Katie Porter: “the Kurdish people are an ancient people. There are 30 million of them. They live in Turkey, in Iraq, in Iran, in Syria…”

“the Kurdish people are an ancient people. There are 30 million of them. They live in Turkey, in Iraq, in Iran, in Syria, and they are an oppressed people within each of those societies. None of those countries wants the Kurdish people to be united. They see it as in their interest to keep them divided and fighting. Whenever possible they supply arms to various sides and take advantage of them through propaganda and other means to manipulate them. Today the media may be focused on what has been done with cruise missiles, but innocent Kurdish people are being killed and the situation in northern Iraq is extremely grave, Mr. Speaker. That situation was precipitated, I believe, by our State Department's failure to take seriously the need to bring the Kurdish sides, the Kurdish factions, together and to stop their exploitation by all sides and to respect their rights as human beings. Mr. Speaker, when I sat down with representatives of the State Department in July, they had no information that Iran might attempt to cross the border in northern Iraq to attack the KDPI bases there, and when Iran in fact did so, less than a week later, no protest was heard from our Government, no action was taken. Yet at that time when Iran crossed the border, it was inevitable, Mr. Speaker, that the Iraqis would see that incursion into their territory as violating their sovereignty and would move north.”