This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/07/guardian-view-pleas-iraqs-embattled-kurds

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
The Guardian view on responding to pleas for help from Iraq’s embattled Kurds The Guardian view on responding to pleas for help from Iraq’s embattled Kurds
(12 days later)
Ruthless forces are ripping the social and political fabric of northern Iraq to shreds. Ancient communities of Christians and Yazidis, who have been there for millennia, are being persecuted and ejected from their homes. Sunni Arabs face a hard choice: join us or risk exemplary punishment, sometimes death. The Kurds, whose semi-autonomous region has been an oasis of comparative stability and prosperity in Iraq, are under increasing military pressure. They are losing outlying areas which they had promised to protect, and even their core territories could be in danger. All these people are or soon could be at the mercy of the Islamic State (Isis). They are calling on western countries for help, and those calls should be heeded.Ruthless forces are ripping the social and political fabric of northern Iraq to shreds. Ancient communities of Christians and Yazidis, who have been there for millennia, are being persecuted and ejected from their homes. Sunni Arabs face a hard choice: join us or risk exemplary punishment, sometimes death. The Kurds, whose semi-autonomous region has been an oasis of comparative stability and prosperity in Iraq, are under increasing military pressure. They are losing outlying areas which they had promised to protect, and even their core territories could be in danger. All these people are or soon could be at the mercy of the Islamic State (Isis). They are calling on western countries for help, and those calls should be heeded.
Once before such a cry of despair reached the international community. It evoked a response which could be rightly described as one of our finest hours, an intervention that was mainly altruistic, largely bloodless, and, above all, one which worked. After Saddam Hussein’s forces were driven out of Kuwait in 1991, the Iraqi dictator, with much of his army still intact, turned to deal with Shia rebels in the south and Kurdish rebels in the north. He crushed his southern foes and then his armour rolled north to smash the Kurds, its advance precipitating a mass exodus of refugees into the inhospitable heights along the border with Turkey.Once before such a cry of despair reached the international community. It evoked a response which could be rightly described as one of our finest hours, an intervention that was mainly altruistic, largely bloodless, and, above all, one which worked. After Saddam Hussein’s forces were driven out of Kuwait in 1991, the Iraqi dictator, with much of his army still intact, turned to deal with Shia rebels in the south and Kurdish rebels in the north. He crushed his southern foes and then his armour rolled north to smash the Kurds, its advance precipitating a mass exodus of refugees into the inhospitable heights along the border with Turkey.
The British prime minister, John Major, following up on an impassioned appeal from his predecessor, Margaret Thatcher, and pleas for action from President Turgut Ozal of Turkey, proposed the establishment of a “safe haven” to protect the Kurds. Soon British, American, French and Dutch troops were on the ground in Iraq, Saddam was stymied, the refugees returned, and the basis was laid for Kurdistan’s relative immunity from the troubles which have beset Iraq since. We should be again considering, as we did then, how best to help the Kurds, and other Iraqis in the north, not this time with troops on the ground, which would be neither feasible or appropriate, but with the military and humanitarian assistance they need to fend off Isis.The British prime minister, John Major, following up on an impassioned appeal from his predecessor, Margaret Thatcher, and pleas for action from President Turgut Ozal of Turkey, proposed the establishment of a “safe haven” to protect the Kurds. Soon British, American, French and Dutch troops were on the ground in Iraq, Saddam was stymied, the refugees returned, and the basis was laid for Kurdistan’s relative immunity from the troubles which have beset Iraq since. We should be again considering, as we did then, how best to help the Kurds, and other Iraqis in the north, not this time with troops on the ground, which would be neither feasible or appropriate, but with the military and humanitarian assistance they need to fend off Isis.
Even discounting heavily for rumour and exaggeration, what we hear of Isis is chilling. They kill prisoners. They hate Shias. They forcibly convert people who follow other religions or eject them from their homes after confiscating their property. Representatives of the Yazidi, distant cousins of Iran’s Zoroastrians, say much worse has happened. The most terrible reports have not so far been verified. But what we do know is bad enough: many thousands of stranded people, too scared to go back to their homes, too exhausted to carry on much longer in the baking heat without adequate food, water and other supplies. Many thousands more, mainly Christians, thrown out of Mosul and other towns, have taken refuge in Kurdistan.Even discounting heavily for rumour and exaggeration, what we hear of Isis is chilling. They kill prisoners. They hate Shias. They forcibly convert people who follow other religions or eject them from their homes after confiscating their property. Representatives of the Yazidi, distant cousins of Iran’s Zoroastrians, say much worse has happened. The most terrible reports have not so far been verified. But what we do know is bad enough: many thousands of stranded people, too scared to go back to their homes, too exhausted to carry on much longer in the baking heat without adequate food, water and other supplies. Many thousands more, mainly Christians, thrown out of Mosul and other towns, have taken refuge in Kurdistan.
President Barack Obama is weighing both air drops and air strikes. More substantial humanitarian supplies could come in by land via Turkey. The Kurds are also asking for military equipment, particularly from the United States, and for air support. The Americans have a special responsibility here. It was the US which pressed quantities of equipment on an Iraqi army which they trained, and said they were proud of, but which then failed the test of combat. Many of those weapons are now in Isis’s hands. At the same time the US denied Kurdish requests for heavy weaponry because it did not want to upset Baghdad. President Barack Obama is weighing both air drops and air strikes. More substantial humanitarian supplies could come in by land via Turkey. The Kurds are also asking for military equipment, particularly from the United States, and for air support. The Americans have a special responsibility here. It was the US which pressed quantities of equipment on an Iraqi army which they trained, and said they were proud of, but which then failed the test of combat. Many of those weapons are now in Isis’s hands. At the same time the US denied Kurdish requests for heavy weaponry because it did not want to upset Baghdad.
The paradoxical result is that the US has armed the enemies of the Iraqi state and weakened the one force in the north unequivocally ready to oppose them. The Kurds cannot expect much help from Baghdad, which can offer some air support but not much else. After all that has passed in recent years, hesitation about any kind of intervention in the Middle East is entirely understandable. But the desperate plight of the Iraqi minorities and the potentially very serious threat to the Kurds surely warrants a fundamental reconsideration.The paradoxical result is that the US has armed the enemies of the Iraqi state and weakened the one force in the north unequivocally ready to oppose them. The Kurds cannot expect much help from Baghdad, which can offer some air support but not much else. After all that has passed in recent years, hesitation about any kind of intervention in the Middle East is entirely understandable. But the desperate plight of the Iraqi minorities and the potentially very serious threat to the Kurds surely warrants a fundamental reconsideration.