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| Iraq |
| Hello, Kurdistan |
| 2014-10-04 |
| Before welcoming the emerging state of Kurdistan in northern Iraq, I confess to having opposed its independence in the past. In 1991, after the Kuwait War had ended and as Saddam Hussein attacked Iraq's six million Kurds, I made three arguments against American intervention on their behalf, arguments still commonly heard today: (1) Kurdish independence would spell the end of Iraq as a state, (2) it would embolden Kurdish agitation for independence in Syria, Turkey, and Iran, leading to destabilization and border conflicts, and (3) it would invite the persecution of non-Kurds, causing "large and bloody exchanges of population." All three expectations proved flat-out wrong. Given Iraq's wretched domestic and foreign track record, the end of a unified Iraq promises relief, as do Kurdish stirrings in the neighboring countries. Syria has fractured into its three ethnic and sectarian components: Kurdish, Sunni Arab, and Shi'i Arab, which promises benefits in the long term. Kurds' departing Turkey usefully impedes the reckless ambitions of now-President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan. Similarly, Kurds decamping Iran helpfully diminishes that arch-aggressive mini-empire. Far from non-Kurds fleeing Iraqi Kurdistan, as I feared, the opposite has occurred: hundreds of thousands of refugees are pouring in from the rest of Iraq to benefit from Kurdistan's security, tolerance, and opportunities. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #3 "it would embolden Kurdish agitation for independence in Syria, Turkey, and Iran, leading to destabilization and border conflicts," or it might convince Kurds from those areas to move to Kurdistan. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2014-10-04 14:34 |
| #2 He says this like its a BAD thing? it would embolden Kurdish agitation for independence in Syria, Turkey, and Iran, leading to destabilization and border conflicts, Iran, Syria, and Turkey being forced to give independence to a people they have brutally repressed? A people who have been very tolerant culturally and religiously? A people who have been frinedly to the US? That's exactly why we should have been doing this all along. I've been pissed at State and the effete suitwearing morons for years for thiere maintaining the idiotic position that represses Kurdistan for the convenience of Turkey Iran Iraq and Syria. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-10-04 12:18 |
| #1 Sounds like Kurdistan might become the America of the Middle East. Interesting times! |
| Posted by: Bobby 2014-10-04 12:18 |