"accidental" massacre

It appears I was incorrect about the first Friedman quote. It was Jim
Hoagland who said it. (Imagine if someone said something like this about
September 11. ) See below: (from an article by Anthony Arnove, March
28, 2002):

March 16 marked the fourteenth anniversary
of the brutal chemical weapons attack on
the Kurdish population of Halabja ordered
by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The
poison gas attack, which was part of a much
broader campaign of repression against
the Kurdish population, killed some 5,000
Kurds in the northeastern Iraqi town, near
the border with Iran, and created thousands
more refugees.

Today, the massacre is a frequent reference
point for government officials and political
commentators advocating ?toppling Hussein,?
as the military invasion of Iraq is
euphemistically described. ?He?s used
chemical weapons on his own people,? Secretary
of Defense Donald Rumsfeld reiterated on
CBS?s ?Face the Nation? on February 24.

On March 16, 1988, the Iraqi military conducted an aerial
bombardment of Halabja with mustard and
other poison gases that killed roughly 5,000
civilians and injured another 10,000....

When news of what had happened at Halabja
broke, the State Department issued a
rote condemnation, but Washington continued
its courtship with Iraq. As Jim Hoagland
rightly predicted on March 26, 1988,
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"Washington's friendship for Baghdad is likely to
survive one night of poison gas and
sickening television film. TV moves on, shock
succeeds shock, the day's horror becomes
distant memory. The Kurds will stay on
history's margins, and policy will have
continuity." (Washington Post).
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(Again, replace "one night of poison gas" with "one day of toppling
towers.")

All of that soon changed, however. The Halabja massacre became a
convenient massacre after Iraq?s August 1990 invasion
of Kuwait. In entering Kuwait, Iraq crossed
a line, threatening the stability of the
Middle East and U.S. control over the profits of
its oil resources.

Selectivity remains with regard to crimes
against Kurds today. So, for the purposes of
propaganda, Iraq?s abuses of Kurdish rights
merit condemnation and outrage.
Meanwhile, Turkey, a critical U.S. ally,
engages in massive ethnic cleansing of Kurds --
using U.S.-supplied helicopters and
military equipment -- with impunity.

And should the U.S. invade Iraq, the Bush
administration has made clear to Turkey that
it will ?ensure Iraq's territorial
integrity? (New York Times, March 10, 2002) and not
allow the creation of an independent
Kurdish state.