Local opinions about Desert Storm, 1991

by Jason Ong

In January of 1991, the United States was on the brink of war with Iraq, which had invaded Kuwait in August of the previous year. The US military had been stationed in Saudi Arabia for months as part of Operation Desert Shield, but Operation Desert Storm, an actual campaign against Iraq, was about to begin.

[caption id="attachment1477" align="alignright" width="300" caption=""Get out of there and let them do what they want. Buy our oil someplace else." Courtesy CCTV"]<a href="http://bostonlocaltv.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/pic11.png">[/caption]

At this time, one of CCTV's producers went out on some local streets to ask people what they thought. Some of their opinions:

"There's nothing anybody can do...they got themselves into it." "I don't want to be the...savior for the world." "I don't want the young generation to get bumped off. I've seen that, I've seen it."

[caption id="attachment1478" align="alignleft" width="300" caption=""It's going to be a war...we just hope we win." Courtesy CCTV"]<a href="http://bostonlocaltv.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/pic21.png">[/caption]

"Don't be one of these idiots that protest." "All the young generation, they don't know what the price is." "You've got to stop them, now...or your children are going to stop them, later on." And the last, foretelling opinion: "How are they going to know there's going to be peace afterwards?"