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U.S. mistakenly put the symbol of the
Kurdish PUK party on terror list
20.1.2008
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Qubad
Talabani called for an apology from the NCTC "to the
PUK, and to the families of the countless PUK
members who have lost their lives fighting against
dictatorship and terrorism."
January
20, 2008
The National Counterterrorism Center says it was a
mistake to include the symbol of the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan — the political party headed by Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani — on a list of "terrorist
logos" that police should be on the lookout for
during traffic stops and other contacts with the
public.
The PUK, one of the two Kurdish political parties
that make up the regional government in Iraq's
Kurdish area, is not on the lists of designated
foreign terror groups maintained by the State or
Treasury departments, and is considered by many in
the U.S. government as one of the nation's closest
allies in its war on terrorism.
"After a review, we determined that the PUK logo
should not have been included, and we have updated
the online version," NCTC spokesman Carl Kropf told
United Press International yesterday.
Qubad Talabani, the president's son and the
Kurdistan Regional Government's representative in
Washington, called the inclusion of the PUK's logo
"egregious" and accused the NCTC of "a gross error."
"I find it quite disturbing," he said.
Kani Xulam, of the American Kurdish Information
Network, said the "embarrassing error" was
"frightening."
"This is clearly the act of someone who doesn't know
the first thing" about the history or politics of
the region, Mr. Xulam told UPI.
The PUK's symbol, a hand clutching a rose, was
included in a three-page section of the NCTC's 2008
desk calendar headed "terrorist logos." More than
40,000 of the calendars were printed,www.ekurd.net
according to an NCTC
press release, which called the calendar "a prized
resource for law enforcement and national security
personnel, providing easy access to terrorist
profiles and information on terrorist groups."
Mr. Kropf said the center's source for including the
PUK was the database maintained by the Memorial
Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism — a
congressionally chartered institution based in
Oklahoma City and run by contractors DeticaDFI.
The database has entries for many groups that have
supported or used violent tactics in the past,
including the African National Congress, now the
democratically elected governing party of South
Africa, and the Kosovo Liberation Army.
Mr. Kropf said the list of logos is not intended to
be "judgmental or definitive."
"This is not a statement of U.S. government policy,"
he said, "It should be considered a tool"
principally for law enforcement.
Indeed, the introduction to the "terrorist logos"
section reads: "Law enforcement officers should be
on the watch for these emblems ... during traffic
stops and other contacts .... Some of these groups
appear on the U.S. Secretary of State's list of
Foreign Terrorist Organizations,www.ekurd.net
or are groups that are
believed to incorporate violence in the pursuit of
their political objectives."
Qubad Talabani called for an apology from the NCTC
"to the PUK, and to the families of the countless
PUK members who have lost their lives fighting
against dictatorship and terrorism."
He said the party — and the regional government of
which it is now a part — had been "instrumental in
tracking down and detaining countless known
international terrorists."
UPI
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