The Kurdistan Observer. By:  Dr.N.Hawramany.  Feb 16, 2002

There are a lot of speculations nowadays about the timing and type of the
expected American attack against Iraq to topple the Iraqi regime of Saddam
Hussain, one reads many possible scenarios in the newspapers and other  media about the shape of forthcoming attack and which Iraqi opposition forces will spearhead such an action with full support of the military might of the USA
including plans for a military coup d`etat or sending opposition forces to the
south of Iraq, or the use of the relatively well organized Kurdish fighters in the
north of the country (Iraqi Kurdistan).

It is very clear until now that the American administration are studying the
various options and scenarios and have not chosen yet any of these options,
although that the Bush administration seems to be determined anyway to get rid
of the menace of Saddam Hussain in the middle east.

The two Kurdish leaders Mr. Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iraq and Mr. Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan did not show outright their enthusiasm about such plans, not because they are not willing to get rid of the Iraqi regime but because they are not ready to commit themselves to any plan which does not clearly state the right of the Kurds for a federal solution in a democratic future Iraqi government. The Kurds are simply asking the Bush administration to provide them without any ambiguity with guarantees that the current protection of the Kurdish people through the USA and Britain will continue and develop into a federated union with the central government without endangering the territorial integrity of Iraq and that the Kurds receive their share of Iraqi wealth in the future according to the percentage they represent of the Iraqi population.

Without such open and clear reassurances from the American administration,
taking into consideration their previous disappointments with the previous
American administrations in the years 1974, 1988 and 1991, it would be
probably unwise for the Iraqi Kurds to endanger their current autonomy in their
de facto administration, which they have been running very successfully in the
last 11 years to the envy of many regional powers.

It would be naive for the American administration to undertake any action
without the participation of the Kurdish forces in the north, which constitute
many tens of thousands of experienced fighters with the will and determination to shape the future of Iraq providing that it guarantees the legitimate aspirations of the Kurdish people, who are the people who suffered at most from the Iraqi
campaigns to wipe out the people of Kurdistan and destroy their beautiful
homeland Kurdistan.

The Iraqi Kurds undoubtedly are keen to keep their friendship with the USA and are thankful for the protection they enjoyed in the last 11 years albeit the
hardship of the economic sanctions and the dire threats of the Iraqi repressive
regime with its troops only few kilometers away from the cities in liberated
Kurdistan.

The American administration is required to summon the Kurdish leaders to
Washington and express its unequivocal determination to guarantee the
aspirations of the Kurdish people in any future Iraqi administration and to
provide the Kurds with international safeguards of its future, only then can the
USA rely without any doubt on the support of the Kurdish
people in any future campaign against Iraq.

The American administration also needs to put pressure on its ally Turkey to
stop interference in the internal affairs of the Kurdish enclave and tell them that
their Kurdophobia is unsubstantiated and does not help a lot in winning the
hearts and minds of the Iraqi Kurds for the campaign against Saddam Hussain.

Dr.N.Hawramany
Switzerland