The US needs Osama bin Ladin and al-Qaeda as a savior in the Middle East just as the US once needed Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in Southeast Asia.

To review the situation in Southeast Asia in 1973, the Hanoi-Moscow Axis had taken Vietnam and was occupying Cambodia in preparation for annexing Thailand and all of Southeast Asia.

The US did not panic. Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter reached out to support the Cambodian resistance, including Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. The US reached quick agreement with a broad coalition of states to supply the Cambodian resistance. China provided weapons and military advisors for the Khmer Rouge. Thailand permitted the Khmer Rouge to use Thai territory as a staging area for attacks on Vietnamese forces inside Cambodia. North Korea provided Cambodia's leader Prince Sihanouk with political asylum. Finally Tito's Yugoslavia, which led the coalition of non-aligned states in the UN, blocked UN recognition of Hanoi's puppet government in Cambodia.

The US was successful in strengthening the Cambodian resistance and forcing Hanoi into a prolonged and expensive war of occupation in Cambodia. The Cambodian resistance forced Hanoi into negotiations that brought the Cambodian resistance to power in a coalitiion government. Meanwhile, Hanoi's dream to turn Thailand and all of Southeast Asia into an empire perished in Cambodia.

Iraq is in the same position today as Cambodia in the 1970's. Iran is the new Vietnam. Meanwhile, Osama bin Ladin is the new Pol Pot. Just as the US supported Pol Pot in the 1970's, for the reason that he was prepared to drive Vietnamese forces from Cambodia, the US should support Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda today.

Osama will take the lead in pushing Iranian forces from Iraq. In short, Osama and al-Qaeda will turn Iraq into a graveyard for Iranian imperialism.

Unforunately, President Bush is aligned with Iran and its Kurdish allies. Bush opposes a US-Osama united front against Iran. President Bush, for example, continues to insist that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda are by far the largest threat to Iraq and the region.

Bush’s allegations against Osama are baseless and are part of a comprehensive US pro-Iran propaganda campaign.Bush intends to use such a campaign to disrupt the anti-Iran united front in Iraq.

In fact, with the Bush adminstration's support for Iran, Osama now has the opportunity to take the lead on protecting Iraq. Above all, Osama and Al-Qaeda can now expose the sinister Iranian-Kurdish agenda to partition Iraq, with the Kurds taking Kirkuk and all of Northern Iraq, while Iran would take Basra and all of Southern Iraq.

First, Osama should offer to protect the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Kirkuk from Kurdish aggression. Osama could promote this policy of defending Mosul and Kirkuk by disseminating anti-Iranian propaganda in the Arab world; by providing arms and military advisors to the Iraqi resistance forces in Mosul and Kirkuk; and by calling upon the Arab League to deploy Arab peacekeeping forces in Mosul and Kirkuk under the command of Syria and Turkey.

Second, Osama should endorse a comprehensive UN plan, released this week, to stabilize Mosul and Kirkuk. The UN is recommending that the Kurds abandon their drive to annex Mosul and Kirkuk.

Third,, Osama and al-Qaeda should confront the PKK (Kurdish Revolutionary Party) in Iraq. The PKK is disupting stability by using Iraqi territory to stage raids intto Turkey. to counter this PKK threat, Osama shall offer to cooperate with Turkey and Syria to push the PKK from northern Iraq.

Fourth, Osama and al-Qaeda should confront efforts by the Iraqi Kurds and the PKK to undermine the Palestinian cause by promoting an independent Kurdistan. In this regard, Osama should rally the Arab states to resist Iran's efforts to elevate the issue of Kurdish statehood over the issue of Palestinian statehood.

Fifth, Osama and al-Qaeda should confront Iran by protecting the Iraqi city of Basra from annexation by Iran.