The Course of Conscience

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"The Kurds don't need talk, they need practical action. It should not be beyond the wit of man to get planes there with tents, food and warm blankets. It is not a question of standing on legal niceties. We should go now."

-- Margaret Thatcher, April 3, 1991

As she did so often during her years at 10 Downing Street, Margaret Thatcher cut to the heart of a policy question. A fiery debate over whether the U.S. and its allies should have helped Kurdish and Shi'ite rebels topple Saddam Hussein raged in Europe as well as America. But as far as current policy goes, the wrangling is meaningless because the fighting is effectively over. Right or wrong, the decision was made not to get involved in an Iraqi civil war. Saddam has smashed the revolts; he will stay in power at least temporarily -- and for the moment that pretty much is that.

But what does demand an immediate answer is what the U.S. and its friends will do to prevent more deaths among refugees from the failed rebellions and Saddam's bloody vengeance. They number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, and their plight has drawn all the passion of hindsight debate. But the argument is critical -- especially since the early response of Washington was pitifully inadequate.

If Saddam is rightfully the target of public fury and condemnation for his brutal suppression of the rebels, George Bush has borne the brunt of the blame for Western inaction. The President not only failed to explain clearly why the U.S. was unwilling to support the insurgents, but he seemed to show no mercy when their rebellion turned into a rout. Declared Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory: "The sight of those wretched souls streaming into Turkey . . . as Bush abandons them on the 18th hole of a Florida golf course, makes you wonder if in this case it is peace, rather than war, that is hell."

Others did step in. France proposed an amendment to a resolution passed last week by the U.N. Security Council, making an end to Saddam's oppression of his own people another of the conditions that Baghdad must meet to bring a formal cease-fire into effect. When the amendment failed to attract a majority, Paris substituted a resolution condemning Iraq's repression of rebel supporters that did pass, but it did not specify any measures to be taken if Baghdad refused to stop. Neither the international community nor the Kurds put much faith in Saddam's announced amnesty.

French President Francois Mitterrand dispatched his Secretary of State for Humanitarian Action, Bernard Kouchner, to northern Iraq to distribute two planeloads of relief supplies. Asked what would happen if Baghdad objected to Kouchner's dropping in uninvited, Foreign Minister Roland Dumas replied, * "Although one must abide by international obligations, sometimes it is necessary to violate international law."

Britain pledged $40 million to help the refugees. After Thatcher phoned Primer Minister John Major and gave him an earful, London quickly sent three planeloads of tents and blankets for distribution among Kurdish refugees in Turkey and across the border in Iraq. Germany planned to send four planes with supplies, and France, two planes.