HOW THE ABANDONED KURDS LOST OUT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81M00980R002000090053-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 4, 2004
• Sequence Number: 53
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release EAAiMN&XU8 AToReO2OO
Jack Anderson
How the Abandoned Kurds' L
opt but
In an ordinary brick house' in the the Kurds. They fought the Iraqis to a
Washington suburbs, the proud and standstill.
dauntless leader of a fierce mountain But in March, 1975,' the shah
people spends his days visiting with abruptly announced he had patched
friends and laboring to learn the Eng- up his differences with Iraq. Over-
lish language. Every few weeks, he vi- night, American support for the Kurds
sits the Mayo Clinic for treatment for dried up, and, without weapons, the
the cancer that is ravaging his lungs. mountain men were overpowered,
He is Gen. Mustafa Barzani, the griz- Thousands were killed or wounded;
zled, 75-year-old commander-in-exile of thousands more fled .into Iran as refu-
the Kurds, who used to roam the rug- gees.
ged mountains where Iran, Iraq, Tur- Gen. Barzani flew to the United
key, Syria and the.Soviet Union come States to plead with Nixon and Kissin-
together. Now, most of his people have ger for humanitarian help for his be-
been deported in small groups. to the leaguered people. The American lead-
deserts of Iraq and dispersed through- ers, who had abandoned him on the
out remote regions of Iran. battlefield, refused to acknowledge
The unfortunate tribesmen became any obligation. They ignored his ap-
pawns on Henry Kissinger's chess- peals.
board in 1972. They were manipulated Our sources say they refused assis-
and then abandoned. Today, the pow- tance in deference again to the shah,
ers-that-be in Washington act as if they who distrusts the Kurds and prefers to
would like the Kurds to fade away. keep them subjugated. He has tried to
The Kurds lost out because of conceal, meanwhile, the ruthless man-
Washington's strange love affair with ner in which he exploited them.
the shah of Iran. In the early 1970s, he Eventually, a token 700 Kurdish ref-
was embroiled in border and naviga- ugees were admitted to-the United
tion disputes with Iraq, and he felt States. Kurdish leaders were in-
threatened by Iraq's close relation- structed to keep quiet about even this
ships with the Soviet Union. He minor gesture. Like the shah, the
thought it strategically wise, there- United States doesn't want to advertise
fore, to stir up the ancient, simmering its crass intrigues in the Iraqi high-
struggle between the Kurds and the lands.
Iraqis. The Kurds who arrived in the
In May, 1972, the shah pressed Kis- United States were granted no special
singer and his boss, Richard Nixon, to privileges. They were sponsored by in-
arm the Kurds against the Iraqis. De- ternational refugee organizations,
spite CIA resistance, the White House which gave them personal loans to pay
pair agreed to the shah's scheme. Fol- their air fares and expenses. Some
lowing orders, the CIA smuggled $16 were thrown into resettlement camps
million worth of untraceable Chinese in San Diego. Later, they were actually
and Soviet weapons through Iran to asked to pay for their "care and main-
tenance" at the camps.
Although the Kurdish refugees, for
the -most part, are educated tmd
skilled, many had difficulty with the
Englisb language and had to take low
paying jobs. Dozens of them remaill
unemployed. Nevertheless, they ear*
receiving dun letters from their spon-
soring organizations.
One letter from the Tolstoy Founda-
tion, for example, warns a refugee that
non-payment of his loan "may cause
you difficulties In your permanent
residence in this country."
The refugees from other U.S. for-
eign policy flops, on the other hand,
are treated royally. Over $1.3 billion
has been lavished on Cuban refugees
since 1961. And some $455 million, ac-
cording to congressional sources, has
been spent to help Indochinese refu-
gees resettle in this country.
For the Kurds, the State Department
reached into its Petty cash and scraped
up a paltry $150,000, which was used to
help finance the United Nations Kur-
dish refugee program. Congressional
leaders, meanwhile, have Ignored the
Kurds' plea for funds to help them
resettle.
As part of his daily routine, Gen.
Barzani musters his energy to dictate,a
few letters asking for help. Twice he
has written to President Carter. Once,
he received a short response from the
National Security Council advising
him to talk to the State Department.
On another occasion, he received a
twoesentence note from a presidential
aide who assured the general that his
"interest" in the Kurdish problem ?"is
Approved For Release 2004/10/12 : CIA-RDP81 M00980R002000090053-3