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So which Michael Rubin should we believe?
5.3.2008
By Shirwan H.Muhammed |
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March 5, 2008
Michael Rubin is a researcher in the American
Enterprise Institute who has shown a deep interest
in the Middle East for many months. He has written
much material, and he never lacks for confidence or
a point of view.
But Michael Rubin has become very puzzling. Or
perhaps there are two Michael Rubins.
In one of his writings earlier this year Rubin
begins by saying “Today, Iraqi Kurds enjoy the
country's highest living standard, level of foreign
investment,www.ekurd.net
and security.
International isolation has ended. European air
carriers bring travelers and even tourists from
Munich and Vienna directly to Sulaimaniyah and Erbil
. For people in Kurdistan Region it is a good
acknowledge having the high level of living in their
country.”
But by the end of the report, Rubin has changed
themes and is decrying what he alleges is the
dangerous Kurdish parties for corruption and
controlling over life. How can that be if, as he
asserts – correctly – at the beginning of the
article, the progress made by the citizens and
leaders of Kurdistan ?
So which Michael Rubin should we believe?
There are shortcomings as all leaders and officials
know about that truth and its variants, but if the
alleged corruption gets to the level as Rubin
stated, then all the development never took place.
His false and unproven allegations of corruption
fall flat just by looking at the openness and the
economic advancements that are occurring each day in
Kurdistan .
Evaluating the relationship between Kurds and
America , Rubin applies some tepid brushstrokes in
painting the second paradox of his writing. In an
interview with the Kurdistani Nwe Newspaper
(published on November, 7, 2006), Rubin declares
“Nowadays Kurds are one of the nearest allies of
America” and goes on the note how Kurds and America
have mutual interests and projects together and that
Kurdistan enjoys security and stability.
Those conditions continue today. But now Rubin waves
allegations of corruption, with little concrete
facts to support his assertions, to boost his claim
that there is no longer mutual interest between the
two.
So which Michael Rubin should we believe?
Rubin’s declaration that “ Iraq has changed but
Kurdistan has not” is far from the reality
discovered by Thomas Friedman from his on-the-ground
reporting. Freidman’s report ‘The Kurd’s Secret” (
New York Times, September 2, 2007) concludes that
the only optimistic region of Iraq in which all live
together is Kurdistan .
Friedman, who visited and saw and asked questions
directly, found and detailed a region full of
hopeful steps towards change. So it reinforces the
question of why has it not “changed” for Rubin and
his criteria for positive change. No U.S. troop
shave been killed in Kurdistan . The American
University in Sulaimaniyah has been launched.
Hundreds of villages have been renovated,www.ekurd.net
there are two
international airports, a plethora of newspapers,
satellite channels and Internet centers, and
abundant opportunities for many international
companies. Many see these as changes for the greater
good of all Iraq , not just Kurdistan .
So why has Rubin rejected existing changes in
Kurdistan ? As Friedman in an interview with
Kurdistani Nwe stated: “if Iraq fails, then this
will be a strong support for the true existence of
the U.S. in Kurdistan .” Rubin chooses to ignore the
larger canvas and to read only one sliver of
Kurdistan to insist that Kurdistan has not changed.
All of us witness the new look of Iraq . Rubin
should answer these questions before he wrote about
the future of the Kurds and American alliance. Who
is the serious ally of the U.S. in the new Iraq by
facing terrorism and endeavoring to rebuild new Iraq
? Which region in Iraq has the greatest economic
progression, development in the way of life and
becomes the symbol of reconstruction? Which part of
Iraq has got the mutual interests and projects with
the U.S. ?
So again I ask: are there two Michael Rubins? The
answer may be interesting, but the reality is
greater – there is one Iraqi Kurdistan and so far it
is moving in the true direction of peace, prosperity
and democracy.
Shirwan H. Muhammed a Kurdish journalist and
Political Editor, in Kurdistani Nwe Newspaper
(Published by PUK)
Shirwan H.Muhammed
Journalist & Political Editor
Kurdistani Nwe Newspaper (Daily)
You may reach the author via email
at: shirwan.knwe(at)yahoo.com
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