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Editor:
Clinton started bombing Iraq again "to curtail the power of Saddam Hussein and...of his atrocities against the Kurdish minority in Iraq" blabbered Bob Dole on his behalf. The violent repression of Kurds by the Turkish military remains invisible, drowned by crocodile tears for Kurds attacked by Iraq. The Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) has been waging a war of independence against Turkey since 1971. Thousands of Kurds have been treated to torture, rape, "disappearance" in police custody, arson, property confiscation and the wholesale destruction of villages (over 2,000). Twenty-two thousand people have been killed in the last 12 years.
Through history, the United States launched not so much as a reprimand against Turkey for its genocidal war. Indeed, aid and military training increased since Turkey had been a Cold War ally and had allowed U.S. nuclear bases to line the border with the former USSR. In 1994 and 1995, Turkey attacked northern Iraq in an attempt to wipe out PKK camps with tacit U.S. approval.
In stark contrast, when Iraq helped the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) fight against an invading Iranian faction, 27 cruise missiles (over $32 million in taxpayer dollars) were launched at Iraq. The usual lullaby was trotted out by the administration and the media lackeys to soothe whoever was listening: "Minimized collateral damage" blithers the Pentagon; "Ready to give Hussein a final blow to his ego" bleats a Wildcat editor ("Power Trip," Sept. 3) more anxious than most media grunts to give the bombing a titillating in-his-face twist.
Not mentioned are the more than 500,000 Iraqis that have been killed since 1991 by the United States and its allies. An international non-governmental tribunal led by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark found the United States and allies guilty of war crimes like indiscriminate bombing of civilians in their cynical 1991 attack on Iraq to protect "our" oil.
The motives behind this latest attack can be spelled out as "OIL" or "RE-ELECT CLINTON." Nevertheless, even liberals have been heard pleading "we have to do something with monsters like Saddam," without mentioning monsters like (to pick one of many examples) Indonesia's Gen. Suharto whose genocide against East Timorese and Papuans has continued with enthusiastic U.S. military support until recently, when it had to be reigned following embarrassments like a massacre filmed by U.S. journalists.
A quick review of U.S. foreign policy would lead any humane person to conclude that doing nothing would do the world a favor. The most terrible thing is the complacency or righteousness with which the public seems to accept the ongoing siege of Iraq done in their name and with their money.
Martin Taylor
Asst. Professor, Entomology
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