Why Gulf War?
Recorded live at the height of the first Gulf War in 1991, Michael Parenti analyzes the underlying reasons for the war and Washington’s use of the Hitler, Munich, appeasement analogies to scare the public and generate support for war. He looks at the media’s role of promoting military action over negotiation. He looks at whether the U.S. lured Saddam Hussein to attack Kuwait. The Gulf War demonstrates Parenti’s sword and the dollar theory and how control of oil is a driver of policy. Just a year before Iraq invaded Kuwait the U.S. invaded Panama. There were no sanctions imposed on Washington and no “coalition of willing” was mobilized. Panama was another example of double standards.
The program includes listener call-ins.
Recorded at KGNU.
Speaker
Michael Parenti
Michael Parenti was a leading independent political analyst, scholar, and author. Cornel West called him “a towering prophetic voice.” He taught at major colleges and universities in the U.S. and abroad. He is the author of numerous books, including Democracy for the Few, Power and the Powerless, and Against Empire. He passed away on January 24, 2026, at the age of 92.
Questioning the Unquestionable
“It is not demanded of readers that they embrace my views, but that they reflect upon their own. How seldom we bother to explore in some critical fashion the fundamental preconceptions that shape our understanding of social and political life. How frequently, as if by reflex rather than reflection, we respond to certain cues and incantations, resisting any incongruous notion. Our opinions shelter and support us; it is an excruciating effort to submit them to reappraisal. Yet if we are to maintain some pretense at being rational creatures, we must risk the discomfiture that comes with questioning the unquestionable, and try to transcend our tendencies toward mental confinement.” – Michael Parenti
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