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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dayuhan who wrote (54228)	7/14/2004 11:36:59 AM
From: Sam	Respond to of 793838

I’m not sure what purpose is served by overlooking the pattern of violence in recent Kurdish history, but the pattern of omission does seem too systematic to be accidental... It may simply be a subset of a wider tendency to underestimate the challenges that an emerging Iraqi government will face. I think it serves the purpose of massaging the popular American ego, which requires that we not support people we label "thugs." American "elites" don't generally have this problem as long the thug is "our thug" (the comment explicit made by Abrams, I think it was, back in the late 70s, early 80s about Somoza in Nicaragua), and supports American business interests. In the current situation, we certainly can't be seen as overthrowing one guy labeled thug simply to support other guys we label as thugs. Therefore, the Kurds become "democrats" and "freedom lovers," who are "just" looking for a home of their own like all freedom loving peoples. Plus, of course, there is the factor of ignorance. Kurdish strivings for independence and civil wars have been very poorly reported here. They certainly never have made headlines, especially the latter. The former makes headlines when it serves the purpose of justifying getting rid of Saddam. The problems inherent in that striving for the region--especially for the Turks, but even to a small extent for the Syrians and Iranians--are glossed over in the US. With the focus overwhelmingly on getting rid of Saddam, all complicating factors are ignored.