Exode (des Kurdes d'Irak) - Institut kurde de Paris

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, ',' , -'" ,,', ' , ,tioriâlist identity; aenyingmany full '
citizenship. Iran, Shia Muslim and
CONVENIENT TOOLS I For years, the cause
of these mountain people hils been weakened
by the varioUs regimes that see them as pawns
Kurds fmd betrayal
aDtoo familiar
BY~BRALDriœ'BR99~ '
andllŒJERT GREEIimERGER
The Wall Street JÔ,lirI1aI
INTHE panic 'before Iraqi
, ,troops stormed, il;1, t9 t,h,e,cit,y,,', of, '
, Arbil, a desperate Kurd pou~ed
ker:oseneinto his empty gasoline:
tank, knowing the make~hiftinix.-
ture probably would Dôtgèthis ,êar.
to the edge of town,muçh lessto the
border.
_
"Have you everseeri a Kurdish
terrorist attack an Anierican?"he
'asked, grinding a fist int() his fur-.
rowed brow. "No?Then please; tell
me: why is George Bush fishing
whilewewait here to die?" .
Now, caught between theruthl~";'
sness of Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein and theindifference ofothers,
Kurds are dying by the thou-'
sands, u~der Iraqi fire or of exposure
at ity mountain borders. Itis
only the latèst chapter for a people
whose history has. been 40gged by
violenceand repression. .' ,
Iraqi Kurds were stunned when
the United States failed to support
th~ir uprising. They.d~d.no~ realize
:that the Bush admlOlstratlonhad:
signalledits indifferencelongago. In~
'February, il Kurdish delegation
arrived for a meeting at theState
-Pepartment with Richard Schifter,
assistant secretaryof stateforhu-
,J)lan'rights. But having invited t~e_
-group, Mr. Schifter 'Yas not. avatl-
.ableto meetthem. Hlssupenors ~t
the State Department were _uneasy
about such a high-level session.
Instead two lower-ranking:aides:,
,hustleä'the Kurdsout of the building
~ andtook them forcoffee at ~
nearby hotel sandwichshop. . ~,'-
.The reception was the admlOls!ration's
waYQf saying the .UOl~
'Stateswouldnot support a Kunbsh
rebellion. But the Kurds~with-little
diplomatic . experience, .'listen,ed.
instead to what Mr. Bush was say"
ing. Only days be(o~e the.m~~ng,
he had said that "the Iraqi military
Mr.Bùsh's postwar phin~,ïiow.
ever, apparently were~ased _~nthe
hope that Mt. HûSsem .w0':ll,dbe
overthrown by the Iraqi milItary,
not by restless minorities.th~t mi~ht
.'threaten Iraq's ge~graphl9 mtegnty
,- and rattle its nelghbours. Moreover
Washington fears getting
boggeddown in an Iraqi civilwar.
Mr. Bush says the Uqited States
nevermade any commitmenU~,sup"
porfiösu!gency inside,lr~(1