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A group representing
Kurdistan thanks America for liberating that nation
from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship of terrorism.
"The Kurds of Iraqi Kurdistan just want to say
‘thank you for helping us win our freedom. Thank you
for democracy. Thank you America.”
The print and broadcast advertisements are sponsored
by the Kurdistan Development Corporation, an
organization created by the government of Kurdistan
to encourage international investment.
The ad campaign began Monday in the United States
with ads in The Wall Street Journal and on Fox News
Channel. Ads begin airing Nov. 14 airing in Europe.
The group describes Kurdistan as a place "where
peace and prosperity have reigned since liberation
from Saddam Hussein.”
Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, Chairman of the Kurdistan
Development Corporation and Kurdistan’s High
Representative to the UK, says the commercials are
necessary to counter the American media’s largely
negative coverage of Iraq.
"We feel the mainstream media,” she tells Newsmax,
"is focusing on the negative stories coming out of
Iraq and very rarely highlighting the good news.”
"We’re not saying that the media doesn’t tell the
truth. They do tell the truth. There is violence.
There is an insurgency. But it’s not the whole
truth, or the whole picture.”
"The truth is that while there is violence,” she
continues, "there are big strides being taken
towards democracy in Iraq, particularly in
Kurdistan. There are vast sections of Iraq, and
again particularly Kurdistan, where the region is
safe, stable, and people are getting on with their
lives, doing business, trying to build a future.”
Indeed, not a single coalition soldier has died in
Kurdistan since March 2003.
Rahman worries, however, about suggestions that the
United States should pull out of Iraq.
"If people are saying that America should withdraw
their troops now, that would be a catastrophe, not
only for the people of Iraq but also for the Middle
East and the wider intentional community and the
United States,” she says.
The current peace and prosperity is a welcome change
from conditions under Saddam Hussein, who targeted
the Kurds throughout his rule.
Among other atrocities, Hussein ordered the use of
chemical weapons against the Kurdish village of
Halabja in 1988, killing an estimated 5,000 Kurds, a
majority of which were women and children.
Following the Gulf War in 1991, the United States
and the United Kingdom established "no-fly zones” in
northern Iraq to prevent continued bombing of
Kurdistan by Saddam. Kurds ran a semi-autonomous
government under the protection of the "no-fly
zones.”
Kurdistan President H.E. Masoud Barzani thanked
President Bush for his dedication to Iraqi freedom
in an Oct. 25 visit to the White House.
"It was a brave decision that you have made,”
Barzani told the president, "you have liberated a
people from a dictatorial regime that has hurt a lot
of people.”
Rahman goes further, calling President Bush a
"hero.”
"The people of Kurdistan and the government of
Kurdistan,” she gushes, "admire President Bush’s
courage in fighting Saddam Hussein despite some of
the doubts of America’s international partners.”
Rahman says there is no question that the decision
to liberate Iraq was just.
"Saddam Hussein was a tyrant,” she notes, "a
dictator who committed genocide against the people
of Kurdistan ... To get rid of someone like that,
there should be no question.”
In addition to the advertisments, the group
maintains a Web site, www.theotheriraq.com,
expressing its gratitude to the U.S. and the value
of Kurdistan to the world community.
www.newsmax.com
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