Iraqis Shelling Kurdish Villages and Military Posts : Warfare: The State Dept. calls the action minor and says it is not in violation of the cease-fire.

Iraqi soldiers are shelling Kurdish villages and military positions in northern Iraq, but the military action is considered minor and not in violation of the cease-fire that ended the Persian Gulf War, the State Department said Tuesday.

“We characterize the situation as one of continued troop movements and skirmishing between Iraqi forces and Kurds,” department spokesman Richard Boucher said. “I wouldn’t characterize it at this point as a major offensive.”

He said the shelling has occurred near the Aski Kalak bridge, described later by a State Department official as a bridge used by smugglers trying to break the Iraqi economic embargo of the Kurdish region. The attacks apparently were intended to cut the supply route and “increase the pressure on Kurdish areas,” the official said.

Nothing in the U.N. Security Council resolution that imposed cease-fire conditions on Baghdad specifically prohibits Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from trying to starve the Kurds by sealing off the region from the rest of the country. However, the resolution prohibits “oppression” of the Iraqi population, a provision that could cover an economic embargo of the Kurdish region.

The State Department official characterized Iraq’s recent activities as no more tyrannical than normal, adding, “Repression is what the Iraqi government does every day.”

Nevertheless, the Bush Administration clearly hopes to minimize Baghdad’s military and economic pressure on the Kurds. As he campaigns for reelection, President Bush faces the possibility that the Gulf War, once his proudest achievement, could become an embarrassment if Iraq renews an all-out offensive in Kurdistan.

Boucher said there is no evidence that Iraqi forces have entered the Kurdish “security zone” that was set up by the United States and its allies after Iraq’s bloody suppression of a Kurdish uprising last year. Nor, he added, is there credible evidence of Iraqi aircraft flying north of the 36th parallel in violation of cease-fire terms.

“We have people in the area who follow these things very closely,” Boucher said.