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U.S. ambassador praises Kurdistan region
of Iraq as 'shining example' 23.3.2007 |
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March 23, 2007
Erbil, Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- This is
what Iraq was supposed to look like four years after
Saddam Hussein's fall: a construction boom of
apartment blocs and commercial buildings,
universities full of students, an airport with
direct flights to Europe and the Middle East, and
visitors pouring in.
Outgoing U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad visited
"the other Iraq" yesterday flying to the relatively
peaceful Kurdistan autonomous region in the north,
showing off some fruits of the multibillion dollar
U.S. reconstruction effort even as other parts of
the country remain engulfed in bloodshed.
"All of Iraq is not like Baghdad," said Khalilzad,
President Bush's nominee as U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations. |
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad |
But Khalilzad conceded
later in the tour that Iraqis still needed "to make
the compromises necessary to reduce the sources of
violence." He also said some of Iraq's neighbors
"have not behaved as neighbors should ... rather put
fuel on the fire."
Khalilzad's first stop was a ribbon-cutting ceremony
at a $200 million water treatment plant outside
Irbil that serves about 330,000 people. Khalilzad,
in one of his trademark dark suits, sat on a sofa
under a tent festooned with Kurdish flags and
exchanged pleasantries with Kurdistan's Prime
Minister Nechirvan Barzani as a brass band played
and folk dancers performed.
The Iraqi flag was nowhere in sight. To many in the
Kurdish north, the national banner symbolizes years
of oppression under Saddam, who unleashed chemical
weapons against them in a 1980s military campaign.
Khalilzad praised the region as a "shining example
of what's possible in Iraq when local leaders make a
commitment to each other to work together." But he
urged local authorities to stamp out corruption and
reinforce the rule of law.
He also congratulated leaders for reaching agreement
with the central government on draft legislation to
share Iraq's oil wealth and urged them to do more to
achieve a "national compact" between the country's
Sunni Arab, Shiite Muslim and Kurdish communities.
Barzani, however, warned that Kurds expected their
"just demands" to be met. Among them, he said, were
a fair share of national revenues and foreign
reconstruction funds, freedom to develop their
region and a promised referendum by year's end on
the future of the disputed city of Kirkuk, which
Kurds hope to incorporate into their autonomous
region.
"Our patience is not unlimited," Barzani said. "What
was taken from us by force must be returned to us
peacefully and democratically."
Ethnic violence is on the rise in Kirkuk, where
Arabs and Turkmens also have staked claims to
control the oil-rich city.
Khalilzad then headed into the hills for a farewell
call and lunch with Kurdistan regional President
Massoud Barzani. The nearly half-mile-long convoy
raced through verdant fields, jammed with families
spending a balmy spring afternoon picnicking and
flying kites.
But this was also a working trip. In Sulaymaniyah,
Khalilzad huddled with Iraqi President Jalal
Talabani to put the finishing touches on proposals
to reverse the laws that removed former ranking
members of Saddam's Baath party from office.
Reforming those laws has been a key demand of Sunni
Arabs, whose frustration and mounting suspicion of
Iraq's Shiite-Muslim-led government has fueled
violence.
Khalilzad, a Sunni from Afghanistan, spent much of
his 21-month tenure as ambassador in such meetings,
trying to persuade Iraq's ethnic and religious
leaders to work together to undercut support for the
insurgency.
Khalilzad is credited with helping Iraqis form an
inclusive government after 2005 elections and with
helping them reach agreement on a constitution
through months of negotiations.
Khalilzad said he would leave Iraq within days.
Aides declined to specify the date, citing security
concerns. Ryan Crocker, who most recently served as
U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, is expected to arrive
soon after to replace him.
Talabani, a former Kurdish guerrilla fighter, said
he was proud to have "such a good comrade in arms."
"We both struggled for liberation and we both, I
think, achieved good results," Talabani said.
Khalilzad, who met Talabani when the United States
enforced a no-fly zone over the Kurdish region in
the 1990s, promised to return.
"I have Kurdistan and Iraq in my blood and my
heart," he said repeatedly throughout the day. "No
matter where I am or what position I might hold, I
will do my very best to be of service."
AP | latimes com
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