Response to KO Editorial

Jan 18, 2005

By: Justin Thomas

As an American who spent a year in Iraqi Kurdistan, I find the premise and purpose of the January 12, 2005, editorial titled To Citizens Of Southern Kurdistan: Boycott Iraqi Vote! to be in direct conflict with the best interests of Iraqi Kurds.   I do understand that, to some Kurds, the alliance between the two predominant Kurdish parties and the U.S. may give the appearance that the fiercely independent identity of the Iraqi Kurds and the role of its leaders has become somewhat compromised.  However, although I can understand this view, I also believe that it is mistaken.

When I arrived in Iraqi Kurdistan in the spring of 2003, I was able to witness its historical transition from an embattled enclave to a true component of a nation state.  Men like Dr. Barham Salah, once confined to a No Fly Zone, launched the Kurds as a force majeure into the Iraqi national, and, for that matter, international, arena.  A once-persecuted minority became one of the recognized three ruling factions of Iraq. (Any citizen of the world who has read a newspaper in the last twenty-two months can tell you that the powers of Iraq are Kurd, Shia and Sunni.)  Jalal Talabani and Massud Barzani suddenly became a mainstay in international papers, always portrayed in a positive light as the leaders of a people that defied tyranny, by both the pen and the sword, as well as by the Peshmerga.  

No, the Kurdish leadership did not falter and collapse under U.S. pressure.  It did not relinquish any independence.  Rather, it placed the Iraqi Kurds in the best position in which they have ever been.  When have the Peshmerga been better armed or trained?  When have more goods flowed over the borders from Syria, Turkey and Iran?  When has so much economic prosperity ever occurred in Irbil and Sulaymaniah?  When have so many students had access to such education, at home and abroad?  These leaders deserve praise, not parsing.

The author uses the argument of Kirkuk as his crux, accusing Kurdish leaders of political timidity in their inability to secure Kirkuk for the Kurds.  I can understand this argument.  The personal and emotional accounts by Kurds who were driven from Kirkuk through Saddam’s brutal Arabization policies would be difficult for me to forget.   Subsequently, it is easy for me to see how so many Kurds would equate the end of Saddam with the end of Kirkuk’s Arabization.  The reality is that the city is now of multiple cultures that happen to lie on a fault line of shifting ethnic, international and oil interests.  To think that one politician, no matter how powerful or courageous, can simply claim Kirkuk (and its oil fields) exclusively for the Kurds is being unrealistic.  The political solution to Kirkuk will take years to achieve.  A politician or leader who concedes this fact is neither cowardly nor incompetent, but rather pragmatic and sophisticated.

I also understand the desire for total Kurdish independence, and believe that the Kurds’ rights to self-determination should not differ from those of any other people around the globe.  John F. Kennedy summed up my sentiments toward self-determination (which I believe to be a right of man), and those of my countrymen, in his inaugural address by referring to our belief that “the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.”   So if all the Iraqi Kurds wish to secede from Iraq and all its resources, then so be it.  But, as I said, the Kurds are major force in Iraq, and to unweave this fabric would be extremely difficult.  The Iraqi Kurds should, instead, focus on their role in Iraq, a role that advocates the rights of man, no matter the ethnicity.  The entire country would surely benefit from this advocacy, as would the entire world.

In the past decade, the Kurds of Iraq initiated their journey down the road to democracy.  In this short time, they, through their strength, courage and determination, have found autonomy, prosperity, security, international admiration and international allies.  To stop now would be turning back the clock to a time under Saddam, a time of fortified isolation when only the mountains were friends of the Kurds.  The Kurds must vote, every one, and continue their journey towards democracy.  In doing so, they will take their rightful place in the triumvirate of Iraqi government, and, more importantly, as national citizens within the international democratic forum.  

The author of the above-referenced editorial ends by proposing that, should the Kurds boycott the upcoming Iraqi elections, “Perhaps then, a strong leader will emerge with the courage to guide our nation with pride and honor.” I say to the Kurds of Iraq, your leadership is not in question.  What you do with it is.  It has done superbly thus far, and I hope that you empower it further through your votes.

Justin Thomas

Boston, USA