From MIM Notes 185, May 1, 1999

OCALAN'S ARREST SHOWS HYPOCRISY OF CLINTON'S "NO FLY ZONE" POLICY

Dear MIM, 

Kurdish rebels are claiming that the U.S. and Israel played a part 
in the arrest of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan. Enraged Kurds 
have held protests throughout Europe and the Middle East since the 
arrest. In one instance Israeli security guards killed three Kurds 
who forced their way into the Israel consulate.(1) Turkish 
officials have helped fuel the violence by releasing a videotape 
of Ocalan in handcuffs with his eyes tapes shut.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put his diplomatic 
missions on alert after a news report claimed that Israel's Mossad 
intelligence agency helped Turkey track Ocalan (1). U.S. Secretary 
of State Madeleine Albright called for Abdullah Ocalan to be 
handed over to the Turkish regime. The U.S. considers Abdullah and 
the Kurdish PKK to be "terrorists".

Turkey has invaded Northern Iraq and killed Kurds numerous times 
(2). Ankara sent 10,000 troops to the Syrian border and said that 
it was prepared to attack PKK bases just as it does in Northern 
Iraq.(3) The U.S. has long provided satellite information to help 
the Turkish military carry out these massacres of Kurdish people 
in Turkey and Northern Iraq.

In exchange Clinton uses Turkish bases to launch his "No Fly Zone" 
attacks against the Iraqi people. The hypocrisy here is obvious. 
Our government claims that it is enforcing these zones in order to 
protect Kurdish rebels from the Iraqi government and yet it is 
aiding Turkey in their slaughter.

When Turkey killed Kurds in Northern Iraq a while back, political 
apologists on the McGluaghin Group tried to make the distinction 
between "good Kurds" and "bad Kurds". The good Kurds are those 
small factions that the U.S. is covertly arming and encouraging to 
blow up buildings like Timothy Mcveigh did. The bad Kurds are the 
ones our allies are slaughtering and the ones who are dying from 
disease and starvation (along with the rest of the Iraqis) because 
of the U.S. imposed sanctions.

After bombing Iraq for the last two months, U.S. officials are 
acting outraged that Iraq is threatening the base in Turkey from 
which U.S. attacks originate. Heaven forbid that the Iraqis fight 
back. They're just supposed to sit back and let the U.S. and the 
Turks slaughter them. I will continue to work with Peace groups 
who are trying to lift the sanctions on the Iraqi people. However, 
if Iraq does launch an attack on the base in Turkey, I will not 
fall back on the following line:  "We oppose the attack on the 
Turkish base and the U.S. bombing campaign."  I fear that many 
people will.

-An Activist in the East

Notes:
1. Springfield Union News, Feb. 18, 1999.
2. The Progressive July, 1997 Pg 8-9.
3. The Progressive December, 1998 Pg 22.