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2-
The Sunni have ruled Iraq for over 84 years within
the manufactured boundaries set by British-France,
having caused misery and destruction for the Kurds
during that same period, while living lavish lives
for the most part under Arab Sunni regimes.
3- It has been proven; that the Arabs are not
capable to show sympathy nor respect for Kurdish
people’s national rights as a unique and ancient
people, a lot more ancient than Arabs, by thousands
of years to be more precise. The Kurds have a rich
culture with human respect for all peoples, hence
the Kurds will not terrorize the Arabs if left alone
to recover from their losses and human sufferings
within their Kurdistan homeland.
4- We, as Americans know that, and U.K. knows
the same fact better than us, being in the region
and exploiting Kurdish oil since 1927, while turning
Sunni and Shia Arabs against the native Kurds, to
walk away with unknown billions of dollars from
Kurdish oil from Kurdish Kirkuk. We should not allow
the British commit the same atrocities against Kurds
again, and let our martyrs’ spilled blood go in
vain. Instead we must treat the Kurds with respect
and as equals this time around. I won’t tell the
British how to behave, because I’m not their
citizen.
5- The critical Forum on Kirkuk aired only
once on c-span on Aug 9, 2005, has revealed the
truth about the percentage of oil reserves and oil
production both in Kirkuk and in Shia South (with
South’s active daily production). That c-span Forum
is being ignored due to only one showing, and not
found in c-span’s archive,
but I found the audio copies in a link you should go
to and at least listen to before agreeing to include
any clause for oil distribution in the constitution,
to receive 5% of the revenues for each of the three
groups, and the rest be left to the central
government in Baghdad to control.
6- This credible presentation by “Wayne
Kelly”, an engineer, and oil consultant expert on
Kirkuk oil reveals; the facts about how large the
reserves are in the South, being approximately 56
billion barrels or more for example as I recall.
The Audio version Link of that Aug 9, 2005 Forum
is at:
http://www.usip.org/events/2005/0809_kirkuk.html
Which is for “Kirkuk Can It Be Solved?” Date:
Tuesday, August 9, 2005 on the “U.S. Institute of
Peace” website.
Finally, as I read today; I remind President
Talabani; that Saleh Mutlag, a Sunni member of the
drafting of the Iraqi constitution said:
“The Iraqi leaders agreed on oil resource
distribution among the Kurds, the Shiites and the
Sunnis. The central government will supervise the
oil products and every governorate will receive
income according to the number of its inhabitants,”.
Another Sunni member, Haseeb Aref said:
"There are only pressures on us”. Mr. Aref then
apologized and said that because of the meeting with
the ambassador [Khalilzad] he did not have time to
say anything else. But a Kurdish member of the
committee, Mahmoud Othman, also acknowledged the
American pressures and said that there had been
constant meetings involving Mr. Khalilzad and many
Iraqi officials, including the president, the
speaker of the National Assembly and the president
of Iraqi Kurdistan. The article continues: “Iraq's
output of nearly two million barrels a day largely
comes from southern oil fields, while all of the 1.6
million barrels a day of exports flow through
southern terminals. Northern oil export routes
remain paralysed due to the security situation.”
I believe; that President Talabani of Iraq
government must consult with President Massoud
Barzani of S. Kurdistan in dealing with Kurdish
national oil ownership over its future revenues.
Mr. Khalilzad must stop pressuring the members of
the drafting committee of the constitution to make
wrong decisions, and cause the Kurds be cheated out
of their basic rights once the constitution has been
approved through the Oct 15 Referendum.
The Kurds have the right to keep their oil revenues
without relinquishing its revenues to the central
government after taking 5% of the total revenue.
This is utterly stupid, knowing the fact; that Kurds
are no longer responsible for the Arabs of South,
Shia and Sunni, because the Arabs of South have more
oil that Kurds at the present time and into the
future, with complete convenient access to the
Persian Gulf, while Kurds have to either airlift
their oil with oil tanker aircrafts or pay the cost
of transporting their oil to the shores in South or
through Turkey in the North.
Who are we trying to fool here? This is not the 1925
year of oil discovery by U.K., considering the fact
that Kurds had already known they had oil for
thousands of years, nor is this the 1927 the year of
the start of the production of oil by the “British
Petroleum Company” according to Mr. Kelly on the
panel in the Aug 9, 2005 Forum. Let’s not make any
of these “Pressured hasty decisions” if it is not
possible to clearly print the ownership of the oil
revenues of Kirkuk and all other Kurdish oil fields
only to benefit their rightful owners “the Kurds” as
a Clause in the constitution if Kurds decide to
sign.
Just how much oil wealth do you suppose Arabs in
South and Center must have to meet all their
national needs? They would have way more than they
need to live a decent life with peace and security.
The in fighting between the two Arab sects is not
the Kurdish problem, while the Kurds have been the
victims of genocides, mass killings, torture and
imprisonments by these “Arabs” for 84 years. The
Kurds are not baby sitters and bread givers to their
henchmen under Baghdad regimes. The Kurds are a
proud nation of their own. The Arabs already have 22
states. How many states Kurds have?
No, the Kurds must not give in to this future
robbery plot, while the British Petroleum Company
and their masters still owe them all the money made
since 1927. The Kurds will not pay them for another
century on top of all the killings and destructions
under the command of their “Presidents”. Are we
crazy you think sir?
The way I see it, this is heading to a great future
conflict between Arabs and Kurds again, unless we
lay the foundation correctly at this stage. The
Americans and especially the British have no right
to decide on the faith of Kurds’ national wealth,
which is not only for today, but for their future
generations to benefit from what they have been
deprived of.
Therefore, I strongly suggest President Bush study
the Aug 9, 2005 Forum as mentioned above if he has
not done so yet, and the same goes for Mr. Zalami
Khalilzad and President Talabani, who all seem to
lack the facts about the oil revenue figures and
Kurdish national ownership rights.
Let us not turn into oil revenue brokers from being
the Liberators if Liberation is what we went to
accomplish in this war. Let us make our martyrs’
families proud, and make friends with our strongest
ally in the region “the Kurds”, so that they in turn
continue to assist us in the tail end of this war in
fighting terrorism, and in the future would be
willing to give us a reasonable price from the sale
of their oil.
I conclude by quoting President Massoud Barzani’s
clear statement, which we must all respect. He
reiterated once again; that the Kurds will not back
down from their rights in the forthcoming Iraqi
constitution:
“We regard the issues of federalism, peshmerga,
Kirkuk and Kurdistan’s unique characteristics as
settled issues,” the president told Al-Arabyia
satellite program ‘From Iraq’ late Monday. He also
said that the Kurds have the full right to establish
an independent government but the regional and
international environment is not suitable for that
just now. The president said that the Kurds do not
go to Baghdad to beg for their rights.
“We are partner in the government of Baghdad,” he
told the program of the Arabic TV. In response to
the correspondent, Mr. Barzani said that no Iraqi
flag will be raised in Kurdistan until a new flag is
made to refer to the partnership of the Kurds and
Arabs in Iraq or the Iraqi government goes back to
the flag which was raised with the appearance of the
first republic of Iraq in 1958.
The Kurdish president also said to the Shiites in
Iraq that their withdrawal from what they agreed
upon with the Kurds about the future of Iraq will
cost them the collapse of the government that they
are now leading in Baghdad.
Steve Tataii, U.S.
Congressman since the 2002 elections
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