|
An open letter to the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) from a friend in
the U.S.
You are
blowing it.
Worse, you are blowing it at a time when, because of
the Abdul Rahman affair in Afghanistan, the West is
paying attention. At a time when the West is
beginning to ask itself some hard questions.
Questions like, "Do any of these people really share
our values? Or are they just telling us what we want
to hear in order to get our support, guns and
money?"
Questions like, "Is the cost in blood and treasure
to rebuild and protect these so-called democracies
really worth it?"
"Did my son really die to protect a regime in
Afghanistan where a person can be prosecuted and
punished with death because he converted from Islam
to Christianity?"
"Is my daughter risking her life to support a
government -- the Kurdistan Regional Government --
that allows Muslim religious "authorities" to issue
with impunity a fatal fatwa against the author of a
book on the status of women in Islam? A government
whose official response is not to protect the
author, or to prosecute those who have solicited his
murder, but instead to promise that "we will give
those who attack our prophets a sentence so that
they can be a lesson for everyone?"
Consider the latest news
that Americans have received from Iraqi-Kurdistan:
● On March 16, 2006, The New York Times had a
front page story about the recent protest in Halabja
entitled "Kurds destroy shrine in rage at
leadership." A story that quoted Emad Ahmad, the
acting KRG Regional Prime Minister, as indicating
that Islamic radicals were to blame, only to
immediately show that such allegations were pure
propaganda:
"There is an Islamic opposition movement in Halabja,
though there were no visible signs it had a role in
organizing the demonstration.
"By all appearances, the attack on the Halabja
Monument was an authentic expression of popular
rage. There were young and old in the crowd, men and
women. Most seemed to view the museum, which was
inaugurated in September 2003 at a ceremony attended
by then Secretary of State Colin Powell, as the prop
of an unjust government. "
The perception in the West is that people who are
willing to destroy a monument to their own suffering
must be honestly and justifiably angry. That
perception is not without some merit. Perhaps more
importantly for the KRG, when the story reaches the
front page of The New York Times, it is far too late
to blame the problem on "Islamic radicals" or
"foreigners." Nobody is buying it.
● On March 17, 2006, Time magazine had a web
exclusive article entitled "Trouble in Kurdistan."
The article informed its American audience that
"Kurdistan is a veritable police state," where "the
courts in the region are almost completely
politicized, with judges often rubber-stamping party
decisions." A place where "demonstrations are banned
unless they are party-sponsored." A place where
dissenters who are released from prison after being
held without cause for seven or eight months are
told "they are lucky to be alive and to keep quiet."
The article informed its American audience that the
Halabja incident "reflected the fact that the KDP
and PUK rule Kurdistan in part by force and fear."
● On March 18, 2006, Kurdish Media reported
that a political party, the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK), arrested Hawlati correspondent
Hawez Hawezi because he wrote an article critical of
Kurdistan’s administration. In addition to the
obvious trampling of freedom of speech, what is a
political party doing arresting anyone?
● On March 23, 2006, Kurdish Media
reported that, relying on Baathist law, KRG
Investigative Judge Karwan Wrya Ali said the
punishment for destroying government property is
life in prison or death by hanging, and "anyone
convicted of setting the [Halabja] monument on fire
will be executed." Didn't Americans, Britons and
other members of the coalition of the willing die in
order to do away with Baathist law?
● On March 26 and 27, 2006, Reuters and The
New York Times reported that Dr. Kamal Qadir (aka
Kamal Karim) was sentenced to one and one half years
in prison for "defaming" the president of the
Kurdistan Regional Government, Masoud Barzani, in
articles on a Kurdish website that accused Barzani
and his Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of
corruption and abuse of power. Most Americans will
not be impressed by Judge Faridoun Abdullah's
explanation that:
"We helped him. We took into consideration that he
is an academic and has served in the education
field. So we sentenced him to a year and a half.
Otherwise we would have sentenced him to five
years."
Americans will also not be reassured by the fact
that Dr. Qadir was originally sentenced to thirty
years in prison.
Regarding these recent news stories, yes, Americans
understand the desire, and indeed need, for
solidarity in the face of well-armed foes. However,
they also understand that "solidarity" alone is far
too often shorthand for dictatorship and corruption.
Dictatorship and corruption that lead to a loss of
domestic, and then foreign, support. Witness Fatah
in Palestine. Witness Halabja.
Yes, you have the support of President George
Bush... for two more years. But what after that?
Support, if the above news stories are repeated,
from the next U.S. president if he is a Democrat?
Don't kid yourselves. Support, at the same level as
now, of the next U.S. president if he is a
Republican? Don't be so sure.
Hard-core Republicans and Bush supports are starting
to ask questions. When confronted with evidence that
the KRG does not oppose fatal fatwas against
authors, some have already come to the conclusion
that they were "gullible" to believe "all these
glowing reports about Kurdistan." They now counsel
each other to fight their "natural inclination to
believe that the Kurds are any different."
This is not good news.
Even leaving aside traditional isolationists, U.S.
citizens who want lower taxes or to decrease the
deficit, and people who want health care for
Americans as opposed to health care for Iraqis, a
new foreign policy ideology of, let us say, more
focused and "robust" interventionism is rising in
the U.S. and the West. The proponents of this
ideology are colloquially referred to as "Derbocons"
or crudely (if not entirely inaccurately) "To Hell
with Them Hawks." They are interventionists whose
only slightly tongue-in-cheek motto is "rubble
doesn't make trouble."
The to Hell with Them Hawks are people who have
given up on nation-building, if they ever believed
in it. Citizens of the U.S. and the West who have
grown impatient with supporting purported allies who
don't really share our values, but want only to
"share" our money and, if necessary, the blood of
our children. People who are isolationists unless we
are attacked, or believers in the preemptive strike
-- with the emphasis on the word "strike." In both
cases their conversations and position papers
concerning "intervention" do not refer to nation
building, but instead include references to Pearl
Harbor, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the fire bombing of
Dresden. The fact that Tokyo was destroyed using
conventional weapons is also a topic for
conversation.
The to Hell with Them Hawks are people who have come
to the conclusion that while we may not be good at
nation building, we are still damn good at blowing
stuff up.
The to Hell with Them Hawks are willing to
intervene, but only when necessary. The world might
find such intervention less than constructive.
In other words, everyone is losing patience.
On a personal note, I sadly realize that I cannot
travel to Iraqi-Kurdistan. Ever since I began
reading and writing about the aspirations of the
Kurdish people for independence, democracy, and
constitutional rights, I had hoped to travel there
one day. I have, for example, repeatedly praised
President Barzani for offering refuge to Christians,
as well as for condemning terrorist attacks on
coalition forces as not constituting legitimate
"resistance."
However, I have also criticized the KRG for its
prosecution and jailing of Dr. Qadir in this and
earlier articles. As a result, I can look forward to
a prison sentence if I ever travel to
Iraqi-Kurdistan. Unfortunately, unlike Dr. Qadir, I
am not an academic, so it appears I would be facing
five years in prison instead of only a year and a
half. Forgive me for not being willing to run the
risk.
Obviously, the fact that I cannot travel to
Iraqi-Kurdistan is of no real importance. The fact
that someone such as myself, a supporter of
independence, freedom, democracy and constitutional
rights for the Kurdish people, has to be afraid to
go there may tell you something.
Finally, some in the KRG, and indeed some Kurds, may
construe this article as destructive. As
mean-spirited. As something other than
well-intentioned. Or, at the very least, as bad
publicity. It is not so intended. Please consider
this a well-intentioned warning. A wake-up call. The
proverbial canary in the coal-mine. If necessary, be
angry at the messenger, but heed the message.
Values matter. Rights matter. The U.S. and the West
really are paying attention.
Don't
blow it.
UPDATE: 3/27/06 at 12:56 a.m.: Also see the
excellent Los Angeles Times article this date about
Dr. Kamal Qadir (aka Kamal Karim):
Free Press Stumbles in Kurdistan. The
message to the KRG is clear -- the U.S. and the West
are paying close attention.
UPDATE: 3/27/06 at 1:32 a.m.: The Washington
Post is also covering the story of Dr. Kamal Qadir (aka
Kamal Kadir Karim):
Kurd Draws Jail Again In Press Freedom Case.
http://theisoughtproblem.blogspot.com
Top |
® 