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Baker-Hamilton report squeezed out of frozen mentality of Cold War
The Kurds don't much like the ISG report either. Some very good points here.The report lacks the fundamental understanding of the Iraqi and Middle Eastern issues; hence it is the total distortion of facts. It does not approach the Iraqi or the Middle Eastern issue from the contemporary human and ethnic rights issues; rather it would build Iraq and the Middle East upon fear of the strongest, killers and abusers, and those who have no respect for human rights. It satisfies the greed of the killers by giving them more catches; it feeds more blood to the Dracula by providing them more lives; it keeps the oppressor happy by persecution of the defenceless.

If the recommendations were ever acted upon, it would be a recipe for further disasters in Iraq and in the Middle East, and most likely it may spill the Iraqi problems to the region and the West, including the USA.

It is pro-Turks and pro-Arabs, totally undermine Kurds and their achievements. If they were alive today, Michelle Aflaq and Ataturk would have eulogized the 'Iraq Study Group' for their achievement. Kurds and all other democratic forces must fight it; undermine it and bring it down to bury it in the mud where it belongs.

This piece of writing has just escaped the frozen mentality of the cold war period. If these people are the leading thinkers of America, then I fully understand why over 2,800 US soldiers have been killed and over 2,100 injured in Iraq so far. Such ignorant people may think that they play political games, but they should take full responsibly for the bloodied situation in Iraq and the Middle East and the disastrous consequences of theirreal politicks.

It is an irony that the most powerful nation on earth produces this piece of recipe for further disaster. It shows how commercial interests blind policy makers.

The report is based on undermining the very little progress that Kurds and Iraqis have achieved. These appear in a number of recommendations to make Arab states, Iran and Turkey happy on the account of Kurds. The report recommends:

- Abolishing federal Iraq, i.e. abolishing Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)

- Taking oil out of the control of the KRG

- Abolishing Article 140 of the current Iraqi Constitution and confining KRG in its current boundaries, which is about 50 percent of southern or Iraqi Kurdistan.

- Demolish the Peshmerga forces and leave the Iraqi central government to control all armed and security forces

The buzz words in the report are the ones tickling the sentiments of Arab, Turkish and Iranian nationalists, such as "national reconciliation" and "Iraqis", concepts that have no existence on the bloodied ground of Iraq. It does not acknowledge any Kurdish achievements.

Throughout its 84 pages, the report does not mention "Kurdistan Regional Government" even once. The report failed to recognise any Kurdish political entity, effectively dismisses Kurdistan as a federal region of Iraq. It does mention "Kurdish administrated region", depraving homeland from Kurds, implying that Kurdistan is a part of Iraq but currently administrated by Kurds. Later, the report proposes to demolish this "Kurdish administrated region", but in a clever way, taking its financial and political control, to reduce it down to a manageable entity so that it can be abolished.

The report can be regarded as a declaration of American defeat in Iraq.

Here are some paragraphs to stipulate these concepts:

RECOMMENDATION 26: Constitution review. Review of the constitution is essential to national reconciliation and should be pursued on an urgent basis. The United Nations has expertise in this field, and should play a role in this process.

RECOMMENDATION 28: Oil revenue sharing. Oil revenues should accrue to the central government and be shared on the basis of population. No formula that gives control over revenues from future fields to the regions or gives control of oil fields to the regions is compatible with national reconciliation.

RECOMMENDATION 30: Kirkuk. Given the very dangerous situation in Kirkuk, international arbitration is necessary to avert communal violence. Kirkuk’s mix of Kurdish, Arab, and Turkmen populations could make it a powder keg. A referendum on the future of Kirkuk (as required by the Iraqi Constitution before the end of 2007) would be explosive and should be delayed. This issue should be placed on the agenda of the International Iraq Support Group as part of the New Diplomatic Offensive.

RECOMMENDATION 50: The entire Iraqi National Police should be transferred to the Ministry of Defense, where the police commando units will become part of the new Iraqi Army.

Similarly, the Iraqi Border Police are charged with a role that bears little resemblance to ordinary policing, especially in light of the current flow of foreign fighters, insurgents, and weaponry across Iraq’s borders and the need for joint patrols of the border with foreign militaries. Thus the natural home for the Border Police is within the Ministry of Defense, which should be the authority for controlling Iraq’s borders.

RECOMMENDATION 51: The entire Iraqi Border Police should be transferred to the Ministry of Defense, which would have total responsibility for border control and external security.

The Iraqi Police Service, which operates in the provinces and provides local policing, needs to become a true police force. It needs legal authority, training, and equipment to control crime and protect Iraqi citizens. Accomplishing those goals will not be easy, and the presence of American advisors will be required to help the Iraqis determine a new role for the police.

RECOMMENDATION 52: The Iraqi Police Service should be given greater responsibility to conduct criminal investigations and should expand its cooperation with other elements in the Iraqi judicial system in order to better control crime and protect Iraqi civilians.

In order to more effectively administer the Iraqi Police Service, the Ministry of the Interior needs to undertake substantial reforms to purge bad elements and highlight best practices. Once the ministry begins to function effectively, it can exert a positive influence over the provinces and take back some of the authority that was lost to local governments through decentralization. To reduce corruption and militia infiltration, the Ministry of the Interior should take authority from the local governments for the handling of policing funds. Doing so will improve accountability and organizational discipline, limit the authority of provincial police officials, and identify police officers with the central government.

RECOMMENDATION 53: The Iraqi Ministry of the Interior should undergo a process of organizational transformation, including efforts to expand the capability and reach of the current major crime unit (or Criminal Investigation Division) and to exert more authority over local police forces. The sole authority to pay police salaries and disburse financial support to local police should be transferred to the Ministry of the Interior.
Posted by: phil_b 2006-12-08
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=174353