European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 12, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday april 12, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary Tom Rau iraqi strife compounds problems for . President. Bush wont admit it but he must be having second thoughts about his decision to Stop the War against Iraq instead of finishing the Job and overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Now after vowing repeatedly not to intervene in iraqis internal strife. Bush has found the United states being slowly drawn into the conflict. His decision on humanitarian grounds to Airdrop food and other supplies to kurd fleeing Saddam a tyranny provides direct a albeit non military a assistance to the rebels battling the iraqi Leader. And it comes despite the presidents earlier insistence that the revolt was for the iraqi people to decide on their own. Now the administration says it is giving consideration to a proposal by British prime minister John major to carve out a protected enclave for kurd within Iraq. That would represent a turnabout from Bush a previous assertions that the .-led coalition had no Long Range designs on iraqi territory and did not want to see a destabilized Iraq. C however so far the administrations reaction to that proposal has been lukewarm or Given what officials say is the difficulty in building support for the idea within the United nations and among coalition nations. Turkey in particular with its own sizeable kurdish population might be nervous about the notion of kurdish enclaves. In the end it was the magnitude of the atrocities a reports of which were beamed around the world in some cases instantaneously a hat forced Bush to Bow at least somewhat to mounting International pressure to do something aides suggest. A i think people Are so outraged that there May be ways we can bring pressure through the . Or elsewhere on this regime inside Iraq a the president told reporters Oyer the weekend in elaborating on his decision to order the Airdrop. Bush also must have been keenly aware of scenes in which his Secretary of state James a. Baker Iii overlooked a sea of human suffering on his visit monday to the Turkey Iraq Border and heard heart wrenching pleas for help from displaced kurd. A Why bus to help kurdish people destroy Saddam Schwarzkopf he want to destroy Saddam but Bush no a one Youthful kurd was quoted As saying after Baker walked past the chaos inside Iraq has forced the White House into some verbal gymnastics As aides seek to revise and extend comments by Bush and other top officials on the situation. First the White House had to Deal with remarks by Gen. Hnorman Schwarzkopf the desert storm com Mander in a television interview that he had recommended that the president pursue the War the extra Day or so it would take to drive Saddam from Power. Leslie h. Gelb the White House objected publicly to the suggestion that Schwarzkopf Hadnot agreed completely with Bush a decision to Call off the shooting on feb. 27, the general in uncharacteristic meekness later apologized for the remark and suggested he had used a poor Choice of words. More recently the White House has had to scramble to suggest that Bush never really intended to encourage the kurd or the pro iranian shiite rebels in the South to overthrow the iraqi Leader. Even though Bush suggested several times that the iraqi people take matters a into their own hands Quot apparently he was not refer Anglo the kurd. Instead what Bush really seemed to want was a military Coupe a position he clarified last wednesday at a Golf course news conference in Florida by specifically suggesting that he would take a a a new look at normalizing relations with Iraq if the military or Saddam a own government forced him from Power. By focusing on . Aid the administration has been seeking to Blunt criticism including from some usually moderate democrats in Congress a for not intervening militarily to help the rebels. Since Bush encouraged uprisings a we have a Mora obligation to do what we can to Stop Saddam from killing those who have the courage to resist a sen. Claiborne Pell , chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee said tuesday. Added sen. Paul Simon d-lll., a we have belatedly dropped some food a Bitt done Little else but some congressional leaders seem to be coming around to the administration s Way of thinking. Senate majority Leader George Mitchell a Mainc who had criticized Bush a week ago for not attacking iraqi combat helicopters that Werc living on kurdish civilians emerged from a White House meeting tuesday in a More conciliatory mood. He said the iraqi attacks on the kurd a seem to be  a. A a a a a a a. A a a. A a a a a a and House majority Leader Richard Gephardt d-mo., said Bush by sending humanitarian Aid was a doing the right  he added a your people Are worried about getting caught in a civil War. Our kids want to come  a the associated press. What country with �?T23 million people fun by a. Vicious dictator has missiles a million men under arms and is Likely to possess nuclear weapons in a few years its not Iraq anymore. Not Syria which has not entered the nuclear race nor any other Mideast nation. The renegade and perhaps the most dangerous country in the world today is North Korea. The world Community and especially Japan has the Opportunity to Stop it from becoming the next Iraq. Pyongyang is close enough to a nuclear capability to have triggered sobering responses the Bush administration is reassuring Kim ii Sung that he need not fear a . Nuclear attack. Japan is applying economic pressure. South koreans Are talking about attacking the North a nuclear facilities or making their own nuclear weapons. And if Korea goes nuclear Japan might also. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney said that Korea was the one place where he worried about Quot a no notice attack against .  Richard Solomon an assistant Secretary of state underlined the particular danger a we View nuclear proliferation on the korean Peninsula As the no. 1 threat to stability in East  Pyongyang also poses a serious problem beyond Asia. . Intelligence knows that North Korea has sold a scud like missiles to Syria and believes that More Are on the Way. It probably peddled the same missile to Tehran earlier. The missile is similar to the one Baghdad used to terrorize Israel and saudi Arabia though apparently More accurate . Intelligence officials say the missiles Are a variant of the scud a missile which the soviet Union sold to Egypt years ago and which Egypt resold to Pyongyang. The North koreans reverse engineered the missile and began to produce it themselves. But what troubles the administration and its asian allies most is Pyongyang a nuclear program. At Yon Byon it built a nuclear reactor that intelligence officials believe to be far too Small to generate electric Power Cost effectively and far too Large to be a simple research reactor. More troubling still . Spy satellites have detected a new Plant they think capable of separating plutonium from spent uranium fuel. From this plutonium Pyongyang can Start building nuclear weapons. Kim ii Sung refuses to permit International inspection of these facilities even though required to do so by his accession to the nonproliferation treaty. Even Iraq allowed inspections but he is offering a Deal. If the United states pulls its nuclear weapons out of South Korea and if the United states and Seoul make the korean Peninsula a nuclear free zone president Kim says he will let in the inspectors. The Bush administration says no Deal. But it offered a Public reassurance saying a we pose no nuclear threat to North  that is not much for president Kim to hang his hat on. But Given his track record of terrorism and aggression Washington should go no further at this Point. Administration officials want others to go further. Moscow obliged by stopping its nuclear Aid until Kim opens All his nuclear facilities to International inspection. Above All the United states Hope menace that Japan will take the Lead. Seoul is now on Good terms with the soviet Union and China. Pyongyang in virtual diplomatic isolation and with its Economy deteriorating sharply has turned to Tokyo for Succour and support. China also concerned about Pyongyang a nuclear program is that country s largest trading partner. But Japan ranks a close second and accounts for about 25 percent of Pyongyang a total Trade. More importantly North Korea needs credits and Aid which Only Tokyo can provide. That need gives Japan tremendous leverage on Kim Tokyo already has told him to forget about japanese Aid until North Korea lives up to its obligations under the nonproliferation treaty. It might Well add until Pyongyang stops exporting missiles. But Tokyo and others should get tougher still and Cut off All Trade As Washington did Long ago. Such action would demonstrate that Japan will play a world role in line with its economic Power. It also would show that nations have Learned something from Iraq. Cd the be Yort it times