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

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro
de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
,.1
"The only thing that's going on at this .ment of Defense waS planning to anstage
is considering different scenarios nounce soon a package of far-reaching
in terms of humanitarian assistance, plans for.post-Saddam reconstruction.
not reconstruction," said Diego de Schnabel, the American ambassador,
Ojeda, a spokesman for the European said he discussed the reconstruction of
Commission.
Iraq earlier this week with the Euro-
But analysts say the difference be- pean Union's two foreign policy chiefs,
tween humanitarian assistance and re- Javier Solana and Chris Patten.
construction is in some cases a question "The Europeans are recognizing the
of semantics. need for very substantial financial as-
"They're doing a bit more than just . sistance," Schnabel said. "There is a rehumanitarianplanning,"
said Steven cognition bn their part that they are go-
Everts. a defense expert at the Center
.for European Reform in London. "There ing to have to do something in the area
l 'I' t d th rti' 1 ofrebuilding Iraq."
are reaOl interes s an 0 er po 1 ca The ambassador said reconstruction
interests that fully justify European
contingency planning."
would be "an incredibly costly thing to
Everts said that reconstruction con- the world cominunity," but said he
tingency plans were being drawn up in could not give specific costs.
national capitals as well as among offi- "There are numbers around and they
cials at the High Representative for .are in the manl billions," he said.
Common Foreign and Security Policy, . A postwar SItuation in Iraq would be
the EU's foreign policy office. U.S. very different from what the U,S.and its
"Sourcessaid Thursday that the Depart- allies are faced with. in Afghanistan,
~~~~~~~~
I .d
diplomats say.
. "Tbey have a source of income, they
have educated people, they have an
economy that they can build on,"
Schnabel said ofIraq. .
Last week, President Geo~e \V, Bush
authorized as much as $15mdlion to be
used to assist refugees in the event of a
possible humanitarian emergency related
to a conflict in Iraq. This money is
view as just a fraction of the total money
that would be needed.
Everts of the Center of European Reform
said part of the reason that the U.S.
wants to get allies involved in thinking
about reconstruction was to "make sure
that everyone sticks to the timetable
that Washington has in mind."
"It's one of the pressure points that
the U.S, can use," he said, "They can say,
'We are; ~f course, working 'Hith our
European allies on providing a cohere~t
and effective post-Sadd am plan-
Ding.'"
David Owen Blair must not repec:1.tpast mistakes. This tÏ1ne, Saddallllllust be defeated
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Wagewarin Iraq for the sake
ofpeace in the Middle East
I bl" th t .and Washington on
Kurds in Halabja.
tIS eep y trou mg Il Septemb~ 112001. After
~ere is not greater
In dealing with Iran, the
. public support f9r. Afghanistan, containing western democracies need to
George Bush and Tony. Islamic fundamentalist acknowledge that by
Blair's readiness to enforce terrorism requires peace in ignoring Saddam Hussein's
the existing UN resolutions the Middle East. The status flagrant breach ofintemationallaw
in September 1980
which cover the dismantling quo in Iraq is neither stable
o.fw~apons of mass de.~è- in geopolitical terms nor
when he invaded Iran and
tion In Iraq. In p~ thISISbe-, .acceptable on humanitarian then used gas warfare on the
cause there are u~hkely to be gr()und~.Wehave another
Iranians, we fed his megalomania.
Sustaining Iraq
any ~ew discovenes by the chanCeâftèr 12 years' failed
UN In~pectors such ~ w~saw containment to prevent Iraq
through the eight-year Iranafter
SIXyears of looki~ In becoming a nuclear weapon
Iraq war with information
1998.,A deepe! reason IS.the state and the opportunity to and arms was tempting, ..
gro~ng public .awar~ness of rethink many of the policies given that the Iranian revolution
under Ayatollah Khome-
the ~y mampulatiye and that have kept the Middle
dU~IOuslycovert way In... East in a state of permanent ini saw the taking of US
which western governments tension with frequent wars. diplomats as hostages and
have h.andled Saddam . The first example ofnew flagrant abuses ofhuman
HusseIn for the past 22 years. wisdom is that the western rights, We hoped the Iranian
Towin over public o:p~I'lion'"democracies are no longer .revolutionary zeal would be
there has tobe reco.gmtion.of ignoring the Kurdish probpas~~rrors,.othe~se
.lem. British foreign policy but it put the west on the
.burned out in a regional war,
cynICIsmwill prevail. In has a dismal record since wrong side of international
truth this war, if it comes, 1923 ofbelieving that Iraq law, it encouraged Saddam
will be .about asserting the needs to suppress the Kurds Hussein to believe he could
authonty ofthe UN charter,to maintain the stability of invade Kuwait and it fostered
as part of the 1991 ceasefire .the country and the region. justified bittèrness inside
after the Iraqi forces had . 'This has to change and there .Iran .
.been pushed o~t of Kuwait. Ii are hopeful signs that the US
was ~e ~ whic~ rul~ that
IraqI chemIcal, bIOlOgical
negotiations are close to a
solution based on full auto-
Te Iranian people
may well over the
and ~u~lear weapons, as well. nomy for the Kurdish people next few years assert
as mIssIles,had to be .
des~royed.The sombre 8;lterwithin
Iraq and in a way that more forcibly their
helps Thrkey and Iran resolve support for modernisation in
native to Saddam HusseIn their differences with their their own country. They are
being seen to have
triumphed is we ensure there
own Kurdish minorities.
Ifhonestly accepted by all
more likely to challenge the
.rule of the ayatollahs ifthey
is no chance of peace in the the Kurds, this would be the are confident that any conse-
Middle East. .
The fact that the US is .
essential building block for
any post-war settlement in
quential instability in their
own country will not be
re~y to ~o~t ano.~her .' Iraq. Itcould help üthe west- exploited by the western
milItary InvasIOn,nsk Amen- em democracies admitted to democracies. It is true that
can lives and incur formid- only feeble protests w:hen . Iran is supporting internaable
costs, is solely due to Saddam Hussein used gas in ..tional terrorism and develop-.
what happened in New YOrk March 1988 to kill over 5,000 ing weapons of mass
destruction, but even the US
cannot take on both Iraq and
Iran simultaneously.
Saudi Arabia would have
no need for American troops
on its territo.ry once there is a
new,government in Baghdad
and this would remove al-
Qaida's main propaganda
weapon.
WhenSaddam
used gas warfare
on the Iranians in
1980,we fed his
megalomania
As for Israel, the removal of
Iraqi missiles which landed
on their-territory during the
Gulf war Would make it easier
to reach a permanent
settlement. It is essential that
President Bush promises to
follow in his fathl~r'sfoutsteps
and reinvigorate the
Middle East peace process as
happened in Madrid in 1991.
Itwas never credible that
Bush would do this before
having dealt with Iraq for he
needs to be able to restrain
JUielSharon.Butafterany
intervention there has to be
pressure on Sharon to with-
. draw from most settlements
in the West Bank.
.It would help negotiations
Ifwe all admitted to Israel
that we were wrong to have
condemned its government
for the b9mbing of Iraq's
'
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