From: jan.vindheim@gmail.com   
      
   selene1022  wrote:   
      
   > jan.vindheim@gmail.com (Jan  Bojer Vindheim) wrote   
   > > Pete Bayle  wrote:   
      
   > > > You want support for an independent Kurdistan count me in.   
      
   > > Were you there in the picket lines with me   
   > > when Rumsfeld and Bush were supporting Saddams chemical war   
   > > on the kurds (and the Iranianis)?   
   > >   
   > > > You tell me the Kurds aren't better off now   
   > > > than they were before the   
   > > > toppling of Saddam I don't believe.   
   > >   
   > > Too bad when facts get in the way of your beliefs, eh?   
   >   
   > Facts? Are you implying that the Kurds don't support the Bush   
   > administration? Are you implying that the Kurds didn't support   
   > Saddam's removal? If so, you're the one who is having a little trouble   
   > with facts.   
      
   I am certainly saying that "the kurds"  of Northern Iraq are not solidly   
   behind the Bush administration, although PUK and KDP  (the main kurdish   
   parties) are doing their best to keep their supporters toeing the line.   
      
   Of course they are glad to see Saddam in jail   - my Iraqi negighbours   
   (one kurd, one arab) both  hugged me and laughed for joy when the arrest   
   was made public - but under Saddam there was security on the streets and   
   a stable economy; there was a functioning public sector, which has now   
   been dismantled and handed over to priavte US corporations like   
   Halliburton.   
      
   Even the Abu Ghraib jail is run by a private US company-   
      
   The economic situation in Iraqi Kurdiatn has definitely improved after   
   the sanctions were lifted, but the security situation has  - just as   
   definitely - worsened.   
      
   The main factor in Iraqi Kurdistan is, however, that the US consciously   
   fanned  kurdish hopes of greater autonomy, and Condoleeza Rice is  now   
   saying that the  de facto autonomy enjoyed since 1991 will have to be   
   reduced in order to fulfill Americas superpower ambitions. Hold this   
   against the fact  that more than 2 million Iraqi Kurds recently signed   
   a declaration in favour of full independence from Iraq for the kurdish   
   provinces  - and what do you get?   
      
   A kurdish leadership trying to please the occupants  and desperately   
   attempting to  calm their own supporters - in order to taste the fruits   
   of powersharing in Baghdad   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)