Former U.S. diplomat: Iraq 'has already'
split up
25.8.2006
Special to W. Tribune | |
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WASHINGTON, August 25,
2006, -- A former U.S. ambassador said Iraq has disintegrated. Peter
Galbraith, a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia, said Iraq was no
longer a unified country. Galbraith said the Kurds have already
created an independent state in northern Iraq.
"I don't advocate the breaking up of Iraq," Galbraith told the
Washington-based Middle East Institute. "It has already
disintegrated."
Galbraith, an adviser to the Kurdistan government, said the Kurds
have already achieved an independent state in all but name. He said
that formal independence as well as a seat at the United Nations
would eventually take place despite Turkish opposition, Middle East
Newsline reported.
"I haven't met a single Kurd who would say 'I prefer to live in
Iraq' rather than in an independent Kurdistan," Galbraith said on
Aug. 21. "There's no chance to persuade the Kurds to give up their
independence." |
Peter Galbraith, a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia |
Galbraith urged the Bush administration to support an independent
Kurdistan. He called on the United States to redeploy its troops
from Iraq's Shi'ite and Sunni regions to the Kurdish-held north.
Despite fierce opposition, Turkey would eventually accept a Kurdish
state, Galbraith said. He said Ankara would not try to stop Kurdish
ambitions through military means, adding that Turkey could influence
an independent Kurdistan through diplomacy and trade.
"The best strategy is good relations with Kurdistan, and that's
actually what is happening on the ground," Galbraith said. "Turkey
is by far the largest investor in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Turkish
government has promoted investments in Kurdistan."
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