KurdistanObserver.com
Support for Cruel
Regimes Breeds Terrorism
January 31, 2008
The Conservative Voice
By: Axin Arbili
What have former Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi
Arabia, and Turkey in common besides being Islamic? A few adjectives will sum it
up. They are anti-democratic, intolerant, repressive, brutal, despotic, violent,
militaristic, fascist, and criminal, they are states of terror and a real threat
to world peace. The causes or the common denominator for all that can to a very
large extent also be summed up in a few words: US/Western strategic interests in
the Middle East. Claiming to be the civilization of reason, freedom, democracy,
human rights, of justice, the West has in fact been the key supporter of states
of terror and crime, and the cause of modern jihadist terrorism. During the Cold
War, it continued the divide-rule-and-exploit game of the colonial European
powers under the rhetoric of fight against communism by creating and supporting
so called moderate or secular Muslim governments; following 9/11 the same
strategy is now called “war on terror”. The historical evidence shows that the
West, instead of giving open, official, unconditional support to genuine
democratic movements and parties that represent the peoples of the region, has
been playing one state against another with millions of innocent lives
sacrificed.
The driving force behind US/Western strategy are two purely primitive and
selfish instincts, commonly called “interests”, that are disguised under volumes
of democracy-rhetoric, diplomatic trickery, and military force: First and
foremost, to secure the supply of oil from the region and maintain the
profitable industrial-military complex related to it; second, to protect itself
by giving financial and military support to states proclaimed as friendly allies
(Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt etc.) against states perceived as threats to its
strategy (Iran, Syria etc.). The friend or foe categorization is not eternal
though, it can change quite fast according to circumstances on the ground,
modifications to strategy, or simply because a country has changed its attitude
toward the USA. The strategy itself, however, has never changed.
Despite all the billions of dollars in military and economic aid for its
“allies”, it has never worked smoothly according to the US grand scheme for the
Middle East. In all these countries US foreign policies backfired sooner or
later, anti-American and anti-Western hatred and aggression, as polls in any of
these countries demonstrate, rose higher and higher. America’s long-term losses
turned out larger than the immediate gains of its short-sighted interests. But
this has never caused a thorough reflection or a change of its policies, on the
contrary. Each time things were not going according to the great master plan,
the US intervened in the Middle East by consistently, as if controlled by a
masochistic reflex, betting on and supporting the wrong horse, and the peoples
of the region were left behind to bear the consequences: war, poverty, tyranny,
terrorism, genocide.
The Mujahedins were built up with billions of petrodollars from Saudi Arabia,
with US tax money and military hardware, and military training in Pakistan to
oppose the perceived threat of a communist Afghanistan. The result was a Taleban
regime, encouraged, recognized and sanctioned by the USA and the rest, which
lead Afghanistan back to the Dark Ages. Once in power the Taleban began to
destroy everything not resembling their notion of an Islamic society. Modern
schools, universities were closed, music, TV, cinema, radio, anything modern or
Western was forbidden. Women were excluded from the public sphere. Destroyed
were also all pre and non-Islamic art and architecture, including the great
statues of Buddha. The only economy – through the corridor and official
participation of Pakistan-Turkey-Albania – was the narcotics trade. That is
still the main source of income today. Nothing of this scale had ever existed in
any of the Muslim countries of the former Soviet Union; by comparison, these had
transformed into societies and economies based on education, information,
science and technology. There was only little protest or action from the West.
The USA reacted only when the Taleban and its offspring, al Qaeda, threatened
Western interests directly, when they attacked American embassies, ships,
cities. The military presence in Afghanistan today is the final option for the
USA to clear up the mess it had created, the inevitable consequence of a bloody,
misguided, criminal and failed strategy. The US military toppled the Taleban but
it has not yet defeated them, and standard of living, women’s rights, education
are far from the high levels once enjoyed by all ethnic groups when the country
was governed by Afghan communists.
What is euphemistically termed “relations” is in reality nothing but
selfishness. Saudi Arabia is another clear example of Western hypocrisy, double
games and double standards. It is the key sponsor of the Islamic resurgence
movement, which some call “islamo-fascism”, it is behind Muslim Brotherhood,
Hamas, Hizbollah, etc. Billions of petrodollars flow into spreading Wahabism and
Sharia throughout the Islamic and non-Islamic world. There is no major Islamic
organization in the West that does not receive Saudi dollars which are used to
print and distribute more Korans, to build more Islamic schools and mosques, and
to carry out more anti-Western, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, and anti-freedom
campaigns. Sharia means by definition the superiority of Islam over any other
religion and implies that the whole world must, in one way or another, adhere to
it. The men behind 9/11 were Saudis who murdered and died for this goal. Saudi
Arabia is key sponsor also of the so-called Palestinians. The ultimate goal of
the Palestinian Arabs is the annihilation of Israel and creation of yet another
Arab state to be called “Palestine” which is to replace all of ancient Jewish
territory. The PLO/Fatah and Hamas are the “Palestinian” organizations engaged
in achieving this task. They could be called the inventors of modern terrorism.
All methods of deception, destruction, murder are used and declared justified
for the “final solution” of a “free Palestine”. The Palestinian jihadist
ideology and acts of terror are supported by the Saudis, the Egyptians, and
naturally by all the other Arab brethrens. Saudi support for fellow Sunni Arabs
is real and lethal. Saudi’s hand is behind the Sunni-Baath terrorists in
post-invasion Iraq, behind the murder of thousands of innocent people, and
behind preserving the artificial and hated state of Iraq in favour of Sunni
Arabs and to the disadvantage of non-Arabs.
While sponsoring terrorism worldwide, Saudi Arabia itself is managed as a
kingdom by a royal family. The king and his princes consider it, and the oil
underneath, their personal property. There are laws which regard and treat
non-Arabs and women, who have no right to vote, as second-class citizens. As
there is no theological and historical basis for aristocracy in Islam, the whole
Saudi system is rightfully seen as Western-sponsored and thus corrupt by most
Muslims. Bin Laden’s popularity and support in the Muslim world derives largely
from his opposition to this system and its Western backers. Saudi Arabia,
although it is not a democracy and not a NATO-member, is the second-largest
recipient of US military aid. The USA maintains military bases there, which is
another crucial justification of jihad for Saudi-bred al Qaeda that vowed to
continue fighting the USA as long as there are infidels on the “holy land” of
Islam. The USA and the West support the Saudi status quo, which enriches a few
but enslaves most of the ordinary people. The secure and continues flow of oil
determines the West’s relations with the Arab world. The Arabs use “their” oil
as an all-powerful lever with which US/Western foreign policy can be influenced
to their advantage. Thus, the Palestinian Arabs, as well as the Sunni Muslims of
Kosovo, get political and financial support from the West through its
international institutions, EU, UN, IMF, World Bank etc. In the West’s Middle
East strategy, questions of Palestinian and Saudi terrorism, Israel’s security,
questions of morality, democracy, human rights, self-determination, in short,
the lives and fates of ordinary people are looked at and decided in light of
Western needs for Arab oil. While preaching democratic values to Russia and
criticising the Kremlin at every possible occasion, there is a consensus in the
Western governments and media to avoid any reference to the criminal and fascist
nature of the Saudi regime and instead to present it is as an important ally
against terrorism and against Western enemies. Saudi Arabia has been promised 20
billion dollars in military aid this year. In case of a shown-down with Iran,
the West expects Saudi's assistance in return. As a reminder, it came as a
surprise when the Taliban did not deliver similar expectations and turned
Western calculations upside down.
The USA and the West are now worried about the Mullah theocracy in Tehran. They
should be as there is strong evidence that the regime has been doing everything
to build the bomb. But it should also be remembered how it came to an Islamic
revolution and as consequence to Ahmadinejad. Ayatollah’s revolution was the
almost inevitable reaction to the Shah of Iran who was judged a despot and
squanderer of the nation’s wealth by all ethnic groups of Persia, though not by
the USA and the West. He was advised by the US government on almost every issue
of how to run the country. The CIA had a second home in Iran to make sure that
the oil and gas business was firmly under American control. The Shah eventually
came to be seen a puppet of Washington and a traitor, and the people finally had
enough. Years of cooperation suddenly came to an end with Ayatollah’s return
from exile and the proclamation of the Islamic republic. To the USA, this was a
serious blow and threat to their grand strategy – control of the region, control
of oil –, and as with Castro’s Cuba, it has remained determined to fight Iran,
to take revenge for the humiliation.
Iraq and Saddam became the new favourite. Washington suddenly discovered the
Arab minority in the Iranian province of Khuzestan and encouraged the Arab
dictator to become their patron. It came as a further advantage to the USA that
Iraq had border issues with Iran. Saddam’s Iraq was rapidly equipped with
American guns, bombs, fighter jets, chemical weapons and made ready for war.
Saddam’s relentless Hitlerian warfare could not continue for eight long years
without the full military and political support from the USA. Saddam could also
unleash a systematic campaign of genocide against the Kurds during this time
that had no consequences for him or Iraq. It was the second time Kurds were mass
murdered with chemical weapons. The Iraqi military, using Western technology,
weapons, and gas, murdered 350,000 humans, displacing more than 1,000,000 only
because they were Kurds. Until today there is no UN recognition of the genocide,
there is no international recognition, no apology by the Arab nation, no
compensation. Saddam was conveniently executed for the murder of 148 Shiites
before he could describe the part of the USA in the Kurdish genocide.
Saddam and the USA had hoped for a victory over Ayatollah’s Iraq, but the truce
did not change the status quo; destruction, murder, genocide were the only
results. Both the Mullahs and Saddam not only survived, but the war actually
strengthened their grip on power. Saddam had received two decades of US support,
and he would probably be still alive and in power today if he had not challenged
the overall US Middle East objective by invading Kuwait. Oil, the lifeblood of
the West, must not be outside of US control. Iran and Iraq, previously American
allies in the Middle East, were declared dangerous enemies of the West who had
to be dealt with. As with the Taleban, the military method was the only option
left to stop Saddam. The Kurds were fighting allies and co-liberators of Iraq,
but “Operation Iraqi Freedom” did not bring a condition that can be called
freedom in the word’s true sense: Despite 98% of the Kurdish population voting
for independence from Iraq, pressures from the USA, neighbouring Turkey, Iran
and Arab world forced the Kurdish leaders to accept a federal solution. They
have been under constant pressures and threats to compromise or to give in on
many essential issues, such as security, status of Kerkuk, Kurdish oil fields.
Those concessions and American strategy behind can be found in “The Way Forward”
by the “Iraq Study Group” chaired by notorious former State of Secretary and
Arab lobbyist James Baker. His recommendations are being implemented
step-by-step at the expense of the Kurds. The right for self-determination,
which is being granted to 2 million Albanians in Kosovo, is denied to 45 million
Kurds in Iraq, Syria and Turkey. When it comes to the Middle East, it is
definitely not about liberty, justice, democracy. Iraq was an artificial
creation by imperial Britain to exploit the oil, now the exploitation is
overseen by the USA. A criminal, cruel, and hated state – Iraq will always be
remembered as such – is being maintained with force and deception.
It now looks as if war will probably be the last resort also in case of Iran.
The Mullahs feel encircled by the American occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan,
and they are expecting a similar fate. The bomb seems to be the only deterrence
and chance. It is the same apocalyptic vision of Good fighting Evil that drives
Ahmadinejad, the Ayatollah, and President Bush. To Teheran, the USA represents
Great Satan, and Washington sees Iran acting as top sponsor of international
terrorism. Judging from their actions and past records, both are quite right.
Iran has been preparing for Armageddon since the 90s with the help of another
“reliable” US-ally and billion-dollars-recipient – Pakistan. That allied country
did probably most to equip Iran with military hardware and provide it with
nuclear know-how. As the USA is considered by Teheran the greatest enemy of the
Muslim world and of mankind, the Shiite Mullahs have no problems cooperating
with everybody who thinks the same. They already wage a proxy war against the
West by supporting organizations, such as Hamas, Hizbollah, and most probably al
Qaeda. As long as US strategy remains the same, and a change is unlikely as long
as there is oil in the region, the outcomes will be similar, that is another war
and consequently another military occupation. Bush’s recent visit to the Middle
East signals to that direction, and the new deal seems to be: In return for a
Palestinian state, the Arabs will be on the Western side. In return for Israeli
concessions to the Palestinian Arabs, the West will attack Iran and destroy its
nuclear facilities. Thus, Iran’s regional power will be diminished, the oil and
gas of the region under firmer American control.
The West knows that the Mullah regime is not popular. It is rejected by most
Persians, it is hated by the Kurds, Arabs, Azeris, who suffer from state
oppression and terror. There are many dissidents and resistance movements, the
strongest of which is the Kurdish PJAK. As with the Kurdish freedom fighters in
Turkey, the PJAK were forced to take up arms to protect the Kurdish community
against Teheran’s aggression and human rights abuses. These groups have the
people’s backing, they want the end of the Mullah dictatorship; they want
freedom and democracy for Iran. A change is possible from inside, without
foreign military force. Only if carried out by the Iranian population
themselves, the change and achievement would be seen legitimate and lasting.
Although the West talks a lot about regime change, it does not give any open and
substantial support for these groups. Although it talks about freedom and
democracy all the time, it denies indigenous peoples, with their own distinct
languages and ancestral homelands, their right for self-determination. Millions
of people continue to be suppressed by hostile majorities in the Middle East.
This schizophrenic behaviour of the West and by the so-called “international
community” can only be explained by the objectives governing US and Western
strategic interests. Like with Iraq, the USA is not interested in a free,
democratic Iran. Fact and truth is: the West does not want any free and
democratic country in the region. The USA wants all these countries to be
dependent on the West and under its control. Independent, sovereign powers are a
threat to the strategic, economic, neoimperial interests of the West.
Self-determined, democratic and open societies with transparent administrations
would challenge the Western hegemony over the region and over the oil. Democracy
and open societies are naturally feared and prevented by the ruling elites as
well. It would eliminate their power and wealth, most of which has been
accumulated through cooperation with the West. Thus the West and the ruling
local elites have a common interest in maintaining the status quo from which
both sides profit immensely.
The existence of the pseudo-democratic, pseudo-secular state of Turkey, too, is
based on this understanding and cooperation. The Turkish case is an open and
empirical textbook of the murderous double-standards and hypocrisy of the West.
It is the only Islamic country in the NATO and the only Islamic candidate for
membership in the EU. While negotiating membership, its military has been
occupying the territory of an EU-member, Cyprus. It receives billions of dollars
in economic and military aid from the West. That money and military hardware
have been used to maintain occupation of North Kurdistan, oppress and terrorize
the Kurdish population, launch raids against South Kurdistan, to crush the
Kurdish freedom movement. The Turks are supported by the USA, EU, and UN. They
call the slaughter of a defenceless people as "fight against terrorism". Thus
Western governments and their media outlets dehumanize and demonize the struggle
of 25 million people for freedom. The Turkish tyranny and fascism, a
continuation of Ottoman imperialism, is rewarded while the natural, legitimate
and honourable resistance of the Kurds is declared a crime. Goebbels would have
envied such a masterful global deception, such a perversion of truth and
justice.
But Western realpolitik is not bothered about what is right or wrong, it is
concerned with securing resources and maintaining control. The present deal with
the Turks is about Iran. The West has given green light to the Turkish army to
attack the Kurdish resistance in South Kurdistan. As a further treat, America
might have offered Ankara some rights over Kurdish oil fields. A full-scale
invasion in spring is now becoming a "legal" possibility for the Turks and would
not come as a surprise. For the fascist Turks, any form of free, self-governing
and successful Kurdish entity, which is South Kurdistan, is unacceptable. The
West knows that and thus can use the Kurds to manipulate the Turks. It is not
the first time that the Kurds have been betrayed by the West. The Americans have
told Ankara many times that they will not interfere as long as the Turks are on
board against Iran. On his recent visit to Washington, the Turkish president
Abdullah Gul made the Turkish-American deal public by stating that Turkey was
opposed to a “nuclear neighbour”. Big Brother believes the Turkish military can
be lead, but he is playing with fire. Turkey has learnt the art of doublespeak
and double games long time ago.
It presents itself to the world as a secular and democratic country, but under
that media-controlled surface and deception a brutal military rules all aspects
of social and political life. It wants the West to see it as part of the Western
world, and wants the East to regard it as a fellow Muslim country when
cooperating with Syria, Iran, Sudan, and other Islamic states of terror. It can
host an international children’s feast every year and be co-initiator of the
“Alliance of Civilisations” while at the same time deny that there are Kurdish
children and a Kurdish culture. The Turkish regime can sign a military agreement
with Israel but invite the Hamas leadership to Ankara for official talks, and
allow its Muslim population, political parties and media to spread anti-Israel
and anti-Jewish propaganda. There is nothing “modern” about “modern Turkey”. It
is a republic of denials since its foundation. It denies the genocide of the
Armenian people, it denies the existence and rights of the Kurdish people. The
Kemalist ideology, a mix of rootless nationalism and megalomania, is used by the
ruling elites as an all-justifying tool to suppress any dissent, any attempt to
liberate Anatolia from the joke of military fascism and Islamic backwardness.
Millions of people fell victim to the Kemalist Weltanschauung, but the USA and
the West see and promote it as “modern Turkey” in their grand strategic
conception.
It is clear that he peoples of the Middle East and elsewhere cannot expect any
support from the West in liberating their countries from fascist and
self-serving elites. The West and these elites form a partnership, an alliance
of evil, against freedom. The sticking glue of this partnership is oil, and as
long as there is some left their cooperation will continue. These forces prevent
a real change, a real progress in the region. As the West has betrayed its
ideals of democracy, liberty, justice, the indigenous democratic movements of
the region should cease to look westward but instead trust and believe in their
own power only. Together they should seek to obtain and implement their natural
and God-given rights for self-determination, which is the foundation of freedom
and peace. No alliance or force in the world can be stronger than the liberating
force of truth and justice. And the West and their local clients should know
that there will be no peace for anyone without justice for everyone!
Axin Arbili - a Kurdish freelance writer
