European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 6, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday october 6, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary William Safire file Cabinet triumphs won t oust Saddam convection Saddam a Kitchen we act As if the world has scored a great Victory Over Saddam Hussein in the Battle of the Baghdad parking lot. All we gained was Possession of files that show our Cia and Media underestimated iraqis nuclear buildup. That will enable some of us to Issue i told you so whoops but will do Little to curb the comeback of Saddam. Only the ouster of his regime will do that and file Cabinet triumphs oust no dictators. Meanwhile his political Success has gone unremarked he is insuring his survival by splitting his kurdish opposition but the Bush administration does no to seem to care. If our policy is to Force Saddam and his sunni military clique out and to replace that repressive regime with a rudimentary democracy of varied cultures within present Borders the kurd Are the key. United they stand As the nucleus of a National opposition divided All Hopes fall for internal overthrow of the dictator. Because of . Passivity they Are dividing. The other Day in Halaja site of the Poison gassing we ignored three years ago Massoud Barzani told his people to a be realistic and make a separate peace with Saddam getting whatever autonomy was being offered. At that very moment a delegation of kurdish leaders including Jalal Talaban Barzania a rival was in Washington hoping to be received by the president or Secretary of state As it had by British prime minister John major and foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher of Germany. Such an event would affirm the . Commitment to helping iraqis turn out Saddam and his gang it would signal Barzani that cutting a Deal with Baghdad would be a mistake. Instead the visiting kurd were told to meet with John Kelly for years Saddam a Man at the state department now being warehoused As ambassador to limbo. When they walked at this insult they were allowed to see assistant Secretary Edward Djerejian on his first Day at the Middle East Bureau. Our Diplomat reminded the kurd that we were helping provide Relief that it was important that the kurd dissociate themselves from any terrorism and that our strike Force in Turkey had recently been increased to deter repression. All that had Little to do with what kurd who want to depose Saddam had in mind. Kurd who have been double crossed by the dictator before want to join with shiites and anti Saddam sunnis to form a provisional government of free Iraq on iraqi territory in the area controlled by the kurdish forces and protected overhead by the United states. A provisional government in place would have a claim on Frozen iraqi assets abroad including millions of Gallons of iraqi Oil a a parked in saudi Arabia. With anti helicopter and anti tank missiles it could defend its provisional capital until the Baghdad clique saw which Way legitimate Power was flowing and betrayed the dictator. But the state department is leery of unruly new democracies sources dismayed by state Secretary James a. Bakery a inattention Tell me we prefer an iraqi government in exile in Riyadh saudi Arabia perhaps run by the murderous Salah Omar Ali to replace one dictatorship with another if Saddam Ever retires. What is the effect of our passivity hawkish kurd ready to Trust the West Are Given Tea and sympathy but no incentive to oppose. The Barzani forces a distrustful of the United states Ever since we betrayed Mulla Mustafa Barzani in the �?T70s, and abandoned the kurdish rebels after encouraging a revolt earlier this year a Are being encouraged by us to make whatever Deal they can with the Devil they know. Kurd want a straight answer a if we refuse to sign with Saddam will you Back us up with the Means to feed and defend ourselves Quot our official Glaspie esque reply a no is that a foreign policy the kurd by letting Saddam split them Are finding out which Power a Baghdad or Washington a is More untrustworthy. Bush by not coordinating policy to overturn the dictator is telling the kurd that they Are better off taking their chances with Saddam. That a the wrong signal. That Means America will again Bear the main military Burden when we finally decide enough is enough. Better for Bush to Send word to Massoud Barzani to unite the Kuril against a separate peace a and to gift him Public ironclad assurances we will provide air cover for the organizing opposition. C the now York times Ellen Goodman some arguments signal a Comfort Factor when the Clarence Thomas affair is at last blessedly Over no one will be Able to portray the Black Community anymore As a monolithic Hometown where everyone Speaks with the same voice. When the last of the Black organizations takes its stand for or against this nominee for the supreme court no one will be Able to assume that Black a a leaders always command followers. Among Blacks a kind of silence has been broken by the nomination of a Black conservative. The lingering feeling that disagreements should be kept a within the family a has ruptured. Differences that were tamped Down under grandmothers warning a a a done to air your dirty Linen in Public a have become part of a very open debate. Something similar has been happening with a Good Deal less fanfare among american jews. For the better part of 50 years being pro Israel was an article of Faith among the majority. Israel was both a redemption for the holocaust and an insurance policy for the future. It was a Center that held especially for the second generation of american jews. Now the conflict Over building settlements on the occupied West Bank has revealed fissures. The notion that american jews Are supporters of every israeli government move a Shamir right or wrong a is cracking. The idea that jews too speak with one voice the voice of a jewish leaders has finally shattered. The issues facing Blacks and jews Are wholly different. For Blacks the debate is about Public policy affirmative action and reaction self help and government help responsibility and victimization. For jews the debate is about foreign policy about Middle East peace and Security about israeli vulnerability and aggression. But from the Vantage Point of the american experience there is something similar in this unravelling. For better and for worse two communities that remained relatively cohesive in the face of prejudice Are arguing in a time of relative tolerance. Their arguments Are often As rending As a family feud. A there came a generation that knew not Joseph a said one Black lawyer musing to me about the generational tilt to this struggle. His Quot Joseph was american apartheid the old world of african americans a Community of outsiders that created its own inside. Their personal differences took second place to Unity in the face of a hostile world. Among jews a a Joseph is the holocaust the evil capstone to a Bleak history of a wandering jews Quot that carried a warning keep your bags packed. The notion of a a a Homeland held special meaning for immigrants and survivors. But it holds less meaning for the next generation. The transition from a coherent Community to a Loose affiliation of people is part of the american experience another chapter of an old Story. The process of becoming a a american seems to weaken the ties that connect people to ethnic groups As it strengthens individual voices. It Wasny to just the integration of the suburbs and workplaces that stretched the Bonds of ethnicity so thin. Rather it was the american mainstream culture itself that so fiercely prizes Independence. But this Independence exacts a Price. For Clarence Thomas the Cost has been the opposition from Blacks has been harsher and More personal than from Whites. You done to have to Admire his Legal mind to acknowledge that emotional Price tag. American jews who publicly part with israeli policy Are often subject to their own special sort of analysis. Its not just their arguments that Are picked apart by other jews. Its their psyches. Its easy to be labelled a self hating jew. But americans value Independent voices for Good reason. The airing of difference is honest. Without dissent there can to be change. Without the admission of conflict there can to even be any Resolution. However we May belong to groups we can Only finally speak As ourselves. So these very Public debates a Over affirmative action and the occupied territories Over what is right and wrong a blow fresh wind through stale arguments. I hey topple certainties and introduce new possibilities. These Isible High Pratile fractures in the Community May be painful but they Are also an indication of How much things have changed. Those who were once designated outsiders who kept their fights to the family Kitchen Leel at Home enough to argue in the front pallor of Public opinion i i a Ltd i in
