o affect the world environment as well. President Bush responded to Saddam Hussein's decision to dump oil into the Persian Gulf by calling it "clearly an act of environmental terrorism" (Begley, 1991, p. 36). The news media in the United States took President Bush's idea a step further by labeling Saddam Hussein's actions as a form of "ecoterrorism." In the last week of January, 1991, the Iraqis in Kuwait began dumping oil into the Persian Gulf. An important aspect of this tactic was found in the idea that the loss of vast amounts of oil would have a damaging effect on the Kuwait economy. In addition, the dumping of oil could be seen as being a military strategy in that the resultant mess made it harder for the Allies to launch their attacks against the Iraq Army. This was particularly true after the oil slick on the gulf was set on fire and the entire region was filled with thick, black smoke. The first target for the Iraqis was the Sea Island Terminal, an offshore terminal near the Kuwaiti coast which had the capacity to "discharge at least 100,000 barrels of crude a day" (Begley, 1991, p. 36). In addition to releasing the oil from the Sea Island Terminal, the Iraqis "pulled the plugs on five Kuwaiti tankers, loaded with 3 million gallons of petroleum" (p. 36).
Environmentalists are well aware of the importance of cleaning up oil spills as quickly as possible. In this regard, it has been noted that "the longer floating oil mixes with water and gets whipped by wind, the more it emulsifies, turning into a goopy brown mousse that resists containment and destruction" (Begley, 1991, p. 38). In order to save the local environment, it is important that the cleanup operations take place prior to this process of emulsification. In the case of the Persian Gulf spill, however, a rapid cleanup was extremely difficult, if not altogether impossible. Under normal circumstances, oil spills in the Persian Gulf are handled by a coalition of...