|
KurdistanObserver.com
Kurds and the future
Washington Times
April 12, 2008
By Qubad Talabani
Since Iraq's liberation, almost five years ago, the Kurds of Iraq have
constantly mediated between Iraq's various political factions, while also making
difficult compromises of their own. At the same time, Kurdish soldiers have been
helping their American allies to restore order in Iraq's non-Kurdish areas, such
as Baghdad.
Yet while all Iraqis struggle to pass outstanding pieces of legislation,
including the elusive hydrocarbons law, some American policy analysts consider
the Kurds the problem. A few liberal and conservative writers, in a rare moment
of misguided unity, claim that we Kurds are self-absorbed, that America owes us
nothing, and that our holding out on certain policies is bad for Iraq and bad
for the U.S. efforts in the region.
It appears that when things stall, it is all too convenient to blame America's
friends the Kurds. Perhaps we are lectured and blamed because we actually listen
to American advice. Perhaps, for all the admonitions that we Kurds are overly
motivated by the past, these analysts want to play upon Kurdish fears of another
catastrophic American betrayal.
Such reactions are particularly troubling in the month of March, which is
bittersweet for many Iraqi Kurds.
Not only does this March mark the fifth anniversary of the liberation of all
Iraqis from Saddam's reign of terror but it is also the anniversary of the
genocide against the Kurdish residents of Halabja, and elsewhere. As part of
Saddam's Anfal campaign 20 years ago, chemical and biological weapons were used
against the citizens of Iraqi Kurdistan and close to 200,000 innocent men, women
and children were killed or were never seen again - until they were exhumed from
mass graves after Iraq's liberation Halabja, once a vibrant center of Kurdish
culture was, in a day, turned into a symbol of our tragedy. It is our ground
zero.
Nobody in Kurdistan can also forget the disaster of 1991 when we rose up, with
American encouragement, against Saddam only to be abandoned to the Iraqi
dictator's vengeance. Tens of thousands died, as millions fled to neighboring
countries before help and protection belatedly arrived.
That is why we are determined to set a different tone in Iraqi politics. That is
why we seek a decentralized state that no future dictator can control. That is
why we seek a transparent and equitable management and sharing of Iraq's natural
resources.
Sadly, instead of being supported in our efforts we are vilified and told by
some that we are inflexible. When we agree to have revenues earned from oil
exploration in our region be shared with all Iraqis, we are attacked for wanting
too much. When we deferred the Kirkuk referendum for six months, so as to
deprive extremists of an excuse for violence, and give the UN time to provide
the much needed technical assistance to ensure a transparent process, we are
called maximalists. Indeed, the Washington analysts' rap sheet on the Kurds
boils down to the accusation that we are bad Iraqis.
So if to be a bad Iraqi means to defend the principles of democracy and the
separation of mosque and state while abiding by Iraq's democratically ratified
constitution - we plead guilty. If fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq and associated
Islamic radicals with your daring forces while promoting tolerance within our
country and with our neighbors is bad, we stand guilty. If accepting and
providing services in our region to Iraqi Christian families fleeing for their
life from other parts of the country simply because they are Christian, while
being proud that not one of your men or women, civilian or military, have been
killed in our region, we again plead guilty.
The wars, ethnic cleansing and genocide of the past 20 years may seem like mere
data points to some. To the citizens of Iraqi Kurdistan, who lived through, and
in many cases barely survived, these events have created in us a burning desire
to build a new future by strenuously avoiding a repeat of the past.
The “inconvenient truth” is that Iraq's Kurds have every right to pursue their
national self interests and to defend their hard earned gains. Moreover, unlike
some Washington-based policy analysts, we face far greater challenges than a
potential shortage of paper clips.
It is a sad day in American intellectual life when some American policy analysts
tell us that they want the Iraq that was, rather than Iraq that can be.
Qubad Talabani is the representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government to the
United States.
|
|
