Iraq Press Roundup

The independent Kitabat newspaper carried a front-page editorial Thursday with the headline, "U.S. barters Turkey's past with Iraqi's present: Will anyone challenge it?"

"The first to be noted was the Armenian massacre the Ottoman State is accused of carrying out," the paper said.

The paper noted that opinion in the United States was divided on the now-shelved congressional resolution with President Bush strongly opposing it.

"As many agree with Bush, many others disagree,” the paper said. “It is like a play with actors and each is playing a role. Yet at the end, the U.S. won't lose anything. They are sympathetic with the Armenians, but also keep a good relationship with Turkey."

Kitabat asked what could be gained by bringing up such an old issue now.

"It is illogical. It neither has tangible nor intangible dimensions. The U.S. is bartering Turkey's past with Iraq's present,” the paper said.

It said: "The U.S. is sending a message to Turkey: We leave your past alone, and you leave us Iraq in return."

The editorial noted that if someone wants to bring up that past and defend victims and accuse criminals who are no longer alive, then it is logical to defend people and countries that faced similar or worse catastrophes.

"We should hold France accountable for shredding Algeria, or when they suppressed other Arab countries. In other words: Why are we thinking about that today?" the paper said.

The editorial concluded by saying: "If the U.S. wants to hold countries accountable for what they did in the past, who is going to hold the U.S. accountable for what they did? Why can no one punish them for what they did to the American Indians? Or even more recent, who is going to hold them accountable for the massacres they carried out and are still carrying out against Iraqis and Iraq?"

Kul Al Iraq carried an editorial Thursday with the headline: "The U.S. attitude and Turkey's threats."

It said if people analyze closely the U.S. attitude toward Turkey's threats on Iraq, they will see it contradicts U.N. Security Council Resolution 1546 that "obligates the U.S. to confront any assault or threat on Iraq."

"This abandonment of Iraq is not the first after four years of the occupation, and will not be the last," the paper said.

It said this “abandonment” was part of the U.S. policy that needs to be changed depending on U.S. interests and needs. The editorial highlighted the similarities between Turkish and U.S. policies.

"Turkey didn't start fighting the 3,500 PKK members on its land before it threatened to fight the group on Iraqi land," the paper said, referring to the Kurdistan Workers Party.

Kul Al Iraq said a Turkish assault on Iraq is political and "an attempt to (ensure Kurdistan) fails.”

"In any case, what is the supposedly positive U.S. role in all of this?" the editorial asked.