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Of Kurds and Arabs: beyond ignorance…The
allegedly free press
7.8.2008
By Gerald A. Honigman, eKurd.net Contributing Writer
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August
7, 2008
Gerald A. Honigman, (ekurd.net)
If it was just another State Department travesty, I
could accept it.
After all, I’m used to the Foggy Folks doing such
things as fighting President Truman over his
supporting Israel’s very rebirth; concocting latter
day Arafatian Fatah “good cops” to force down
Israel’s throat (knowing that on the issue of a
permanent Jewish Israel, Abbas’s boys totally agree
with the Hamas “bad cops”); demanding that Israel
itself supply weapons to Fatah--which has as much,
if not more, Jewish blood on its hands than Hamas--only
to see such things as yeshiva students later
massacred as a result; setting up equivalency
standards whereby murderer and those in pursuit are
placed on the same moral plane; and so forth.
The Arabists who wield too much say at foggy Bottom
have played such games for well over a half century
now. |
Gerald A. Honigman is a Florida educator who has done extensive
doctoral studies in Middle Eastern Affairs. He has created and
conducted counter-Arab propaganda programs for college youth, has
lectured on numerous campuses and other platforms, and has publicly
debated many Arab spokesmen. His articles and op-eds have been
published in dozens of newspapers, magazines, academic journals and
websites all around the world. |
Demanding a second, not
first, state for Arabs within the original 1920
borders of the Mandate of Palestine (Jordan, sitting
on the lion’s share of the land, carved out in
1922), the State Department has no problem
pressuring Israel to make one suicidal concession
after another so that Arab state # 22 may arise.
One of the latest issues involved Arab students
(“Gaza Fulbright Scholars”) Secretary Rice wanted
Israel to allow to come to America to study. Reports
stated she was fuming over Israel’s reluctance to
grant this request for these particular students.
Guess what…? Turns out State has now also “seen the
light” on this matter (connections to terror groups,
etc.). Don’t expect any apologies, however.
What’s worse, in all the decades I’ve closely
followed the Middle East, I can’t recall any Foggy
Folk “fuming” over anything Arabs did--be it blowing
up Jewish teens in nightclubs,www.ekurd.net
students on buses,
mothers and babies in pizzerias, gassing and
massacring Kurds, Assyrians, Copts, black Africans
in the Sudan, or Berbers in the rest of North
Africa, and so forth. Nonetheless, Baker, Rice,
Dulles, etc. fume/fumed a lot over Jews, however.
No doubt, America needed oil, and--like many other
nations--did what it could to make nice to those who
would one day be controlling the spigots. Many of
the latter are Arabs. Not to mention that long
before former Secretaries of State James Baker made
$$$ millions and Condoleezza Rice had a Chevron oil
tanker named for her, other Foggy Folks, under cover
of the flag, also prospered via that oil spigot.
So, that brings me to the real problem of this
current article…the press.
As with the Foggy Folks, I’m sure there are bright
people in the print and other media. So, the problem
cannot simply be due to ignorance…which makes it
much worse.
Furthermore, far too few of us have written of this
problem--as glaring as it is--and far too many
academics have shamed themselves by indulging in
such hypocrisy as well.
The problem I’m speaking of is the double standards
the press constantly uses when covering the Arabs’
quest for state # 22 versus the plight of some
thirty-five million stateless Kurds.
A free press is one of the cornerstones of a true
democracy…yet ours routinely acts like it takes its
cue from the State Department when it comes to the
Middle East. State has the same animus and set of
Arab-colored glasses when it comes to Kurds as it
has with Hebrews. As just one of numerous examples,
when--as National Security Advisor--Dr. Rice spoke
at the U.S. Institute of Peace on August 19, 2004,
here's some of what she said about the birth of Arab
state # 22:
The President believes that the Palestinian people
(Arabs) deserve not merely their own state, but a
just and democratic state that serves their
interests and fulfills their decent aspiration.
She later went on to say something to the effect
that there would be no greater cause than the birth
of Palestine.
Now contrast this with how, on this same occasion,
she simply brushed off a question regarding a
Kurdish referendum on independence (which showed
that at least 80% of Kurds wanted this) with the
following disdain:
It's the role of leadership to convince people that
they really ought to stay in the same body.
Sucking the Arab oil teat quite well since leaving
office, James Baker led the Baker-Hamilton
Commission (Iraq Study Group) for President Bush not
long ago and proposed similar shaft the Kurds ideas.
The list, unfortunately, goes on and on.
We’re supposed to expect better of our press, but it
has mostly behaved as if the Foggy Folks are its
mentors.
Countless editorials and op-eds have been written on
behalf of the birth of Arab state # 22--knowing full
well that Arabs of either stripe have no intention
of living peacefully with a Jewish neighbor--regardless
of its size. A visit to either good or bad cops’
maps, textbooks, websites, and so forth soon reveals
this.
Yet I still have not seen the press editorial
calling for the birth of Kurdish State # 1…or even
for meaningful Kurdish autonomy. The same papers who
call Arabs who blow up buses “militants” have no
problem calling the PKK in Turkey “terrorists.” Why
the double standards? Where’s the courage of a free
press to confront such injustice?
Are there problems associated with addressing the
aspirations of tens of millions of repeatedly used
and abused native, stateless Kurds?
Sure, but no more--indeed less--than with those
associated with the creation of Arab state # 22.
I have written of this many times before, such as in
State Department Math…
http://www.krg.org/articles/detail.asp?rnr=77&lngnr=12&anr=6589&smap=.
Keep in mind that Kurds were indeed promised such a
state in the north of Mesopotamia after World War I
but were shafted by…guess what?
British petroleum politics and Arab nationalism.
A united, Arab-controlled Iraq was created instead
in all of the former Mandate of Mesopotamia.
Among other places, you can find my work on this
(while a doctoral student) on Paris’s acclaimed
Institut d’Etudes Politique (Science Po) recommended
reference list:
http://bibliotheque.sciences-po.fr/produits/bibliographies/question_kurde.htm
Keep in mind that all the Kurds are asking for is
meaningful autonomy within a federated Iraq--far
less than what they truly deserve. But to have the
former, they must secure their finances as well. And
that brings me to the press again…
Recently, just days apart, my local paper carried
photos and articles supplied by the Associated Press
(July 29th and August 3rd).
One showed a “Palestinian” (Arab) boy with “The Dome
Of The Rock Mosque” in the background.
The overwhelmingly vast majority of the time, what’s
missing from such reporting to mostly unaware
readers is that that mosque was deliberately
built--after the Arabs’ own imperial conquest of
Israel in the 7th century C.E.--on the Temple Mount
of the Jews. Using this case as an example, the most
you’ll read is that the place is holy to three
faiths and such.
The second piece, by the AP’s Robert Reid, was
entitled, “Kurdish Demands Over Kirkuk Spur
Protest.”
The Kirkuk and Mosul region is where the second half
of Iraq’s major oil deposits are located. After the
Brits got a favorable decision on the Mosul Question
from the League of Nations in 1925, the abortion of
promises of independence to the Kurds became
complete.
Now, if Israel captured Arab oil fields, Judaized
the area, and so forth, the whole world would have a
hissy fit. Actually, it did develop the Abu Rodeis
oil fields in the Sinai, captured as a result of the
‘67 War started when Egypt blockaded Israel at the
Straits of Tiran. Subsequently,www.ekurd.net
in return for a very
cold peace (the arms and explosives coming into Gaza
to kill Jews are entering largely via Egypt), Israel
gave up its chance at energy independence by
returning the whole shebang to Egypt.
Now, apply this to Iraq.
Why is it okay for Arabs and Iranians to control
'their' oil, but not so for Kurds?
And please don't respond--as that second article
did--that Kirkuk is composed of mixed nationalities
(largely due to Saddam's forced Arabization of the
area).
Kirkuk is as Kurdish as Londonistan--er, I mean
London-- is British…despite all of those other
nationalities now living there. Iran's major oil
fields are in its western province of Khuzestan…but
that area has been known as Arabistan for
centuries…Guess why?
There is no doubt that Kurds lived in the area of
the Mosul and Kirkuk oil fields for millennia before
a Turk or Arab even knew it existed. As Hurrians,
Kassites, Medes, Guti, and so forth, they were
neighbors of the Jews. As for the presence of some
Turkmen as well, recall that, besides Turkey, there
are a half dozen other Asiatic Turkic states as
well. It’s the Kurds who are still lacking a
national liberation…
We Americans take pride in our sense of fair play.
We can’t do much about the State Department’s
shameful shenanigans--except elect strong Presidents
(as with Truman )--while making sure that both the
latter and Congress also strongly receive our
messages.
But we can demand that our press lives up to the
source of pride it should be for any free
nation--let alone America--which calls itself a true
democracy. It should not simply become anyone’s
virtual mouthpiece.
Sadly, when it comes to the Middle East, reading the
news today is like reading a State Department press
release…like those we’ve seen above.
That’s not what a free press is supposed to be
about.
eKurd.net,
Copyright by Gerald A. Honigman. August 7, 2008. You may reach the
author via email at: honigman6 (at) msn.com .
Gerald A. Honigman is a Florida educator who has
done extensive doctoral studies in Middle Eastern
Affairs. He has created and conducted counter-Arab
propaganda programs for college youth, has lectured
on numerous campuses and other platforms, and has
publicly debated many Arab spokesmen. His articles
and op-eds have been published in dozens of
newspapers, magazines, academic journals and
websites all around the world. Visit his
website at
http://www.geraldahonigman.com/
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