Kurd Horror: Suddenly It’s All Action : Bush feels the heat and orders a greatly expanded relief effort inside Iraq

Even as the last of 100,000 U.S. combat troops withdraw from southern Iraq, hundreds of uniformed Americans are being rushed into that country’s inhospitable northern border area. They are there to establish secure encampments and provide aid to Kurds who have fled Saddam Hussein’s wrath. This humanitarian effort can also be seen as implict acceptance of a moral responsibility: President Bush has called frequently on Iraqis to rise up and overthrow their tyrannical master. The Kurds were among those who tried to do so. Their bold but vain bid for freedom has brought them renewed tragedy.

It has also now pulled the United States and some of its allies into the midst of an ancient communal conflict. At his lengthy news conference on Tuesday, the President, though advertising his decision as a “greatly expanded and more ambitious relief effort,” emphasized the operation’s narrow aims and his determination not to become embroiled in Iraq’s internal strife. There’s no reason to doubt that intention. Still, Americans with bitter memories of what happened to similar limited-objective expeditions--advisers in Indochina, Marine peacekeepers in Lebanon--can be forgiven if this new intervention leaves them somewhat uneasy.

The operation’s humanitarian aims require no defense. The Kurds’ situation is desperate, their need for food, shelter and medical care is compelling. But what Washington and other aid-givers must acknowledge is that the challenge is not short-term, like disaster relief after an earthquake, but likely to be prolonged. The Kurds’ dismal status as internal exiles could last for years. Given that, America and its allies have to be very clear about what they are getting into.

The 12-nation European Community has endorsed British Prime Minister Major’s call for a Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq, an area where this long-beset minority could be safe from Baghdad. Inevitably, that implies some degree of organized international protection. From whom? Bush spoke of the desirability of a U.N. presence in northern Iraq, assuming the Soviets and Chinese would approve such intervention. And if not? If the European Community means what it says, it must be ready to take the lead role, putting its money and its military strength behind the objective it has endorsed.

The U.S. move into northern Iraq should meanwhile be as the President outlined it: brief in duration, limited in scope, focused on the objective of providing immediate succor, and then turning the matter over to others. It’s clear a major international effort is needed. The European Community may have the right idea. Now it must show its readiness to act on it.