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The Iraqi Kurdistan election: Shameless
leaders force their leadership through voting fraud
7.8.2009
By Rauf Naqishbendi
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August 7, 2009
Corruption on a grand scale in Kurdistan of Iraq
initiated with the “No Fly Zone” declared by the
United States and its Gulf War allies post first
Gulf War. The oil-for-food program resolution by the
United Nations became an instrument to further
indulge Barzani into looting Iraqi Kurds. The
Barzani family has been known for their
self-asserted power, treating the Kurdish nation as
their own property and exerting their dictatorial
sentiment with no respect to national interest with
their tribal loyalty and adherence to their own
tribal greed for power, money, and prestige. When
the oil-for-food program was declared by the UN,
Barzani was able to tax Iraqi oil exports from
Kirkuk through Turkey. Annually, billions of dollars
have been collected from taxes, and that money was
received by Massoud Barzani. He in turn deposited
the money in his coffers, never disclosing the
existence of such a fund to the general public and
treating it like his family fund. |
Rauf Naqishbendi |
The second wave of
corruption commenced as the former U.S.
administration allotted about 20 percent of Iraq ’s
oil proceeds to fund social programs in Kurdistan.
That fund was divvied equally between Talabani and
Barzani, who, according to Nawshirwan Mustafa,
received $35 billion since 2003, an amount of $17.5
billion to each of the two. Neither leader disclosed
an account of these funds. Based on the facts on the
ground,www.ekurd.net
one can conclude that
these two leaders have not disbursed even a fraction
of that money to social programs. A conservative
estimate is that each leader has stolen over $10
billon. This is the biggest looting and fraud in
Kurdish history, not by Kurdish enemies, but by
their own leaders.
Both Barzani and Talabani have surrounded themselves
with unpopular figures and “YES” men and have
created a corrupt and criminal mob organization,
terrifying anyone who opposes their corrupted
mentalities. Kurds are resentful and despise their
leaders, but they are left as a powerless captive
audience as the two leaders have at their disposal
an armed militia of 100,000 to silence the
opposition, that complemented with a powerful
organization of secret mobs used as an iron fist to
subdue their opposition. They are in control of
every aspect of the people’s life including
government, secret agencies, budget, parliament, the
education system, militia armed forces, mass media,
police forces, and their appointed members of
parliaments. Additionally, they have looted the
national budget and have used it to recruit their
cronies and the thugs of society.
These two leaders have a history of rivalry, using
the blood of their own people in the power struggle.
But now, they are united in their love for money and
power, against the well-being of the greater
national interest. These two leaders are carrying
with them dirty bags of betraying their nation. Both
have been agents of Saddam, Turkey, and Iran in the
past, and they fought the Kurdish liberation
movement in both Turkey (PKK) and Iran. Both gave up
their claim against a demographically altered
Kurdish oil-rich region, Kirkuk , and the fate of
its displaced Kurdish population. According to
Nawshirwan Mustafa,www.ekurd.net
the Iraqi constitution,
Article 140, which was intended to restore the
rightful ownership of Kirkuk, has been compromised
by Talabani and Barzani for a couple of black-hole,
tiny oil fields in Zakho and Tag Tag. The combined
revenue of these two oil fields is less than five
percent of the Kirkuk revenue that was given up, let
alone the fate of the displaced native Kurdish
residents.
There are a few independent Kurdish news outlets in
Kurdistan. They have been permitted to criticize
authorities. Ironically, however, they are allowed
to criticize anyone but the two Kurdish leaders. Any
critical mention of these two leaders will end the
free practice of these independent media. What is
tragic about the corruption in Kurdistan and
discouraging to the opposition is the fact that the
corruption is from top down, not otherwise.
Therefore, any meaningful change requires toppling
the two Kurdish leaders. Given their power over
people as mentioned earlier, that is not an easy
task, at least for now. But time will eventually
allow the will of good people to prevail over the
wicked leadership.
Late last July the Kurds proudly held their
parliamentary election. They expected transparency
and took their national destiny, their future, and
the future of their children to the voting boxes.
But the voting ballot was soon targeted by Talabani
and Barzani. First, to avoid double voting they
stamped the hands of those who voted. But the two
leaders recruited people by the thousands, in
particular, their armed militia men, who are like a
fast-traveling train so that no one dares to stand
in their way. Throughout Kurdistan, thousands of
these people marched to the voting places and voted
as many times as they could, adulterating the result
to benefit their bosses.
The voting places were to be closed to the public at
the time agreed upon by all participants. However,
the Talabani and Barzani organizations decided,
without notice to the opposition, to extend the
voting time by an hour. During that hour extension,
Talabani and Barzani’s groups invaded the voting
places and swarmed like ants from their colony,
forging as many votes as they could to ensure their
landslide victory. This action was no surprise, and
Barzani and Talabani shamelessly celebrated their
victory with the crowd of their cronies.
The corruption and looting of the Kurds by their
leaders has been encouraged by the United States
previous administration’s endorsements and policies.
Therefore, it is the responsibility of the United
States to remedy the travesty it has created by
exerting pressure on both Massoud Barzani and
Talabani to return the money stolen from their
people and retire from leadership that they don’t
deserve, a leadership that has brought national
shame and economic hardship to the Kurds.
So far, the Kurdish leaders have been taking the
peaceful sentiment of their people for granted.
Given their selfishness, lack of care for the
national interest, obsession with power, and
insatiable aptitude for greed, this leadership can
easily exhaust the people’s patience. When that
happens,www.ekurd.net
the most peaceful and
secure region of Iraq will fall into bloody crisis,
which in return will cascade throughout the country.
Therefore, it is in the interest of all parties,
including the U.S. to thwart this leadership’s
injustice and wickedness toward their innocent and
peaceful people.
Rauf Naqishbendi is a contributing columnist for
Kurdish Websites, American Chronicle ,
americanchronicle com 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.
Rauf Naqishbendi´s
memoirs The Garden Of The Poets recently published
(Unedited).
You may order through the publisher,
Publish America
or at
Amazon.com:
To read some other
article by Rauf Naqishbendi, please visit:
Americanchronicle com,
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