Bulletin de liaison etd'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
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of Iraq into its constituent parts an independent Kurdistan in the north, a Sunni Muslim state in the center; and a
Shiite Muslim nation in the sout.~. Ankara's concerns that a sovereign Kurdish state threatens Turkey's internal stability
is nothing more t.l1ana pretext to justify its abysmal human rights record; in fact, the creation of an independent
Kurdistan will compel the Turkish government to embrace genuine democracy and do the one thing that
will resolve its long-standing minorities problem: give real autonomy to the country's Kurdish population.
Besides their humanitarian and geopolitical significance, the Kurds are important because they are living proof of
the destruction that Saddam is capable of unleashing upon his enemies, including the United States. The Iraqi
strongman has shown that he is willing to massacre countless Kurdish civilians, women and children by using chemical
poisons such as mustard gas and sarin gas in order to entrench his hold on power. There is no doubt that
should he get his hands on weapons of mass destruction, he will use them against his adversaries whether it be
Saudi Arabia, Israel or America.
. . . .
Saddam is a murderous despot who poses a grave threat to the security of the United States. It is high time the
administration remove the Butcher of Baghdad from power, and grant his number one victims, the Kurds, the
independence that they deserve and have suffered for so dearly.
Jeffrey T. Kuhner is an assistant national editor at The Washington
Tunes.
*****
After Saddam; US Determined to Oust the Iraqi Leader,
But Who Will Take His Place?
The Guardian
23 Feb 02 by Brian Whitaker
Emboldened by success in Afghanistan and tired of being trapped in the quagmire over sanctions and weapons
inspections in Iraq, the United States has embarked on a plan to rid the world of Saddam Hussein. Ousting
Saddam by force is certainly a hazardous enterprise, but the US, after years of hesitation, seems determined to
commit whatever resources it takes to finish the job.
There has, of course, been talk of this ever since Saddam invaded Kuwait in 1990, and the real obstacle has not
been military but political: a fear of what might happen once he is gone, both inside Iraq and in neighbC)uring
countries. American preparations for an attack on Baghdad do not mean the political problems have gone away.
The big question is who - apart from President Bush - would rule Iraq. The simplest kind of electoral system in
Iraq would produce a government dominated by Shi'a Muslims, since they account for 65% of the population. At
the very least, the Sunni Muslims (32%) and possibly the Christians (3%) would want guaranteed power-sharing
in order to protect their interests.
Under Saddam, Iraq has been ruled by the Sunni minority, with the Shi'a marginalised and sometimes brutally
suppressed. Religious differences have been played down in the Iraqi media, though once Saddam has gone they
could easily come to the fore. The other problem with the Shi'a majority is that the US does not trust them any
more than Saddam does, because of their religious affinity with Iran which,like Iraq, is a founding member of the
"axis of evil". It is doubtful whether the US will allow the Shi'a to predominate, despite their numbers.
In ethnic terms, Iraq is 75% Arab and 20% Kurdish, with other minorities accounting for 5%. The Kurdish population
stretches over the Iraqi borders into Turkey and Iran, with smaller nuinbers in Syria and former Soviet republics.
Altogether, the Kurds probably number 25m and form the world's most important ethnic group without a
state. Because of sanctions and the no-fly zone, they have a quasi-state in northern Iraq which would be jeopardized
by Saddam's overthrow. The likeliest solution in a post-Saddam Iraq would be to grant them enough autonomy
to dampen their separatist tendencies but not enough to enable them to break away. That is a difficult balance
to strike.
The US is looking to the Kurds to help remove Saddam, but they are in no hurry to become Iraq's equivalent of the
Afghan Northern Alliance. The leaders of both main Kurdish parties, the Kurdistan Democratic party and the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, have said recently that they will not help to topple Saddam unless they know who
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