Withdrawal would bring chaos, Kurd tells OSU
audience
November 17, 2006
American troops should stay in Iraq until the
country is stable and secure, the son of the
president of Iraq said in a speech at Ohio State
University last night.
Qubad Talabani, who also represents the Kurdistan
Regional Government in Washington, said Iraqi
institutions are too weak for the United States to
withdraw. Talabani's father is Jalal Talabani.
"If you exit Iraq now, it will lead to chaos and
instability in our country," he said. "I still say
it was the right thing to do."
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Qubad J. Talabani, representative of Kurdistan's
government to the U.S.
Photo:CSIS |
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It was a twist, given that he represents the Kurdish
region in northern Iraq, one of the most stable and
prosperous areas.
Talabani was speaking before an audience of about
100 OSU students, who braved the rain to hear him
speak at the McPherson Laboratory building on
campus.
While acknowledging the country has problems,
Talabani noted it isn't all bad. "We have made
progress. We do have a constitution, we do have a
national unity government, but it's far from ideal,"
he said.
The region that Talabani represents is distinct from
other areas of Iraq, in that it has been more
stable, more secure and more secular. The area,
which borders Turkey, has a 6 million population
dominated by Kurds, an ethnic minority in Iraq.
That region also has largely been autonomous since
the U.S. and United Kingdom enacted a no-fly zone
over the area in 1991, after Operation Desert Storm,
which kept Saddam Hussein at bay.
It has allowed the region to develop quicker than
other areas, he said. "It's one of the few success
stories in the Middle East."
To preserve that autonomy, Talabani said the Kurdish
government wants a federal system in Iraq that
allows the provinces to handle most of the
day-to-day decisions that affect citizens.
"I would say Iraq is a country that was founded by a
faulty logic 80 years ago," he said.
The national government, he said, should still
control such things as foreign policy.
In addition to urging American patience, Talabani
said, the U.S. military should employ more
civil-affairs battalions that work on local projects
such as water purification or school construction.
"Your army is designed to win wars, and it does so
very well," he said. "There has to be a greater
civil/military partnership."
That message resonated with Jason Schreyer, an OSU
student who served with the Army's 82nd Airborne in
Iraq from 2000 through 2004. He knew then that the
U.S. needed to deploy more civil-affairs groups.
"I agree with him that we need to stay in Iraq until
the job is done," said Schreyer, who also is a
fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of
Democracies, which organized last night's event.
columbusdispatch com
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