Page 797 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 12 March 1991
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Tragically, a large number of Iraqis were killed. Tragically, a large number of people in occupied Kuwait - Kuwaitis and other residents of that unfortunate state - were also killed. A large number of others were brutalised. Perhaps some of the reports coming out of that war just show that, of all the wars we have had since World War II, probably that was one of the better ones for the West to be involved in, in terms of righteousness and in terms of standing up for fundamental human decency.
One of the things that really struck me, Mr Speaker, was the large number of Iraqi soldiers - ordinary peasant soldiers, some taken from their farms, some taken from their homes and cities, conscripted into the army - who surrendered at the first opportunity to allied soldiers. They could not retreat, Mr Speaker, because if they retreated there were punishment battalions waiting behind to gun them down, just like those the Nazis and the Stalinists used in World War II.
Mr Duby: Just like the British used in World War I.
MR STEFANIAK: But not as much, Mr Duby, as those other nasty regimes. Yes, the British were not exactly lilywhite in World War I; nor perhaps were the French, who executed quite a few people.
One of the other things, Mr Speaker, which I think show the difference between the respective forces there in the Gulf was one unfortunate report I saw which showed an Iraqi colonel who was found face down in the sand with a bullet in his head fired from his own troops. He lived in a very comfortable bunker, deep under the ground. He had a large number of pairs of boots; he had a large amount of food; he had a large amount of supplies. The men in his battalion were not so lucky, Mr Speaker. They had rags on their feet. Some of them did not even have rags on their feet; they had bare feet. A few lucky ones had shoes. They were haggard; they were starving. That is quite a different way from the way we in Australia, or our Western allies, run an army, where leaders are meant to be leaders and they put the interests of the men or the women under their command first.
Mr Kaine: As long as they have a good pair of boots.
MR STEFANIAK: A good pair of boots is very important, Chief Minister, when you are an infantryman; I can assure you. Mr Speaker, I do not know whether we are going to get a new world order out of this Gulf war. I somehow doubt it very much. Maybe, whilst we had the chance, perhaps the insidious regime of Saddam Hussein could have been overthrown. Maybe it will not be. There might be good reasons for that; there might not be. However, I think we can be thankful that that war is over, and over in a brief period.
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