>After the kurdish debacle, the CIA will probably find
>it increasingly difficult to persuade the U.S. Congress
>to fund similar operations in Iraq and all but
>impossible to recruit new operatives. 

>Because covert operations are usually kept secret, it
>is unlikely that any public hearing will ever be held
>to determine how many CIA associates were killed in
>Iraq. But this much is clear: the agency's reputation
>has been demolished. "It may be that the CIA actually
>made tremendous efforts to protect its people," says
>Baram. "But the perception among Iraqis is that having
>anything to do with Americans is dangerous to your
>health." The rout will make the CIA's future tasks in
>the Middle East--and perhaps the rest of the
>world--harder still to achieve.

>Wayne McGuire
>wmcguire@cybercom.net
>http://www.cybercom.net/~wmcguire/
-------------------------------------------------

   I disagree with Mr. McGuire's statements that CIA
will find it increasingly difficult to persuade the Congress to
fund similar operations in Iraq and all but impossible to
recruit new operatives.

   We recently experienced the terrible consequences of CIA operations
in Guatemala, the Aldrich Ames debacle, details of the CIA disseminating
intelligence from known KGB double agents, plus a number of other
problems.  Those situations created a spate of "investigations" of the
CIA -- the more prominent by the Council on Foreign Relations,
by the House Intelligence Committee and by the President's
Intelligence Oversight Board.  All investigations generally avoided 
discussing the damaging evidence and all came down on the side of 
increasing the CIA's role.  

   In addition you have the popular new Director Deutch
calling for more covert operations. He appointed the Gung Ho David
Cohen to be his Director of Operations -- this Gung Ho attitude is
apparently reflected in the chain of command via the Chief of Division 
for the Near East Operations and CIA's Iraqi Chief of Station "Bob."

   In the specific case of Iraq we have the two earlier examples.
One was the arming the Kurds at the request of the Shah -- to unseat Saddam,
but when Iran and Iraq made up, CIA support was withdrawn and the
Kurds decimated. Another similar type operation apparently occurred
in 1988-1991. 

   In my own experience - the failure of a CIA covert operation
in Vietnam led directly to sending in the troops along with
greatly expanding the CIA's role in Vietnam - and the Vietnam
War. We now see more U.S. troops and weaponry being sent to the 
area.

Below are a few citations re earlier events in Iraq.

Ralph McGehee
CIABASE


  Iraq,  91  United States: no comment on charges CIA urged Kurdish revolt.
  U.S. gvt declined comment on charges by Kurds in d.c. and london that the
  CIA urged Iraq's Kurds to revolt via saudi radio broadcasts. state dept
  spokesman refused comment in nyt article of 4/6/91 that expatriate Kurds
  were recruited by saudi intel to record broadcasts for "radio of free Iraq"
  which they believe was supported by CIA. allegations repeated d.c. at press
  conference of Kurdish national congress. knc reps charged that the CIA
  tried to recruit hundreds of Kurdish guerrillas (pesh mergas) who had taken
  refuge in turkey after the Iraqi  88  campaign against an Iran-backed
  Kurdish rebellion. bush did sign at least two presidential findings since
  august  90  authorizing covert action against Hussein including
  psychological ops. inter press service international news 4/8/91

  Iran. Kurds. after supporting Kurds with shah against Iraq. in  75  shah
  made deal with Iraq and ordered Iranian army cut supplies to Kurds. close
  to 700,000 Kurds killed or displaced. earlier in jordanian-CIA op in  70 
  liberation war of dhofari people in oman set back by shah's troops backed
  by U.S. fleet. etc. counterspy 4/82 30

  Iran, with israel,  72-75   U.S. supplied arms to Kurds until 3/6/75 when
  Iran reached agreement Iraq and all aid canceled. Kurds attacked.
  peterzell, j. (1984). reagan's secret wars footnote 7

  all too often the CIA has recruited `freedom fighters' around the world and
  then let them fend for themselves when things got tough: Hungarians in  56 
  sumatrans in  58  Cuban exiles in  61  Kurdish rebels in  72  meo tribesmen
  and montagnards; most recently the Nicaraguan contras. wp 7/20/89 outlook
  15

  Iran, Iraq,  68-72  savak began supporting the Kurds' red mullah, barzani
  in 68. by 1970 he received support from the U.S. and mossad. a tripartite
  committee of savak, CIA and mossad, organized the channeling of arms to the
  Kurds and exercised overall political control. taheri, a. (1988). nest of
  spies 60

  Iraq, Iran,  72-75  United States had organized a Kurdish insurrection
  against Saddam Hussein as a favor by president nixon to the shah of Iran,
  only to abandon the Kurds to destruction when the Iranian and Iraqi leaders
  settled their border dispute. Account appears in the leaked version of the
  house of representatives pike committee report of 1976. washington post
  4/7/91 d3

  Iraq, Iran,  72-75  "Our movement and people are being destroyed in an
  unbelievable way, with silence from everyone. we feel, your excellency,
  that the United States has a moral and political responsibility towards our
  people, who have committed themselves to your country's policy." written by
  mustafa barazini, to secretary of state kissinger on 3/10/75. letter could
  have been written to bush by massoud barazani, leader of the devastated Kurds
  in  91  article 1975: background to betrayal; how kissinger, nixon and the
  shah rallied--then shrugged off--an uprising. washington post 4/7/91 d3