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Friends - we all know our passions and the urgency to send information - and no,one more than Salwa - but might I urge that this is broken into paragraphs and sentences - this lenghth thing has crept into a few excellent groups and it becomes difficult to acess as it runs on and on - like listening to a match and unable to hear the commentary from the yelling of the commentator. Am I wrong? warmest to all. felcity a. ---------- >From: "Salwa de Vree" <sdevree@email.com> >To: soc-casi-discuss@lists.cam.ac.uk >Subject: Re: Iraqi opposition... & Turkey's position >Date: Sun, Jan 6, 2002, 1:47 pm > > > Here's an addition to Dirk's piece on the Iraqi opposition, which I came > across last week. Unfortunately, I don't remember the exact date it first appeared. > I am also including a piece from the same source on Turkey's position. > According to this article, Turkey is opposed to extending the US's > ridiculous war on terrorism to Iraq. > URLs at end of articles. > > Salwa de Vree, > Leiden, The Netherlands. > > > > IRAQ, UNITED STATES: WASHINGTON MEDIATING BETWEEN RIVAL KURDISH FACTIONS > > Amid intense speculation the United States will next target Iraq in its war > on terrorism, the State Department has said it has begun mediating a > long-running dispute between rival Kurdish groups in Northern Iraq. Deputy > spokesman Philip Reeker said a high-level US team led by Ryan Crocker, > deputy assistant state for Near East affairs, was in Northern Iraq to > further Washington’s efforts to oust Saddam Hussein by bringing the > factions together. Crocker was meeting members of the Patriotic Union of > Kurdistan (PUK) and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in the first > direct US attempt to mediate between the two at their request, Reeker said. > “This delegation is the first step in that mediation process”, he said, > adding that PUK leader Jalal Talabani and KDP leader Masoud Barzani had > asked for State Department help in overcoming their differences. Reeker > noted, however, that US consultations with both groups was longstanding. > The last consultive mission was in February, he said. Crocker and his team > would also meet with Turkish officials as part of their trip. Crocker’s > mission was aimed at demonstrating “continued US engagement with the Iraqi > opposition, consult with key players on issues in Northern Iraq provide for > direct discussions on the status of reconciliation among the Iraqi Kurds > and to evaluate implementation of the oil-for-food program in the North”, > he said. Baghdad has reacted angrily to US officials meeting with Kurds and > late last month, Saddam repeated an offer to engage the factions in > dialogue but was rebuffed. Washington has long sought to build up the Iraqi > opposition -- including the PUK and KDP -- in order to topple Saddam but > has had little success thus far in finding a military force with the > ability to move against him. Advocates of targetting Iraq next in the > anti-terror war have noted the key military role played by the anti-Taliban > Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. They have urged President George W. Bush > and his Administration to back various Iraqi opposition groups so they > might play a similar role. Iraqi Kurds rose up against the regime in the > aftermath of the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait, leaving the three provinces of > Arbil, Suleimaniyeh and Dahuk outside Baghdad’s reach. The KDP today > controls an area along the Turkish border, while the rival PUK administers > areas close to the Iranian border. > > http://www.mmorning.com/article.asp?Article=3590&CategoryID=6 > > > TURKEY, IRAQ: SEZER: SUPPORT FOR IRAQ’S TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY > > Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer last week reaffirmed his support for > Iraq’s territorial integrity during talks with visiting Qatari Emir Sheikh > Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Sezer told a press conference here that “Turkey > gives utmost importance to the territorial integrity and national unity of > Iraq”, which is under the threat of becoming the next target in the US-led > anti-terror drive, a move Turkey opposes. He urged Baghdad to cooperate > with the United Nations and the international community in a bid to end the > “suffering of the people of Iraq”, which has been under an international > embargo for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Sezer and Sheikh Hamad also > appealed to the Israelis and the Palestinians to end spiralling violence in > the Middle East and return to the negotiating table. Since the events of > September 11 in the United States, Turkey, the only member of NATO with a > mainly-Moslem population, has opposed extending the US-led war against > terrorism especially to Iraq, its southern neighbor. Turkey says > destabilizing Iraq could create on its border an independent Kurdish state > in mountainous Northern Iraq, which has been under the control of two > Kurdish factions since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. Such a state would > in turn fan separatist-minded tendencies among Kurds living mainly in > Turkey’s Southeast, which borders Iraq and Syria. The banned Kurdistan > Workers’ Party (PKK) fought Ankara for 15 years for Kurdish self-rule in > the Southeast until 1999 when it said it was abandoning its armed campaign > for a democractic solution to the Kurdish question. In late November, > Turkey’s Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said that Ankara could > re-evaluate its position in the case of evidence linking Iraqi leader > Saddam Hussein with terrorism. But in remarks to the media last week, the > chief of the Turkish army voiced strong opposition to extending the US > campaign to Iraq on the grounds that it could create a Kurdish state. > Generak Huseyin Kivrikoglu also warned that a military intervention in Iraq > would have far graver economic consequences for Turkey than the effects of > the 1991 Gulf War. Ankara estimates it lost 35 million dollars, mostly from > lost sales of oil, since the beginning of the UN embargo against Iraq. > Turkey was the second stop of a regional tour which had already taken > Sheikh Hamad to Russia. He was scheduled to travel on to Egypt and Algeria. > The US weekly Newsweek has said top American officials are studying the > possibility of invading Iraq from both the North and the South in order to > topple the regime of President, Saddam Hussein. Under heavy political > pressure, the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been looking at a study that > suggests deploying 50,000 US troops on Iraq’s southern border and another > 50,000 on its northern border, according to the report in an issue due out > last week. The plan calls for sending the two armies towards Baghdad > simultaneously, but strategists doubt that even that force would be enough > to take the Iraqi capital, Newsweek said. Lieutenant-General Paul > Mikolashek, commander of US ground forces in the region, believes taking > Baghdad and overthrowing Saddam Hussein would require forces “at least at > the level” of Desert Storm -- when around 169,000 US combat troops were > deployed to eject Iraq from Kuwait, according to the report. But President > George W. Bush and his national security team have decided that Saddam has > to go, said the magazine quoting unnamed US officials. “The question is not > whether the United States is going to hit Iraq; the question is when”, the > report quoted a senior US envoy in the Middle East as saying. RUSSO-US > IMPASSE In a related development, Moscow has said it failed to reach > agreement with Washington on a new sanctions regime for Iraq and remained > “categorically” opposed to military strikes to oust Saddam. “The Russian > side is categorically against conducting a military operation in regards to > Baghdad in the framework of the next phase in the fight against > international terrorism”, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ordzhonikidze said > in a statement. The Foreign Ministry added that Russian negotiators and > visiting US Assistant Secretary of State John Stern Wolf had only reached > agreement on “certain questions” during two-day talks in Moscow about a new > Iraqi sanctions regime. US officials in Moscow issued no comment following > the talks and Wolf left Russia without speaking to the press. The impasse > -- if only temporary -- over Russia’s Soviet-era ally came amid growing > speculation that the United States was on the verge of expanding its target > list in the global war on terrorism which has focussed on Afghanistan for > the past two months. Russian officials had earlier said that Moscow was > willing to listen to US arguments in favor of broadening the terror > hit-list before making its own final judgement on the issue. But the > two-day talks with Wolf appeared to confirm Russia’s primary desire to > secure nearly a billion dollars in Iraqi trade agreements that remain > frozen by existing UN sanctions rather than giving its nod to military > strikes on Baghdad. Moscow said it “had expressed its concern” that the > value of Russia-Iraq contracts frozen by the United Nations had grown to > 860 million dollars. The statement noted that Washington had promised to > help “unfreeze” contracts worth only a fraction of that sum -- 54 million > dollars -- and that a new round of consultations would be held by early > February. These were timed to come before the existing UN oil-for-food > program for Iraq expires at the end of May. Russian officials responsible > for trade with Iraq, which has been characterized as a “rogue state” by > Washington, meanwhile expressed dismay at what they described as an > arbitrary trade sanctions regime with Baghdad. Yevgeni Yagupets, a > spokesman for Russia’s chief committee for economic cooperation for Iraq, > said the UN sanctions committee was primarily suspicious about contracts > which supplied Baghdad with civilian-use equipment for factories built > during the Soviet era. “Russia wants all sanctions lifted once Iraq admits > UN weapons inspectors”, Yagupets said. Iraq, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen have > all been mentioned as possible targets for future US military action. US > National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice has opined that “the world and > Iraq will live better without Saddam Hussein in power”. After initially > refusing to support a UN sanctions review against Iraq, Russia last month > said it would support the initiative while stressing the importance of > persuading Baghdad to allow the United Nations to resume arms inspections. > UN inspectors were withdrawn from Iraq in December 1998, on the eve of a > bombing campaign by US and British warplanes, and were not allowed to return. > > http://www.mmorning.com/article.asp?Article=3637&CategoryID=6 > > > > > > > -- > > _______________________________________________ > 1 cent a minute calls anywhere in the U.S.! > > http://www.getpennytalk.com/cgi-bin/adforward.cgi?p_key=RG9853KJ&url=http:// www.getpe > nnytalk.com > > > > -- > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq > For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk > CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings. > -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq For removal from list, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk CASI's website - www.casi.org.uk - includes an archive of all postings.