TV REVIEW : The Storm After Desert Storm

Watching investigative journalists Leslie and Andrew Cockburn sift through the rubble left by allied bombing of Iraq during the Gulf War is a little like hearing a war-weary veteran mutter, “War is hell.” We shake our heads in despair, tremble at war’s increasingly destructive power, then finally mutter back, “What else is new?”

Indeed, beneath the surface of “The War We Left Behind,” the Cockburns’ dispatch for”Frontline” (tonight at 9 p.m. on KCET Channel 28 and KPBS Channel 15; at 8 p.m. on KVCR Channel 24) is a uniquely American reaction to the horrors of battle. The couple’s hardly disguised shock at the damage inflicted on Iraq’s electricity system--a key, early target of the bombing campaign--and its effect on water supplies could only come from those utterly innocent to the ways of modern warfare.

Even less disguised is the real message of the report, which is not “War is hell.” Rather, the Cockburns amass a bevy of emotionally wrenching evidence--from babies stricken with typhoid fever and malnutrition to rivers choking with millions of gallons of raw sewage--to press their case that U.N. sanctions against Iraq should be lifted. The primary rationale for sanctions--that it would create enough popular political pressure to oust Saddam Hussein--has no weight, since little pressure exists; why, they imply, should sanctions continue?

The Cockburns might just as well have asked why there is little popular opposition to Saddam, aside from that of the helpless Kurdish and Shiite minorities. Could this non-revolt be the result of one of the world’s most pervasive and effective police states? Nor do they consider (or manage to find a spokesperson for) the argument for not fully backing the Kurdish revolt: It could easily spill over into Turkey, home to many Kurds and a prime ally and NATO member, and further destabilize the region.

If “The War We Left Behind” were a comprehensive look at the Gulf War’s total effect, the resulting picture wouldn’t be so lopsided. While Iraq and Kuwait (ignored here) are disaster areas, this week’s Middle East peace talks are just as much a result of the Gulf War. War is hell; it is also more complicated than American TV reporters often realize.