . hostile forces attempted to capture the Persian Gulf oilfields."
Significantly, Armstrong added that the planners envisioned "that someday the alliance would include Egypt and coordinate its military role in the region."
Moreover, Armstrong continued, Congress was to be kept in the dark about the plan. This would be done by Congress being presented with parts of the program in such a way as to make them seem unrelated. In consequence the Saudis were advised to buy much of the equipment needed directly from the contractors, and to break down the orders so that purchase amounts would not have to be reported to Congress.
The planned centrepiece was to be an integrated command, communications and control system that would enable battlefield commanders "to calculate almost instantly the precise location of enemy ground, air and naval forces and target them with the most efficient battle plan from computer consoles in the central command post."
The deadline for the completion of the proposed program was 1990. The very same year that the US ambassador to Iraq, Avril Glaspie, told Saddam Hussein that "We have no opinion on your Arab-Arab conflicts, such as your dispute with Kuwait." Thereby signalling the West's apparent indifference to Iraq's border dispute with Kuwait and setting into motion a series of events that would ultimately lead to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and the Gulf War.
Sources include: Washington Post, the FreeRepublicForum.com and Desert Mirage by Martin Yant. Publ Prometheus Books, New York.