Jan 25, - Iraq, as a
nation, is like "a patient that has had a traumatic
upbringing."
Qubad Talabani, the son of the current president of
Iraq, spoke Tuesday night at James Madison
University on the future of his country. Talabani,
who worked with U.S. officials after Saddam
Hussein’s downfall, and who has discussed Iraq on
CNN and other networks, addressed a crowd of about
200 students.
Talabani said the nation is now getting its
"therapy." But it will take a while, he warned.
"Iraq is undergoing a major transformation — a
transformation from a centralized tyranny to a
federal democracy," Talabani said. "This is not
going to happen overnight, and it’s not going to be
a clean break from tyranny to freedom."
Ethnic Problems Complicate Matter
Talabani said Iraq is having difficulty making the
transition to freedom for several reasons. The seeds
of chaos were sown 80 years ago, when the British
took over a former protectorate of the Ottoman
Empire after World War I, he said.
Although the nation was populated by many distinct
nationalities — Kurds, Shiites, Sunni, Turkmen and
others — the British put the Sunni minority in
charge. That led to a pattern of "misrule" that
culminated in Saddam Hussein, Talabani said. |
Qubad Talabani, Washington spokesman for the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, son of the president
of Iraq, told a JMU audience on Tuesday that
transition to democracy in Iraq "is not going to
happen overnight, and it’s not going to be a clean
break from tyranny to freedom."
Photo: DNRonline by Thomas J. Turney |
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Now, the Kurds and Shiites, who had been oppressed
under Saddam, are in charge. As for the Sunnis,
"their world has come crashing down," he said.
But, speaking as a Kurd, Talabani said an ideal
Iraqi government would share power with the Sunnis.
"We now have to find a framework, a mechanism, to
build a national unity government, where Sunnis,
Shiites and Kurds … work together for the benefit of
the country," he said.
Talabani noted that in the wake of the Iraqi
elections in December, more and more Sunnis are
coming around. Talabani called their decision to
participate in the political process a welcome
change from last year, when Sunnis boycotted an
earlier round of voting.
As a result, the new government, to be seated this
year, will be more representative of the Iraqi
people, he said.
Federalism And Oil Also Key Issues
Another key issue is federalism — or the degree to
which Iraq will remain a congruent whole. If the
nation splits apart, the Kurds will get the oil-rich
north, the Shiites will get the oil-rich south,
while the Sunnis are left with the impoverished
middle.
Talabani responded to those fears by saying that
federalism will save Iraq, not split it. With a
strong voice in Iraqi politics, Kurdistan will
remain part of the Iraqi nation.
Without that strong voice, the Kurds can go their
own separate way, and probably will. The Shiites
might do the same, he warned.
The next step in keeping the union strong is to make
sure Iraq’s oil wealth is distributed fairly
throughout the nation. This wasn’t done under Saddam
Hussein, Talabani said.
Nation Remains Divided, But …
Talabani added that as a diverse body is seated in
parliament this year, consensus and compromise will
follow. However, he noted that national unity is
still far off — in the 2005 elections, people still
voted along ethnic lines.
"Given the political vacuum that exists, given the
insecurity that exists … people are fearful in Iraq,
and they cling to the thing that will protect them,"
he said. "People shouldn’t be surprised that there
is not this political centrist movement."
However, those divisions may help. It assures that a
totalitarian government can never again arise in
Iraq, Talabani said.
"Iraq will never again have one entity that makes
decisions on behalf of Iraq. Those days are over.
The days of the centralized tyranny are over," he
said.
And, he added, the Kurds and Shiites — by far the
majority — are grateful to the United States for
making it happen.
Will Ethnicity Become A Problem?
Blue Ridge Community College student Zainab Jabar,
20, of Harrisonburg, attended Talabani’s talk. She
identified herself as an Iraqi first, and as a Sunni
second.
Jabar took exception to some of Talabani’s speech —
especially his comments about a strong Kurdistan.
She noticed that he regarded as Kurdish her home
city of Kirkuk.
"The rest of the people who live in Kirkuk, who are
Shi’a or Sunnis or Turkmen — we also have some
Christian people who live up there — they’re not
going to agree with that. And that’s going to cause
problems for the Kurds," she said.
And the fact that Kirkuk is rich in oil will fan the
flames, Jabar predicted.
With Jabar was her friend Sheinei Saleem, who
identified herself as Kurdish first, and Iraqi
second.
Saleem, 21, a junior at JMU, was grateful for the
chance to hear a fellow Kurd speak. Talabani was
able to put into words many of the things she
believes, but couldn’t fully articulate.
She cited some audience members’ criticism of
President Bush using weapons of mass destruction as
a justification for going to war against Iraq — a
charge later proved false.
"He said that should not be the only criterion for
the U.S. having gone to war with Saddam. Having
lived through Saddam’s dictatorship, I agree with
that very much. Like a lot of people, I’m very happy
to be liberated from him."
She was also struck by his comments about the Kurds
withdrawing from Iraq to form their own state. She
found the concept exciting, but acknowledged that it
would also be "gruesome," since it meant that Iraq
as a unified nation had failed spectacularly.
Talabani’s visit to was set up by JMU students
Samier Mansur of the Muslim Student Association and
David Centofante of the Foundation for the Defense
of Democracies, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank
that researches terrorism and national security.
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