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Dire consequences may await Kurds when
American troops exit Iraq
25.11.2008
By Rauf Naqishbendi
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November 25, 2008
The Iraqi government and U.S. officials recently
signed a pact regarding American troops withdrawal,
that may well prove to be one of the most costly
diplomatic blunders in U.S. history. It will
compromise Iraq’s future and the fate of all Iraqis,
subjecting them to the vices of Iranian Mullahs. The
balance of power in the Middle East will shift in
favor of Iran, posing a grave threat to U.S.
interests and the security of its allies in the
region. Moreover, America's only real friends in the
Islam world, the Kurds, will suffer another genocide
at the hands of Arabs who are known for their
brutality toward Kurds, assisted by the Turks who
are notorious for practicing genocide against
defenseless people.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iraq's
foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari signed a broad
document(17 November 2008) setting the American
troop pullout from Iraq by December 2011. Mr. Zebari,
a Kurd has just endorsed genocide against his people
and placed his signature on a document assenting to
mass Kurdish slaughter by Turks, Iranians, and
Arabs. |
Rauf Naqishbendi |
In
the meantime, Secretary Rice signed a document
welcoming Iranian domination in a volatile Middle
East and accepting America’s defeat. In a nutshell,
this hairball agreement has been a victory for the
Iranians and Al-Qaeda, and a death certificate for a
federated Iraq with an autonomous Kurdistan region,
let alone a sovereign Kurdish state.
President George Bush’s legacy would have been
enhanced if his Iraqi invasion succeeded in
establishing a democratic Iraq which would have
isolated and weakened the Iranian regime and
resulted in regime change in Iran. That was a
realistic assumption were America to win the peace
in Iraq. But failure to secure peace has derailed
every attempt to deflate Iran. Instead, it dealt
Iran an upper hand in the region and elevated its
political influences. As long as Iranians are in
contention with American interests in the Middle
East, this situation will be detrimental to the
interest of the U.S. and its allies in the region.
Economically, a combined Iran and Iraq would
constitute a petroleum powerhouse that could disrupt
the world economy by driving oil prices up and
controlling its flow to the world market.
Pursuing the troop pullout from Iraq has been Iran’s
goal since the ousting of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Iranian Mullahs have been fearful of the U.S.
military presence in their neighboring country,
knowing that an ultimate goal would be to render
regime change in Iran. In this context the consensus
for U.S. military withdrawals from Iraq has been
more in line with Iranian demands rather than
demands from the Iraqi people. Remarkably Iran
hasn’t used much of their monetary or military
resources in this pursuit, preferring instead to let
loyalists from the Iraqi government act on their
behalf. Iraqi Shiite leaders are all granted asylum
from Iran.
They are indoctrinated, sponsored and supported by
Iran, and while they pay lip service to America,
they are solemn Iranian loyalists. The perception of
seasoned observers confirms that they have been
acting as agents of Iranian influence. In essence,
it is the Iranians rather than the Americans who are
exercising political power and influence over Iraq.
Essentially when U.S. steps out of Iraq,www.ekurd.net
the Iranians will step
in. The Iraqi government will become a franchise of
the Iranian regime. This will broaden Iranian
influence in the Middle East. Iran already enjoys
solidarity with the Syrian government, leverages
enormous influence over Hezbollah in Lebanon, and
has the ability to sway power over terrorist
organization in Palestine. This leaves Israel and
other U.S. allies at a grave disadvantage.
Kurds, who have been pro-American and battled
Saddam’s regime along with the Americans, face
annihilation with the absence of American troops in
Iraq. The Kurds are a minority locked between three
anti-American countries - Syria, Turkey and Iran -
with all three opposed to Kurdish freedom and united
in crushing their demand for freedom. Surely the
Kurds will not be able to defend themselves. The
Kurds realize how ominous is the situation that
faces them. Every single Iraqi government since the
inception of Iraq has engaged in mass slaughter of
the Kurdish population. The last Iraqi Arab leader
in this line was Saddam, who committed genocide
against Kurds. Kurdish consternation is well
founded. Arabs, Turks, and Persians never had a
shortage of tyrannical leaders toward Kurds. History
bears witness to the tragedies inflicted upon Kurds
at the hands of Turks, Arabs and Persians from the
birth of Islam and uninterrupted to the present
time.
The biggest loser in this ordeal will be Kurds who
enjoyed great power in the Iraqi government during
the early years of U.S. occupation. Foolishly,
Kurdish leaders used their military and political
clout to advance peace and security in Iraqi Arabia.
While this was a benefit to both Arabs and
American-Iraq policy, it left their Kurdish
constituents dreams for independence with neither
foundation nor political leverage. Kurds know full
well that the bulwark necessary to shield them from
the brutality of their neighboring nations is a
sovereign Kurdish state, yet their leaders
irresponsibly have done little toward this end.
Regardless of who will prevail after the U.S.
military withdrawal in Iraq, Kurdish achievements
under U.S. occupation will be erased much faster
than it was earned. Kurds need American protection
and without U.S. protection they will be consumed by
anti-American forces in the region. In fact, Kurds
in the Arab world are detested as much as Israel,
and many Arab Mullahs have declared Jihad against
Kurds, labeling them as “infidel” for their
friendship with America. Kurds are an easy target
for their fanatic belligerent neighboring nations
for they are defenseless. To make the matter worse,www.ekurd.net
the U.S. has been an
ally and supporter of every nation abusive toward
the Kurds in the past and present. Kurdish call for
justice perhaps will be answered by President-Elect
Barack Obama should he decide to return sanity to
U.S. foreign policy and reassert America's
perception of human rights.
The pact for US troop withdrawal may not hold true
for decades to come. But if it does, December 31,
2011 will bring an end to American military forces
in Iraq. If appropriate measures are not set in
place before then, January 1st 2012 may well see the
commencement of another round of genocide against
defenseless Kurds.
Rauf Naqishbendi is a contributing columnist for
Kurdish Websites, American Chronicle and has written
Op/Ed pages for the Los Angeles Times. He has just
completed his memoirs entitled "The Garden Of The
Poets" which reads as a novel depicting his
experience and the subsequent 1988 bombing of his
hometown with chemical and biological weapons by
Saddam Hussein. It is the story of his people's
suffering. Rauf Naqishbendi is a software engineer
in San Francisco Bay Area.
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