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Qubad Talabani: New Iraq would be crippled
if U.S. forces left
22.3.2006
By Victor Manuel Ramos |
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March 22, 2006, - A
representative of the Kurdistan region of Iraq in
Washington, and son of that Iraqi president, told
Central Floridians on Tuesday that the ongoing
effort for a new Iraq would be crippled if U.S.
forces left anytime soon.
In that sense, the message of Qubad Talabani, 28,
also an adviser to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani,
was not so different from that of President Bush.
The U.S., he said, must stay the course.
"Only time will tell how long this goes on for,"
Talabani said, "but that doesn't mean that we have
to give up the chase."
About 200 residents and students at a lecture at the
University of Central Florida got the chance to hear
Talabani express the viewpoint of Kurds -- one of
the three ethnic and religious groups vying for
influence in Iraq -- just as the national debate on
the U.S.-led intervention in that troubled nation
intensifies. |
Qubad Talabani, Washington spokesman for the
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan |
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Talabani presented Iraq in a different light, saying
the news from the battlefront is not nearly as bad
as it seems. Progress is downplayed, he said,
because of casualties and what he called the
"sectarian tensions" that others have labeled a
civil war.
The new Iraqi government and U.S. officials have
been dealing with strife among religious and
political factions. Militias have formed. In
addition to Kurds, who control northern Iraq, there
are the Shiite majority in the south and Sunnis in
the west, who feel pushed aside under current rule.
Add al-Qaeda and Iranian influence to the mix, and
that's Iraq.
"But I'm here to tell you," he said, "that not
everything happening in Iraq is bad." The country,
he said, is largely stable, with fighting in a
handful of areas while most of Iraq functions
calmly. Schools and hospitals are opening, he said,
and trained Iraqis are fighting terrorists. Plus,
the country held three elections in a little more
than a year.
Jeremy Roth, a UCF junior majoring in political
science, told Talabani that the U.S. contributed to
Iraq's problems, initially supporting Saddam
Hussein. Talabani replied that the U.S. has worked
hard to correct its errors by committing its sons
and daughters to the war.
"He is a diplomat, and I expected that kind of
answer," Roth said. "I'm outraged at our resources
being tied there with so many pressing matters
here."
J. Pat Fuller, a Brevard Community College economics
professor, left with a different view.
"It's encouraging that [Talabani] expressed hope,"
Fuller said. "It behooves us all to stand behind our
forces. We are doing the right thing. It's at a
terrible cost, but somebody has to do it."
orlandosentinel.com
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