Bulletin de liaison etd'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
President George Bush Sr. promised Iraqis that the US would support their uprising, but then appeared to change
his mind when it was clear that chaos - and possibly a Shia-run state allied to Iran - could result. In a history-altering
decision, US Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf permitted Iraqi helicopters to fly - ostensibly to collect Iraqi war
wounded - and Baghdad brutally crushed the revolt. Inanother failed US mission, a CIA operation aimed at trying
to overthrow Saddam Hussein in 1996 helped split Kurdish ranks, before it was mopped up by Iraqi troops.
Today the administration calls that legacy "unfinished business." Ayatollah aI-Hakkim calls it a reason not to trust
the Americans again: "The US in 1991 encouraged the regime to kill the people and stop this uprising," he says.
Complicating the issue further are Iran's views of US imperialism in its back yard. Since the Gulf War, Tehran has
complained bitterly about the 20,000 or so US troops and sailors deployed in the Gulf region. The US Navy's Fifth
fleet is based in Bahrain. With US forees in Afghanistan, too - and possibly one day in Iraq - they feel squeezed.
"Many Iranian journalists are writing that one of the main reasons the US went to Afghanistan is to check Iran's
eastern border," says the Iranian analyst. "They are being sandwiched."
And there is another reason for caution. "Nobody sees Iran participating in a coalition against Iraq," says a Western
diplomat in Tehran. "Saddam Hussein is watched by the whole world, so that threat is low. They want Saddam
gone, but they fear a disintegration of Iraq out of their control."
That is SCIRI's fear, also. Ayatollah al-Hakkim, with a flourish of his hands, says his forces "will use any new chance
that comes to hand" to move against Baghdad, though "nobody can speak of the secrets of the [US] administration."
He has his own hunch, too, which he delivers with the broadest of smiles: "They say they made mistakes in
1991," aI-Hakkim says, laughing out loud. "George W. Bush is trying to correct the mistakes of his father."
*****
u.s. weighs use of Iraqi dissidents: Groups could help destabilize Hussein
Chicago Tribune By Howard Witt and John Diamond February 14, 2002
WASHINGTON -- While actively studying military options against Iraq, the Bush administration is renewing its
emphasis on using Iraqi opposition groups to destabilize Saddam Hussein's regime from within, a senior administration
official said Wednesday.
"People tend to always underestimate opposition to regimes like that," said the official, who spoke on the condition
of anonymity. "We believe there's considerable opposition and we're doing what we can-we're going to do
what we can to support them." The possibility that the U.S. will use military force to topple Hussein has drawn
sustained attention in the two weeks since President Bush branded the Iraqi regime part of an "axis of evil."
Bush said Wednesday that he was holding his options "close to my vest" for the time being, but he issued a stark
warning to Hussein. "Make no mistake about it: If we need to, we will take necessary action to defend the
American people," Bush said after meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. "And I think that statement
was clear enough for Iraq to hear me .... Saddam Hussein needs to understand I'm serious about defending our
country."
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, in an interview with the Tribune on Wednesday, emphasized that
Bush has not yet made a decision to use force against Hussein. "Of course, military power is always an option, but
it's one among several," Rice said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, in testimony before Congress in the last week, said officials had prepared a range
of economic, diplomatic and military options for the president's consideration. By refusing to allow United
Nations inspectors to scrutinize Iraq's attempts to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, Hussein has
made it "very clear that he's going to remain a danger," Rice said.
The administration has been sharpening its warnings to Hussein since Bush's State of the Union speech, in which
he declared Iraq, Iran and North Korea to be member states of an "axis of evil" whose pursuit of weapons of mass
destruction would not be tolerated.
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