It is no secret that US President Gorge W. Bush and his advisors are trying their best to drum up support as they prepare to attack Iraq in the near future.

US vice president Dick Cheney's trip to the Middle East failed, however, in convincing the Arab countries, at least publicly, to join America against Iraq. Unfortunately, now the Bush administration is trying to persuade the Kurds to join them instead.

The Kurds, and other groups often referred to as opposition groups by the Bush administration, are to meet in New York within the next few weeks to discuss the Iraqi issue. And, I might add, this meeting is fully financed by the US State Department to ensure maximum attendance.

I would like for the Kurds to take note of what has transpired in Palestine and the carnage that Israel is inflicting on innocent civilians before endorsing the American agenda. While the Palestinians cannot elude the Israelis and stop them from obliterating their homes and businesses, Bush is trying to gather support for attacking Iraq. By now the whole world is aware of the fact that Bush has given Israel the "green light" to commit such atrocities against helpless and defenceless people.

While the Palestinians are fighting with stones, the Israelis are using the might of American machinery such as F-16 jet fighters, tanks and Black Hawk helicopters in counter attacks. The genocide of these poor Palestinians is done in front of our very eyes while the US sits by idly. Why? Because it is not in the US "national interest" to stop Israeli aggression and the mass murder of women and children.

The Bush administration will never be able to make up for Israeli's actions toward the Palestinians. A few weeks ago a reporter interviewed a Palestinian woman who had lost loved ones in an Israeli attack.

She said, "We will teach our children to take revenge for this and we will never ever forget this massacre." The same has happened to the Kurds in the past and the same WILL happen again in the future if we trust the Americans once more.

Putting the squeeze on Kurds

If Bush is truly a genuine person and cares about the Kurds, he could at least give us what is rightfully ours, which is our fair share of the oil-for-food proceeds. Now, one might ask: Why should the Americans give us the money when the UN is physically and literally holding our share?

My answer would simply be: The UN is not only greatly influenced by the Americans but controlled by it as well and therefore, the US is holding our money. One could almost make a case for "guilt by association" out of this arrangement. If that were not the case, then how can one explain the US$5 billion worth of supplies that have been put on hold because the US will not allow shipment? The connection can be clearly seen here.

Furthermore, if the US truly perceives the Kurds as "friends" and is concerned about our well being, they should not allow Turkey, their "trusted" ally, to squeeze the Kurds by closing the border whenever they please.

The Turks and the Americans are well aware of the fact that the "illicit" oil trade between Turkey and the KDP is the only source of income which the Kurds are generating to run their affairs effectively.

Without these funds, Kurdistan's economy would suffer immensely. But that will not bother the Americans since it is their intention to have the Kurds cornered and have no choice but to reluctantly join the (American) mission in going to "war" with Iraq.

This is not a new phenomenon. I wrote about this subject in an article "Let's suffocate the Kurds"(June 21, 2001). I was proven to be on target in assessing Turkey's position and intentions when it comes to dealing with the Kurds. Now America has joined Turkey in this conspiracy. This is what I said in my introduction to the earlier article.

No handouts

It is not the first time, and I am certain it will not be the last, that the Kurds will get caught in the middle of some unfortunate act. For a long time Turkey has talked about bypassing Kurdistan in order to do business with Baghdad and, along the way, leave the Kurds scrambling to find a solution. But when Turkey needs the Kurd's help, it does not hesitate to ask and most often, gets its wish granted.

Loss of income from trade with Turkey would undoubtedly create havoc in Kurdistan. It has become evident that Turkey is not concerned about the loss of income from the oil trade since the US would come to their rescue in the form of "aid" or "loans" that never gets repaid.

Moreover, the Americans have yet to provide the Kurds with "loans" or "financial assistance. Instead, the Americans have been on the receiving end when dealing with our money that is generated from the Iraqi oil sales by way of suing "Iraqi people".

The Kurds have no need for "handouts", to which most countries have become accustomed, but rather we want our money to be given to us. No one can refute the fact that Turkey does not want the Kurds to excel and prosper — I have come to believe that the US has adopted the same absurd and counter-productive policy.

Questionable attitudes

I vehemently refuse to believe that the Americans are protecting the Kurds from Baghdad, as they constantly assert. Let's be sensible and realistic about this. Setting up the no-fly zone will never deter Baghdad from marching to Kurdistan at any given time if they truly want to take such action. Simply put, hasn't Sulaimania been outside of the no-fly zone for the past 12 years?

It is not the Americans who are preventing the Iraqi army from moving in, but rather there are other factors that have come to play here. The Americans derive a great deal of pleasure by making people think that they are "saviours", even though this is far from the truth.

We don't need to go very far to see the true colours of the Americans. Over the past five years that I have made my home in the suburbs of Washington DC, I have gone to the airport to welcome KDP president Massoud Barzani whenever he made a trip to this area. I have yet to see the American government send a delegation to greet him at the airport as they do whenever other leaders arrive. Such treatment speaks for itself.

For another example to illustrate America's absurd attitudes toward the Kurds, I will refer to an article written by Jeffery Goldberg in the New Yorker last month. He said: "When the Kurds dispatched a senior official named Mohamoud Othman to Washington, no one would see him. Through the maneouvers of a sympathetic Washington Post correspondent named Jonathan Randal, Othman finally arranged a meeting with a low-level State Department official, but at the last moment the meeting was canceled."

Finally, I sincerely hope that the Kurds don't allow Bush to induce them into a conflict that would result in a disastrous outcome for us. Furthermore, I would like to tell my fellow Kurds not to become disillusioned and fall into the American trap. They know how fragile Kurd citizens are and they will capitalise on this very quickly.

I need hardly remind anyone of what has become of our people whenever America has pulled out "support" in the past. As the American proverb says, "Three strikes and you are out." Only three mistakes are allowed before a player exits a (baseball) game. America indeed has had three strikes with the Kurds and we should remind ourselves of that every day. — GVNN/Arab News