Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Basm Ozeti
Face Up to Saddam
...
Of all the boobytraps left behind by
the Clinton administration. none is
more dangerous or more urgent than
the situation in Iraq. During the last
year Bill Clinton and bis team quietly
avoided dealing with or calling attention
to the almost complete unraveling
of a decade's efforts to' isolate the
regime of Saddam Hussein and preve~t
it from rebuilding its weapons of mass
destruction.
That leaves President George W.
Bush to confront a dismaying panorama:
intelligence photos that show
the reconstruction of factories. long
stÎspected of producing chemical ~d
biological weapons; reports of masSIVe
illegal Iraqi exports of oill;hr0ugh Syria;
a s1team of planes landing at Baghdad
airport in violation of sanctions,
carrymg passengers fro~ Fran~, Russia
Turkey and Italy, m addItion to
~b states; Turkey and evçn Britain
signaling that they may no longe~ be
willing to suppo~ U;S. air ope~tions
over Iraq. And m case there IS any
doubt about Saddam Hussein's intentions,
he recently presided over a bellicose
military parade in Baghdad featuring
a.thousand tanks and scores of
mobile missile systems;
The Clintonites had one clear reason
for trying to ignore this worsening
threat: It is hard to know what to do.
Efforts in the UN Security Council to
tighten sanctions on Iraq, or ~ven to
maintain the ones that enst. are
blocked by France, Russia and China,
wbich are eager to do business with
Iraq. Arab states, and in particular the
wobbly new leaders of Syria and
Jordan, bave no interest in supporting a
U.S. effort to crack down on Baghdad.
On the contrary, Arabs' throughout the
Middle East are angry at the United
States for its perceived support for
Israel during recent clashes with the
Palestinians, and that mood is likely to
grow still uglier in the. months ahead.
The Iraqi opposition remains weak and
divided; even its latest, modest plan to
mount clandestine aid imd propaganda
operations inside Iraq, reluctantly funded
by the outgoing Clinton administration
to satisfy a congressional
mandate, seems like a reach.
In this liglit. the two-word prescription.forIraq
that Secretary of State Colm
Powell bas so far repeated, "reinvigorate
sanctions," is more ambitious
than it sounds, while the hugely aggressive
plan endorsed two years ago by
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
and his likely deputy, Paul Wolfowitz,
which involved recognizing an alternative
Iraqi government and providing
it niilitary cover to set up a headquarters
in southern Iraq, sounds just as ambitious
as it is. Both idells would require
radical reversals by unhappy allies such
as Turkey and Jordan, and Secretary
Powell would Mve to win over nonallies
such as Syria and Russia.
~er options are more plausible but
far weaker. The United Nations is due
to resume taIls with Iraq next month
and could try to broker a deal that
would end sanctions in return for Iraq' s
acceptance. of new weapons inspections.
Some Europeans are suggesting
a refocusing of sanctions on essentials,
such as controlling Iraqi oil exports
and stopping the import of militarily
useful materials. .
In all this, the option that the Bush
administration can least afford is Mr.
Clinton 's inaction. Saddam Husseinwho
tried to assassinate Mr. Bush's
father after losing the Gulf Warto bim
- is likely to challenge the administration
soon. Among other things,
Iraq has been laying the groundwork
for an attemp! to disrupt world oil
markets by WIthholding its production
as OPEC tightens supplies.
To besure, it will take considerable
time and effort to roll back Saddam's
gains, but in the short term some steps
can be taken. Pressure can be focused
on Syria. as well as on Turkey and
Jordan. to stop the illegal export ofIraqi
oil. And the Bush administration can
take a clear stand: If new Iraqi production
facilities for weapons of mass
destruction can be identified, the United
States quickly will take action agamst
them, with or without its allies.
- THE WASHINGTON POST.
Un turban aux couleurs kurdes sème la discorde
entre députés turcs et allemands
ANKARA, 30 jan (AFP) - 22h54- Une réunion entre des députés turcs et une délégation de parlementaires allemands en visite à
Ankara a tourné court mardi, une participante allemande refusant de retirer un turban aux couleurs kurdes comme le lui demandaient
ses hôtes, a rapporté l'agence Anatolie.
Le président de la commission de la Défense du Parlement turc, Hasan Gulay, a demandé au député vert allemand Angelika Beer,
membre de la commission de la défense du Bundestag (chambre basse du Parlement), d'enlever le turban rouge, jaune et vert qu'elle
portait à son arrivée à une réunion entre parlementaires des deux pays.
--
-
Devant son refus, M. Gulay a mis fin à la réunion. Il a fait valoir que ces couleurs étaient celles du Parti des travailleurs du
Kurdistan (PKK), mouvement rebelle qui a mis fin en septembre 1999 à 15 ans de guérilla armée pour la création d'un Etat kurde
indépendant dans le sud-est de la Turquie.
Mme Beer a répondu qu'elle n'était pas sympathisante du PKK et que ce turban était un cadeau d'un ami qui a été tué dans le nord de
l'Irak, région utilisée par le PKK comme base arrière depuis la fin de la guerre du Golfe en 1991 et dont la plus grande partie
échappe au contrôle de Bagdad.
La délégation allemande est arrivée mardi en Turquie pour deux jours de discussions portant notamment sur un contrat pour la
production de 1.000 chars d'assaut pour l'armée turque. Les parlementaires allemands devaient notamment rencontrer le ministre de
la Défense Sabahattin Cakmakoglu.
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