http://www.kurdishmedia.com/reports.asp?id=1926 President Bush should not leave Iraq an unfinished business again!
04 April 2004
KurdishMedia.com - By Dr Kamal Mirawdeli
By sticking to the illusion of one united Iraqi state, the administration and its strongman in Iraq Mr Paul Bremer are in fact turning already achieved successes into failure, victories into defeat, achievements into illusions, liberation into a bloody occupation and a bright future and a pioneering model of freedom in the Middle East into a tragic saga of violence and desperation.
America has under President Bush developed grand ideas for liberation and modernisation in the Middle East.
In almost every speech and comment, President Bush stresses how strong is impulse for freedom and will to liberation in every human individual, group and nation.
These ideas are no longer abstract ideals. There is now the American Great Middle East project. This is just a project, which in itself has triggered massive opinions and discussions in all Middle East media and emerging civil society groups.
And there is liberation of Iraq. This is a reality, a process, a historical fact, and a great opportunity for the realisation of the dreams of all those who dream of a world of freedom and peace, free from terrorism and despotism.
Yet, it seems that, for outdated preconceived plans and approaches, Mr Bremer is not able to see the reality of liberation in Iraq and its relevance to Great Middle East project.
Ideas can only have credibility if they are universal. Projects can only have credibility if they are just and in tune with the liberation impulse of humanity.
Ideas and projects of liberation attract the forces of liberation to themselves while the forces of tyranny, terrorism and reaction will resist them.
Forces of liberation need support to be active and effective.
America’s support for the liberation of Iraq has already dismantled not only the system of dictatorship and despotism, but also the national, social and cultural structures of oppression, enslavement and brainwashing.
With the removal of this century-old structure of tyranny, what has been called Iraq (one state put together with human flesh and blood) is now clearly showing its natural modes and hues.
There is Kurdistan and its people from Jabal Hamrin to Zakho with one single distinctive culture and way of life.
And there are Arab Sunnis and Arab Shias. These share more interests and characteristics with each other than they share with Kurds who are a different nation. Shia Arabs participated as much as Sunni Arabs in Saddam’s anfal operations.
All these three identities are already expressing and organising themselves in three distinctive territorial political polarisations: Shias, Kurds and Sunni. This is a natural healthy phenomenon that has been enabled thanks to US’s destruction of the Ba’ath regime.
But unfortunately American political thinking seems to be embedded in pre-liberation idea of Iraq: a phoney united Iraq based on a strong centre. This, in the last analysis, only means recreating dictatorship. And the only forces who are suitable candidates for this are previous Ba’athists who are now fighting Americans in Faluja and the Sunni Triangle. The Shias, it seems, will not be allowed to replace Saddam because Sunni Gulf states and other Arab states do not like this. Perhaps Mas’sud Barzani’s so-called Iraqi reconciliation conference for the Ba’athists in Arbil was a serious step in this wrong direction with a green light from Mr Bremer!
Recreating the scenario of first gulf war
A well-informed reader Dan Wilson responding to one of my articles wrote to me, “How come the Arabs have no problem having 21 states but don’t want you to have one. The Kurds have the most gutless leaders. It’s so sad. We know how Bush 1 lied to the Kurds after the Gulf War. He told them to rebel then didn’t help them.
What is interesting, the reason Bush didn’t help the Kurds after the Gulf War, had nothing to do with Turkey. Bush 1 and James Baker’s Saudi Friends were totally against a Kurdish state and wanted the Kurds to be under the domination of the Iraqi Arabs.”
I agree with this analysis by Dan Wilson. I think until now the State Department’s policy is controlled by pro-Arab politicians who are prepared to sacrifice America’s principles of liberation and long-term interests for their lucrative friendship with Arab dictators.
It is because of this pro-Arab bias in reading the situation in Iraq and planning its future that there has been no rethinking of the nature of Iraqi state, its abnormal historical birth and the destructive contradictions and animosities inherent in so-called Iraqi state.
The American administration has wrongly identified its success in Iraq with keeping Iraqi unity or Iraq as a unified sovereign state. They are influenced in this by how the forces of reaction react than by how the forces of liberation embrace the new horizons of freedom in the Middle East.
Also from many scenarios projected about future of Iraq by so-called Iraqi professionals and opposition groups as part of State of Department’s Future of Iraq project, none envisaged that a really free country cannot be re-established on the coercive principle of unity but, like Yugoslavia, the birth of new nations can be the only answer to the call of freedom in Iraq
as a prelude to the project of liberation in the Middle East.
Given the fact that a Kurdish de facto state had already existed for 12 years, one would have thought that the scenario of a free Kurdistan based on the principle of self-determination should have been at the forefront of the issues discussed by the Iraqi Future Group, But as this group, or these groups, comprised mainly Arabs including previous Ba’athists, Iraqi generals and Iraqi technocrats immersed in racist Arabism and anti-Kurd prejudices, it was natural that all their arguments and scenarios were based on the premise of Iraqi unity meaning the continuation of Arab colonization of Kurdistan.
And now by sticking to the illusion of one united Iraqi state, the administration and its strongman in Iraq Mr Paul Bremer are in fact turning already achieved successes into failure, victories into defeat, achievements into illusions, liberation into a bloody occupation and a bright future and a pioneering model of freedom in the Middle east into a tragic saga of violence and desperation.
There is a free peaceful Kurdistan with five million people, important geostrategic location and rich oil, water and agricultural resources which is, and wants to remain forever, a sincere ally to the US. That is what the people of Kurdistan want not just politicians. But Mr Bremer wants to deny Kurdistan its freedom, peace, peshmarga forces and prosperity in the name of Iraqi unity. He is, just like Colin Powell, feels embarrassed to even say the word Kurdistan even when addressing the martyrs of Halabja who died for Kurdistan!
What a great insult was it to the Kurdish people, but not to its shameless leaders, when in Halabja itself, on the anniversary of the very day when five thousand people were eliminated by Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction, Mr Bremer again described the Kurds as “Saddam’s own people”.
A showcase of liberation
In fact Kurdistan could and can be a great showcase for the success of America’s liberation policy in Iraq. Mr Bush, Colin Powel, Mr Rumsfield or Tony Blair could visit free Kurdistan and be received by five million people waving Kurdistan’s, US’s and Britain’s flags. And this will be the best answer to those who say Iraqi war was not justified. Also a free liberal democratic pro-Western Kurdistan will be the best model of the Greater Middle East.
But is this possible? Yes Kurdistan has been free for the last 13 years and has been protected by the US and Britain, Now Kurdistan can protect itself and US forces too!! It is only lack of understanding, will or integrity by American decision-makers which prevents the recognition and promotion of this de facto reality.
Why Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor, to mention just few, should be independent with America’s support but not Kurdistan? It is such hesitance to initiate any changes in the totalitarian structures of coercive Islamic national states, which makes Islam be viewed as the sole ideology of union and unity and thus impose fundamentalism and practise tyranny and oppression to preserve these structures.
The US should have divided Afghanistan into autonomous regions. This is the only to democracy and not an impossible imposed strong centre. It should immediately intervene stop the genocide of people of Darfur and South Sudan by Arabs and support South and Western Sudan to declare independence.
It should support the Amazighis in Morocco and Algeria to be free from century-old oppression of the Arabs.
It is shameful that the Greater Middle east project does not mention the oppression and genocide of non-Arab peoples in colonialist Arab countries.
It is shameful that Syrian Accountability Act does not advocate the liberation of Kurds in Western Kurdistan from the tyranny of Arab Ba’ath fascists.
It is shameful that even after the recent massacre of Kurds in Qamishli and other Lkurdish cities and the subsequent increasing repression of Kurdistani people and violation of human rights, MR Bush received Syrian officials and instead of imposing tighter sanctions, he actually reduced the sanctions into symbolic ones and showed more flexibility and opening to the Syrain fascists.
This is contrary to what Mr Bush persistently claim: the universality of will to liberation and America’s support to this will anywhere.
It seems that when it comes to the nations colonised, oppressed and massacred by Arabs Mr Bush and other Western leaders do not even know or acknowledge that they even exist!
Otherwise the tragedy of Rwanda genocide is being repeated at this moment in Darfur, why don’t you stop it? Why do you still deal with perpetrators of genocide and patrons of terrorism in Khartum instead of punishing them?
Why do you deny freedom to our people in Kurdistan who have suffered 80 years of oppression, enslavement and genocide at the hands of racist colonialist Arabs?
The Way forward
The only way to reconstruct Iraq is to deconstruct it. And there is nothing wrong, illegitimate, illogical or illegal in this. It has already been deconstructed. In fact there is everything wrong with the idea of reconstructing a coercively or illusionary united Iraq at the expense of the conflicting wills of its constituents.
George Bush 1 under the influence of James Baker and Colin Powel, working on behalf of Saudis and Arab Gulf countries, stopped the liberation of Iraq and Iraqi people when the Kurds had already liberated the whole Kurdistan including Kirkuk in 1991 and the Shias were on their way to liberate their region.
What was the result? What was the benefit for Americans?
Yes, the Saudis and Arab countries continued to support Saddam and terrorism while their
despotic societies bred Islamic terrorism and 9/11 suicide bombers.
Again it is for the interests of the same Arab racists that President Bush and his man Bremer want to stop Kurdistan’s liberation and force it to re-integrate within an Arab-dominated colonialist Iraq.
If Turkey has any objection to Kurdistan’s independence, it can do this only because of American support.
Although Turkey is apparently strong militarily, it is too weak politically and economically to adventure any move against Kurdish independence in South Kurdistan.
The reaction of Kurdish people in the North, inside Turkey, will make it impossible for Turkey to fight against Kurdish uprising inside Turkey as well as Kurdish liberation in South.
Anyway it is impossible for Turkey to take such a move if the US disapproves it.
Turkey/Kurdistan alliance
However as Turkey has established a secular society with functioning institutions and as it is a member of NATO and a prospective member of European Union, it is in the interests of everyone: Turkey, Kurds, US, European Union, Israel and the international fighting against terrorism, if the US mediates between Turkey and Kurds, persuades both to work together and builds its new project for the Middle East on this strategic step.
A confederation between an independent Kurdistan and Turkey will give a great impulse to the process of liberation and modernisation and will effectively weaken and marginalize fundamentalist forces. Rather than allowing Turkey to ally itself with reactionary pro-Iranian Shia groups and thus help dangerous spread of Islamic terrorism in Iraq and the region, the US should pressurise Turkey to support the secular democratic Kurds who are the most reliable and honourable allies of US in the Middle East. Such a step will also shake the totalitarian Syrian Ba’ath from its very foundations and give a great impetus to America’s Greater Middle East initiative.
That is what Mr Bremer should focus on rather than wasting his time trying to learn Iraqi Arabic and hoping that Sistani, Sadr and Hakim will one day be reborn as democrats!!
kamalmirawdeli@yahoo.co.uk