Yeah, and the US has really stood by the Kurds in their time of need, Old Guy! The first massacre of Kurds in Iraq was done partly with US weapons given to Saddam by the Reagan administration.

(Newsday, 19 March 2003):

When George W. Bush talks about Saddam Hussein gassing his own people, he means the Iraqi Kurds. Bush should know, as it occurred over a three-year period in the late 1980s, while his father was president, and with the full knowledge of that administration. The weapons came, at least in part, from U.S. corporations

The second massacre of Kurds was caused by Bush's father, who urged the Kurds to rise up; thinking they'd have US support, they did. Oops! Turned out H.W. had different priorities!

(Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb 12, 2003):

Such concerns are not academic. In 1988, Iraqi airforce helicopters dropped mustard gas and nerve agents on the Kurdish town of Halabja and may even have disseminated biological agents like aflatoxin. Several thousand men, women and children were killed, and Halabja residents continue to suffer hideous health complications.

At the time, U.S. officials knew of the gassing, but the Reagan administration chose to downplay it because it supported Saddam in his war against Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini. This is only one of several bitter betrayals of the Kurds by various U.S. administrations.

A prime example: George H.W. Bush urged Iraqis to rise up in 1991 and then let Saddam slaughter them when they responded. Only when CNN recorded a million desperate Kurds fleeing to Iran and Turkey did Bush establish the no-fly zone that still protects much of Iraqi Kurdistan.

So it is an outrage that U.S. officials have yet to respond to Kurdish requests for protection. All the more so when Saddam's use of poison gas against the Kurds is cited by the Bush administration as proof the Iraqi dictator must be removed.

Sounds to me like the Kurdish situation is as good a reason to keep Republicans from the White House, as to invade Iraq!