Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=01/22/03

TYPE=U-S PRESS WAR PREVIEW

TITLE=U-S PRESS SUMMARY

NUMBER=6-127800

BYLINE=Andrew Guthrie

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Assignments

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: The New York Times is reporting that Kurdish leaders in Iraq have put on hold plans to create an independent Kurdish State. Turkey's ruling party leader is urging President Bush to go slow with Iraqi war plans. However the Los Angeles Times reports Turkey could allow some U-S ground forces to use Turkish staging areas. Here is a sampling of what some newspapers are reporting on a possible war with Iraq from V-O-A's ________________.

TEXT: Ever since European powers drew up the region's borders after World War One, the Kurds of Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria have longed for their own nation. Today, they have come close to that in the Kurdish-controlled region of North Iraq, according to The New York Times.

But despite the presence of "Kurdistan" maps in the stores, The Times reports from Sulaimaniya, Iraq that Kurdish leaders have temporarily given up "Dreams of a Kurdish State."

Instead, the paper reports they have "almost unanimously embraced the idea of incorporating Kurds into a democratic, federal Iraq. The article quotes Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan as one key official who agrees.

From Istanbul, The Washington Post is reporting that Turkey's ruling party leader Recep Erdogan is urging President Bush to listen to popular protests against a war in Iraq. Turkey is hosting a meeting of regional foreign ministers tomorrow (1/23) in an effort to find a peaceful solution. Conversely, The Los Angeles Times reports that Turkey's foreign minister suggests "a limited number of U-S ground troops" will be allowed to deploy on Turkish soil if a war comes.

At the United Nations, what one paper calls a war of words continues as France and Germany appear increasingly reluctant to support a war to disarm Iraq. However President Bush, saying that "time is running out" continues to predict that support for a military action will grow rather than diminish.

And in U-S-A Today, foreign affairs columnist Walter Shapiro supports the growing movement to force Saddam Hussein into exile to avoid war, although he adds: "it is difficult to feel comfortable with the notion that Saddam would be rewarded for decades of murderous behavior by being allowed to relocate to some foreign clime."

That concludes this sampling of some Iraq-related news from Wednesday's U-S press.

NEB/AG/RH