Kurds Put Best Face Forward to Win US
Protection
May 19, 2007
By Heather Yamour (news feature) WASHINGTON, May 19 (KUNA) -- Behind the hand
shakes and greetings, Iraqi Kurds have set upon Washington in a quiet storm
seeking support for a three-way campaign designed to show, among other things,
"the other face of Iraq." Kurdish leaders, staunch allies of the 2003 US
invasion of Iraq, are seeking assurance from the Bush Administration that US
troops will continue to protect Kurdistan if violence seeps into its borders,
while trying to combat the American perceptions of Iraq's violence and
instability, and appeal towards US investors.
Kurds are considered the largest non-Arab
ethnic minority in Iraq, with an estimated five million people, about 20 percent
of Iraq's population, mostly concentrated in northern cities like Irbil and
Suleimaniyah. An estimated 15 to 20 million Kurds remain straddled between
neighboring countries, Turkey, Syria, and Iran.
The semi-autonomous secular Kurdish Regional
Government has set up a representative office, a couple blocks away from the
White House, it has enlisted strong lobby support from one of Washington's most
influential lobbying firms and launched a public relations campaign focused on
tugging at the heart strings of the American. The Kurds tapped the shoulder of
Qubad Talabani, son of Iraqi president Jalal Talabani, to represent the
Kurdistan Regional government in Washington, a job that has sent him to all over
the city to knock on influential doors hoping to build momentum from
Washington's political circuit. He has met and been in contact with the White
House, Congress and the State Department to secure US protection of Iraqi
Kurdistan in the event of an invasion by neighboring countries, like Turkey,
which has 50,000 troops staked out on the Turkish-Iraq border hunting for PKK
rebels sneaking into Kurdistan, or by insurgent groups like Al Qaeda that
claimed attacks beyond Southern Baghdad's "triangle of death" to reach Kurdish
cities, Irbil and Makhmur.
Talabani, the engineer behind the campaign, has
said it is in the "interest" of the US to protect the de facto autonomous
region.
"All of our hard-fought gains will be jeopardized by a premature American
withdrawal," he said while painting a visual picture of Iraq disintegrating into
"far worse violence than what we are seeing today." So far the Bush
administration has not officially declared any commitments to protect the
Iraqi-Kurdistan region, preferring to stay mute in efforts to avoid accusations
of picking favorites among Iraq's various minorities.
To drive this point right across America's
nose, the Kurdish Regional Government has spent a more than a little pocket
change; an estimated three million dollars in campaigning and lobbying efforts
in Washington and across the country.
In 2005, the Kurdish Development Corporation, a
"quasi-governmental development wing" of the Kurdish regional government hired
Russo, Marsh Rogers, a public relations firm based in California, to launch a
series of 30-second commercials, aired in the US coast-to-coast, advertising
Kurdistan as "the Other Iraq," describing the northern region as a stable hub
for investment and democracy. The ad-campaign aggressively sought to dispose of
American perceptions of Iraq as violent and bloody, with IED's under every rock
and maniacal insurgent groups waiting behind every corner.
But although sectarian violence does wage in
many parts of Iraq, in "the Other face of Iraq" Americans can find booming
industry and airports, with multi-screen Cineplex's and, the Kurds say "thank
you" to America forces in Iraq and encourage tourism and trade between the US
and the Kurds.
The Kurdistan Regional Government, led by Prime
Minister Nechivan Barzani, nephew of Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani, set up
elaborate plans to appeal towards the west; plans include building mountain-top
ski resorts and opening an American university in Suleimani by 2008.
Last December, Austrian Airlines became the
first European carrier to fly regularly into Irbil, according to the ad-campaign
website.
"Americans make decisions based on emotional
judgment and there are few stories as compelling as the story of the Kurds,"
Talabani said. He likened the campaign in part to Kuwait's message of
appreciation to the Americans after the first Gulf War in the early 1990s.
"America is the world's only superpower today
and their protection and involvement," can preserve Kurdistan, Talabani told
KUNA in an interview at his office.
Talabani said plans are in the works for
another public relations campaign again aimed at the American people, but this
time, it will try to garner support for continued US protection for Kurdistan.
This comes as all eyes in Iraq are paying close
attention to the back and forth debate between Democrats and Republicans going
on in Washington, about the possibility of US troops withdrawal from Iraq. "If
people are committed to a democratic Iraq the strongest democratic force today
are the Kurds." Talabani said. Iraqi-Kurdistan is a "symbol of moderation" in an
ever radicalizing Middle East," he said.
In Iraq, the constitutionally recognized
Kurdish army, the Peshmerga, has been fighting alongside US and coalition forces
in cities like Kirkuk and Baghdad. Over 1,000 Peshmerga soldiers have been
deployed to the Iraq-Iran borders in efforts to stop the flow of weapons and
support for Shiite militant groups.
The campaign efforts in Washington have been
far more fruitful, he said.
Since the fall of Saddam's regime with some
help of one of Washington's most powerful lobbying firms, Barbour Griffith and
Rogers, the Kurds successfully recouped 1.4 billion dollars of the funds
believed were owed from the highly controversial United Nations Oil-for-Food
Program and although efforts to tap into the 18 billion-dollars of US funds for
Iraq were far less rewarding the Kurds found governmental 'thumbs-up' to endorse
US business in Kurdistan. In February 2007, Frank L. Lavin, Undersecretary of
Commerce for International Trade, flew into Irbil and promoted the region as a
"gateway" to retailers and businesses under the Iraqi Gateways Initiative,
designed to steer commerce to specific areas in Iraq considered safe for
investment, and point out Kurdistan as a bulls-eye for investors. Along with the
US Department of Commerce and International trade's stamp of approval, the
Kurdish Regional Government heartily shoved US businesses to consider the 'land
of the Kurds' as home with foreign investment laws, with laws touting ten-year
tax holidays and possibly land acquisition-the Kurds hope to make them feel not
only welcome, but cozy enough to stay a while.
