The Iraqi Rebels: Who They Are and What They Want

Questions and answers on the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War:

Question: What are the goals of the two separate groups of rebels fighting against the Iraqi government?

Answer: In northern Iraq, the rebellion was mounted by Kurds, the dominant ethnic group in that region. In the south, the revolt was begun by Shiite Muslims, by far the largest religious group in that area. The Kurds are fighting for autonomy or independence for their own region, while the Shiites want to take power in Baghdad. It appears that forces loyal to Saddam Hussein are on the verge of crushing both insurgencies.

Q: Who are the Kurds?

A: The Kurds are the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East, with about 19.6 million people concentrated in a mountainous region that spills across Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the Soviet Union. Before the war, there were nearly 4 million Kurds in Iraq. Several Kurdish groups are involved in the rebellion, but the overall leader is Masoud Barzani, head of the Kurdish Democratic Party.

Q: Who are the Shiites?

A: Shiites are adherents to one of two main branches of Islam. Although they are outnumbered by Sunni Muslims worldwide, they are the majority in Iraq and the dominant group in neighboring Iran. More than 60% of Iraq’s population of 18.8 million are Shiites, compared to less than 37% who are Sunnis. However, Iraq’s government has long been dominated by Sunnis, the religious group of President Hussein and his main backers.

Q: What is the position of the Bush Administration regarding the civil war?

A: President Bush has said repeatedly that the United States will never establish normal relations with Iraq as long as Hussein is in power. He has urged the Iraqis to overthrow the Hussein dictatorship. However, the President says that the United States has no intention of committing its own forces to the fighting, even if that inaction dooms the rebels to defeat.

Q: Has the United States done anything at all to help the rebels?

A: The U.S. military command has ordered Iraq to keep its fixed-wing aircraft on the ground and, therefore, out of the fight against the rebels. Two Iraqi planes that defied the ban were shot down. However, the official rationale for the restriction--imposed as part of the temporary cease-fire that ended the war in late February--is to protect U.S. and allied personnel from possible attack.

Q: Has the U.S. government also tried to ground Iraqi helicopter gunships?

A: At first Bush suggested that the temporary cease-fire also required Iraq to keep its combat helicopters on the ground. But Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the U.S. military commander, said later that helicopters were not covered, although he complained that he had been “suckered” by the Iraqis into leaving them out. Since then, Iraq has used helicopter gunships against the rebels with devastating results.

Q: Why is the United States unwilling to do more to help the rebels?

A: There are two basic reasons. First, Administration officials say that American forces were sent to the Gulf to enforce a U.N. Security Council order for Iraq to end its occupation of Kuwait. This mandate does not authorize military action to prevent the Iraqi government from cracking down on Iraqi citizens. Secondly, the rebels include several groups with long anti-American records, making Washington reluctant to support them even against Hussein.

Q: Are there other constraints on U.S. policy?

A: There can be no doubt that the United States has adequate military power to impose its will on Iraq. However, military action in support of the insurgents would inevitably result in American casualties. Further, U.S. intervention on the side of the rebels would not enjoy the same sort of near-unanimous international support. Although some nations, such as France and Britain, have deplored the destruction of the rebels by the Iraqi army, other countries such as the Soviet Union would object strongly to military interference in ethnic conflict in a sovereign nation--a situation uncomfortably close to that in the Soviet homeland.

Q: Does the Administration’s position of virtual nonintervention have critics?

A: Yes. For instance, Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.), a potential candidate for President, said that the United States, by standing aside as Iraqi rebels are slaughtered, risks surrendering the moral high ground that it gained by opposing Iraq’s aggression in Kuwait. However, Administration officials insist that the United States gave the insurgents a fighting chance by knocking out as much as half of Iraq’s military strength.

Q: Have the Kurds and the Shiites rebelled before?

A: Yes. The Kurds, especially, have been fighting for autonomy or independence for many years. Mustafa Barzani, father of Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani, led an insurgency that collapsed in 1975. The House Intelligence Committee reported a decade ago that Mustafa Barzani and his backers were encouraged, and then left hanging, by then-Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and other officials of the Nixon Administration.