February 7, 2007
Editorial
It's Time For the U.S. to
Recognize the Kurdistan Regional Government
Webster Brooks 111
Kurdistan is emerging as one of the most vibrant
democracies in the
Middle
East, and America's only reliable partner
in Iraq. However, if President Bush and the Democratic-led Congress continue
to ignore the Kurds unique circumstances, America runs the risk of isolating
Kurdistan politically, and imperiling its existence as a thriving autonomous
region. The time has come for the
United
States to guarantee Kurdistan's future security and officially
recognize the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) as the legitimate
representative of the Kurdish region.
After the U.S. enforced the no-fly zone over Northern
Iraqi in the early 1990's, the people of Kurdistan made remarkable strides to
consolidate their region. The Kurds supported the war to overthrow Saddam
Hussein, and have been a critical link in efforts to build Iraq's coalition
government. Kurdistan participated in drafting Iraq's new constitution in
October 2005, and were instrumental in forming the new unity government in
which Jalal Talabani--a Kurd, serves as President of
Iraq. Iraq's
constitution granted Kurdistan regional autonomy with its own constitution,
laws, courts, lands, waters, and military forces known as the Peshmerga.
Today, Kurdistan is peaceful, its economy is booming,
foreign investment is flowing into the region, and violence has been reduced
to a minimum. In short, Kurdistan is the brightest star in the
tragedy, destruction, and sectarian violence that threatens the unitary state
of Iraq.
Once bitter enemies who waged war on each other, Kurdistan's two competing
political groups; the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union
of Kurdistan (PUK) have united to run the region on the basis of cooperation
and equality. In Kurdistan, Turkmen and Christian groups have participated in
regional elections and are represented in Kurdistan's legislative assembly.
The Kurdish Regional Government has established offices in ten countries
around the world, and is working with the United Nations to recover revenue it
never received from the oil for food program.
The refusal of the
United
States to recognize the Kurdish Regional Government is
unconscionable. The Bush administration has
consistently opposed Kurdish attempts to seek regional autonomy, establish its
own constitution, fight for the equality of its language, and form its own
military. Had the Kurds followed the administration's advice, they would
likely be mired in the chaos that now characterizes much of the rest of
Iraq,
and in a much weaker position to repel Turkish aggression.
Even as the U.S. presses the Kurds to provide peshmerga
troops to help quell sectarian violence in
Baghdad
between Sunni and Shiia militias, Bush wants to delay the referendum on the
status of
Kirkuk, and re-negotiate the oil sharing revenue rights
Kurdistan achieved in the constitutional process. The Bush administration's
attempt to blackmail Kurdistan into making these concessions by suggesting the
U.S. "may" not be able restrain Turkey if it invades Kurdish territory, is
nothing short of sinister.
Since Winston Churchill promised the Kurds nationhood
status in 1921, and then reneged on the agreement, the Kurdish people have
endured repression at the hands of its handpicked Hashimite rulers,
Syria,
Turkey, Iran,
and Saddam Hussein's genocidal chemical warfare attacks in the 1980's. As the
world's largest ethnic group without a nation, Iraq's heroic Kurdish people
have come too far to sacrifice the fruits of their burgeoning regional
autonomy on the alter of misguided and unprincipled American foreign policy.
As the
Iraq
War enters its most decisive phase with the insertion of 21,500 additional
U.S. troops, the Maliki government is teetering on the brink of collapse.
Iraq
is fracturing and convulsing in the din of civil war and sectarian violence.
The U.S. army cannot insure the survival of his regime. If the Maliki
government falters and
Iraq is consumed with sectarian violence between Sunni and Shiia, the
U.S. must politically and militarily to guarantee the integrity and security
of the Kurdistan region against state and non-state forces of both groups and
Turkey.
The Bush administration and the Democrats should foster
no illusions that the Kurds will pawns for the
United
States "larger strategic considerations." The Kurds have tasted the
sweet milk of self-governance, and mastered the rough music of democracy.
Before they are dealt another hand of false promises, the Kurds will cut some
deals of their own, or they will fight. Self-governance, whether by regional
autonomy or independence is an idea whose time has come for Kurdistan. Since
the beginning of the Iraqi War, the United States has developed a bizarre, if
not harmful tendency in its foreign policy of isolating friends, and uniting
its enemies. This policy should stop at the waters edge of Kurdistan. The
U.S. should take the first critical step of undoing decades of injustice and
treachery foisted on the people of Kurdistan. It's time for the United States
to recognize the Kurdish Regional Government, and support the Kurdish people.
Webster Brooks is an independent activist and
Editor of U.S.- Iran Peace Website. For more information on the Kurdistan
Regional Government go to www.krg.org
