Bulletin de liaison etd'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison etd'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison etd'information - Institut kurde de Paris
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Revue <strong>de</strong> Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro <strong>de</strong> la Prensa-Basm Özeti<br />
W "',<br />
The Gun Is on the Table;, and Iraqis<br />
,<br />
Await-Their Lib,erators<br />
ASHINGTON - When a<br />
, dramatist plilCeSa gun on<br />
the table in the 'first, act, the<br />
astute' playgoer knowsthat the<br />
weaponwilft>d'used before the<br />
dramaends. In his State of the<br />
Union address, George W. Bush<br />
warned three nations sponsoring<br />
terror - North Korea, Iran and<br />
Iraq - 'ihàt the United States<br />
"willilot permit theworld's<br />
most dangerous' regimes to~<br />
threaten uswith the world's<br />
most <strong>de</strong>structive weapons. "<br />
That means he has <strong>de</strong>ci<strong>de</strong>d to<br />
<strong>de</strong>stro..}' the <strong>de</strong>structive potential<br />
of the most dangerous states before<br />
they can credibly threaten<br />
to wipeout a D.S.city o~,infect<br />
America With an epi<strong>de</strong>nuc.<br />
Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Bush's refusal "to<br />
leave terror states unchecked"<br />
leaves only secondary <strong>de</strong>cisions:<br />
when and how to attack<br />
"the axis of evil" ~an apt<br />
.allusion to the Berlin-Rqme-<br />
Tokyo axiS of World: War n.<br />
In asctmding' or<strong>de</strong>r' of preemptive<br />
priority:,:" .<br />
North Korea 1S a regnne<br />
arming. with missiles and .<br />
weapons of mass <strong>de</strong>struction." .<br />
ThèünitedStâtes has been<br />
paralyzed by S~uth ~orea's f~<br />
of renewed. mvaslOn <strong>de</strong>spite<br />
U.S. intelligence indica~g the<br />
North's secret nuclear buildup"<br />
Seoul, near the bor<strong>de</strong>r, is vul~<br />
nerable to long-range artillery.<br />
This could be countered by<br />
shipment to South Korea of ad-<br />
'.vanced counter-artillery capable<br />
of tracking the trajecto~ of<br />
incoming shells. U.S. B-52s<br />
could then take out Kim long<br />
fi's key nuclear bomb-making<br />
sites, whi~h he now refuses to.<br />
permit International Atomic En- '<br />
ergy Agency inspectors to see.<br />
Iran is building nuclear bombs,<br />
with Russia's help. It supplies,<br />
and controlsthe Hezbollah ter-'<br />
rorists in Lèbanon, and just escalated<br />
its war on, infi<strong>de</strong>ls by<br />
shipping 50 tons of rockets, C-4<br />
terror explosive and other arms<br />
to Yasser Arafat's army to kill<br />
more Israeli civilians.<br />
These acts have explo<strong>de</strong>d the<br />
myth,long embraced by wishful<br />
thinkers at the U.S. State De ...<br />
partment, of a "mo<strong>de</strong>rate" ayatollah<br />
supposedly resisting the<br />
hot-eyed fundamentalists. That<br />
rosy scenario of rapprochement,<br />
was sunk with the capture of the<br />
:1rant.an-Palestinian terror ship.<br />
Shollld intelligence reveal a nuclear<br />
danger from Tehran coming<br />
bnstream, a surgical air<br />
strike would be called for.<br />
Iraq, of cours~, is the most<br />
immediate targe£. Because Saddam<br />
Hussein has dispersed his<br />
nuclear facilities and placed his<br />
germ warfare plants in such<br />
places as the basement of the<br />
. Baghdad hospital, air strikes<br />
alone would not meet the threat.<br />
Despite CIA chief George Tenet'<br />
s dislike of the lea<strong>de</strong>rs of the<br />
anti-Saddam Iraqi National<br />
Congress, and <strong>de</strong>spite furious<br />
posterior-covering ,by Brent<br />
Scowcroft and Colin Powell,<br />
Presi<strong>de</strong>nt Bush has evi<strong>de</strong>ntly<br />
<strong>de</strong>ci<strong>de</strong>d to force a change of<br />
regime in Baghdad.<br />
To avoid certaÜl military <strong>de</strong>feat,<br />
Saddam is likely to send<br />
Tariq Aziz out with "insPection<br />
feelers" to the United Nations.<br />
Six months of negotiation about<br />
who (other than spying Ameri~ans)<br />
would be on the inspection<br />
teams would be followed by<br />
By William Safire<br />
six months of misleadingthe<br />
inspectors:<br />
By then Saddam would<br />
have his <strong>de</strong>adly weapons - and<br />
would thereby tip the strategic<br />
balance in terror's favor.<br />
If Bush follows words with<br />
<strong>de</strong>eds, he will avert that disaster.<br />
He will apply his Afghan template:<br />
Supply arms and money<br />
to 70,000 Kurdish fighters in<br />
northern Iraq and a lesser Shiite<br />
force in the south,covering both<br />
with Predator surveillance and<br />
tactical U.S. air support.<br />
In Phase n, l'll bet it was<br />
recently agreed in Washington<br />
,that Turkish tank briga<strong>de</strong>s and<br />
U.S. Special Ops troops will<br />
together thrust down to Bagh~<br />
dad. Saddam will join Osama<br />
bin La<strong>de</strong>n and Mullah Omar<br />
in hiding. Iraqis, cheering their<br />
liberators, will lead the Arab<br />
world toward <strong>de</strong>mocracy. '<br />
. It's not a pipe dream. It's the<br />
action implicit in the Bush doc-<br />
: trine enunciated this week. The<br />
gun laid on the table by this'<br />
political dramatist will go off in<br />
the nex,"act.<br />
The New York Times,<br />
Kurdistan Regional Government<br />
Council of Ministers<br />
Ministry of Humanitarian Aïd & Cooperation<br />
Erbil, Iraqi Kurdir.tan<br />
Statement<br />
Latest Developments on Iraq Kurdistan Asylum Seekers<br />
repatriate without meaningful assistance would put them in a situation whereby<br />
In light of recent <strong>de</strong>velopments in Holland and Swe<strong>de</strong>n concerning the situation they do not have the means to successfully re-establish themselves in their own<br />
of Iraqi Kurdistan asylum seekers, 'the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)<br />
would like to make the following statement.<br />
country.<br />
With regard to presence of Iraqi Kurdistan asylum seekers living in various<br />
European and other cO].Ultries,the KRG has continued to encourage the authorities<br />
of those countries to <strong>de</strong>al with them in a helpful and humane manner that takes<br />
into consi<strong>de</strong>ration the special circumstances of this region. Some countries are<br />
instituting policies to encourage the repatriation of Iraqi Kurdistan asylum<br />
seekers. The KRG has maintained, from the start, the position that it Will not be a<br />
party to any arrangements whereby such asylum seekers are forcibly repatriated.<br />
This position has been constant in communication from the KRG with the<br />
various <strong>de</strong>legations that have visited Iraqi Kuridstan as well as during missions<br />
and visits by officials from the region that have traveled abroad.<br />
The KRG has often raised the question, with <strong>de</strong>legations that have come here and<br />
in our meetings abroad, about the manner in which Iraqi Kurdistan asylum<br />
.seekers will be consi<strong>de</strong>red for repatriation. With regard to this issue, we won<strong>de</strong>r<br />
how asylum seekers who have had their cases rejected, and who are therefore<br />
barred from employment, education and any assistance including housing, can in<br />
reality make a free choice to voluntarily return to their country of origin. When<br />
asylum seekers leave their countries and are admitted to another certain<br />
obligations ensue. Iraqi Kurdistan asylum seekers have had to dispose of all their<br />
personal assets. in or<strong>de</strong>r to make the journey, To ask them to voluntarily<br />
A <strong>de</strong>legation from Swe<strong>de</strong>n visited the region recently with the purpose of<br />
communicating us the changes in policy and procedures of the Swedish<br />
government related to Iraqi Kurdistan asylum seekers and the arrangements for<br />
repatriation that are to be implemented in February 2002. Their mission was<br />
simply to convey those changes that had already been ma<strong>de</strong> and not to hold<br />
discussions with the KRG. Nonetheless, the KRG has taken this and other<br />
opportunities to clarify its own position on the matter.<br />
The <strong>de</strong>mocratic experiment launched by the people of Iraqi Kurdistan some ten<br />
years agocontinues to, be un<strong>de</strong>r threat from outsi<strong>de</strong> bor<strong>de</strong>rs. The current<br />
arrangements for the protection of our population are a:cIœowledged and<br />
appreciated but it falls short of that guaranteed security with which people could<br />
feel at ease to go about their daily lives without fear about their future and that of<br />
their. children. We appeal to the various governments who are housing Iraqi<br />
Kurdistan asylum seekers to view Iraqi Kuridstan within its full regional context<br />
and not in isolation for it is in only this full context that their situation can be<br />
un<strong>de</strong>rstood. We ask that they be consi<strong>de</strong>red thoughtfully and carefully.<br />
Finally, the KRG believes that if international guarantees for permanent and<br />
peacful political and economic security of Iraqi Kurdistan were put in place, then<br />
far fewer people from the region would feel the need to leave their country.<br />
2