Kurds: US Sleeping? UK Sidetrack?

[antennae at gn.apc.org]

This topic was originally posted on mideast.forum by Alastair at
11:46pm Apr 22,1991.  I have moved it onto this conference
because I think the discussion interesting and revealing.


	Kurds: US Sleeping? UK Sidetrack?	5 responses

aldopacific	mideast.forum	11:46 pm  Apr 22, 1991

Martin Walker in NY had an article in this week's Scotland on
Sunday, basically saying that the only reason Bush had moved on
the Kurds was that Major and other Europeans had placed him under
such strong pressure.

He said that although folk in the US were aware of what's
happened to to Kurds, they were'nt worked up about it in the way
we Europeans are.  Here it's headline news most days: Scot. on
Sun., for instance, gave a full 3 pages to it, including 3 large
photos which had a distincltly biblical quality to them.

So what's happening in the US? Are your people trying to ignore
the consequences of the war so that Vietnam can be the better
expurgated, or are you actually expressing a depth of concern
we're not hearing about in Europe.

What's the peace movement doing? Why aren't we seeing more of you
dipping into the mideast.kurds conference. Is it because it's a
gn. conf., or is it that you haven't registered the Kurds as a
big issue .... or is there, perhaps, a sense in which we in
Britain particularly have been sidetracked into concern about the
Kurds as a kind of political-media smokescreen to avert us from
seeing what's happening in other parts of Iraq? ... well, I don't
mean sidetracked cos I think the Kurdish scene is a 100% valid
issue, but there's a risk that could be used to stop us seeing
other suffering, in the same way as footage of Scud missile
attacks during the war was used to effectively block many people
from asking what was being done to the poor Iraqi conscripts.

Thoughts?

Alastair.



Kurds: US Sleeping? UK Sidetrack?	Response  1 of  5
igc:mphillips
mideast.forum	 5:12 am  Apr 23, 1991

On the contrary, Alastair, a number of news accounts here (I
forget which) have pointed to political pressure on Bush as the
reason why he is finally stirring himself.  I have also seen
(again, I forget where; senility, maybe) complaints that the
Kurdish situation is distracting attention away from the rest of
the Middle East.  The long-standing Israeli-Palestinian is
getting attention too.

Hang in there, everybody.

Margaret Phillips, St. Louis, MO




Kurds: US Sleeping? UK Sidetrack?	Response  2 of  5
igc:goodwork
mideast.forum	 7:16 am  Apr 23, 1991

But I do like Alastair's other questions.  Some of the movement
here doesn't know what to say about the situation.  Activists
here have had an education session, at which some Kurdish
activists spoke.  They challenged our unconditional "U.S. out"
position.  Some of us are working on what the peace movement
might say on this.  Maybe too it's that we are so used to
opposing action it's hard to formulate something supporting
action, particularly if it might involve government action.  I'd
like to see everyone, including U.S. militariy people, consult
with all parties, Kurdish leadership, Iraqi authorities, etc. and
develop unarmed aid work.  Leave your weapons outside the door,
please, and come on in and help!

Joe Maizlish, Los Angeles



Kurds: US Sleeping? UK Sidetrack?	Response  4 of  5
igc:mphillips
mideast.forum	 4:53 am  Apr 25, 1991

Hmm, yes, that's true here too, Joe, many questions about what to
do, what to advocate.  All I meant to say was that here in St.
Louis we're keenly aware of the Kurds and I hope their situation
can be used to show how destructive the war was to innocent
people in the region; but also some other concerns (especially
Israeli- Palestinian issues) need attention.

There have been questions here too about what the U.S. should do;
it hasn't been at all obvious that the U.S. should (or shouldn't)
step in militarily.

We have scheduled a meeting tonight, we hope a wider meeting than
the 20 or so who came to the biweekly planning meetings during
the war, to discuss just that, what points of agreement we can
come up with.  But that discussion may be preempted by a
discussion about what this organization sees as its focus in the
coming months. There has been much interest in broadening its
focus beyond the Middle East; the name has been changed from "St.
Louis Forum for Peace in the Persian Gulf" to "St. Louis Forum
for a Just Peace". That gets to questions like should it continue
to exist but as a coordinating mechanism, not an organization
with efforts of its own.  There are many local organizations
dealing with pieces of it, with traditional Middle East concerns
(i.e. Israeli- Palestinian issues), with arms sales to the region
(and to other parts of the world too), with just peace issues
elsewhere (for instance, Latin America), and so on and so on. 
But given the present constellation of organizations and efforts
here, the Kurds would be left out if that's the structure we
decide on.

The draft of points of agreement to present to the big meeting
tomorrow includes a statement that the U.S. must contribute
heavily financially to resettlement of and aid for refugees,
specifically including the Kurds, but also that it must be
carried out under U.N. auspices, and/or Arab League where
appropriate (no more unilateral U.S. actions posing as U.N.).  I
would like to know if others are coming to similar conclusions.

I would very much like to know how other parts of the U.S. in
particular are developing future directions, responses to the
U.S. position, directions for future work, etc.  You have raised
some very serious concerns, Joe.

Margaret



Kurds: US Sleeping? UK Sidetrack?	Response  5 of  5
igc:goodwork
mideast.forum	10:26 pm  Apr 25, 1991

Sounds like a good general combination your group is coming up 
with, I talk about: 1. consultation of any helpers with Kurdish
and Iraqi leadership   2. aid provided by unarmed people (this
could include members of anyone's militaries, and since they
would be functioning after consultation and agreement, that's a
reasonable request(!)).  3. recognition of the needs of ALL in
Iraq, and commitment to aid the non-Kurds too.

There are similar considerations about the shape and goals of the
L.A. Coalition Against U.S. Intervention in the Middle East; it 
seems that for now we'll keep our name and focus.

Meditation:

Consider the suffering of those whose suffering we have been told
   to consider;
consider the suffering of those whose suffering we have not been
   told to consider;
consider the suffering of those whose suffering we have been told
   not to consider; 
consider the suffering of those who tell us whose suffering to 
   consider and whose suffering not to consider;
consider our own suffering as witnesses and people attempting to
   help with the suffering of others in this time.
                     _______________________