Tuesday, March 10, 2015

"Let Iraq Die: A Case for Partition."

The Kurds in the north, who make up roughly twenty percent of the population, want out. They never wished to be part of Iraq in the first place. To this day, they still call the bathroom the “Winston Churchill,” in sarcastic homage to the former British prime minister who shackled them to Baghdad. Since the early 1990s, they’ve had their own government and autonomous region in the northern three provinces, and they held a referendum in 2005 in which 98.7 percent voted to secede and declare independence. The only reason they haven’t finally pulled the trigger is because it hasn’t been safe; the Turks—who fear the contagion of Kurdish independence inside their own country—have threatened to invade if they did. . .
The Kurds will be happy to go and will likely declare independence if the United States finally ceases championing “the territorial integrity of Iraq.” Washington should drop the phrase and at least quietly back the only true allies it has over there, and guarantee their safety from the Turks or anyone else who finds Kurdish independence inconvenient.
A free Kurdish state would be as reliable an American ally as Israel. It might also embolden the Kurds of Syria to declare their own state. Both could function as permanent buffers—and perhaps even beachheads—against the likes of ISIS, Assad, or any other bad actors whom we haven’t yet heard of in this region filled with aspirants. . .
The only real allies Americans have in Iraq are the Kurds. If we’re going to live by that famous foreign policy maxim, that you reward your friends and punish your enemies, then we are required to let the Kurds go and to let Iraq die.

16 comments:

rexxhead said...

Iraq was a mistake in the 30s, but stiff-necked politicians on both sides refuse to accept the provably-true notion that they don't know better than ignorant peasants (I'm talking here about you and me).

The right of persons to be free to associate with (or to NOT associate with) their choice of others has to be one of the fundamental rights embodied in "the pursuit of happiness".

Anonymous said...

Let U.S. Not forget that Ol' Bush-ah-neista took a Large Dump(Turned his back) on them when they needed U.S. most!!
Honestly ... Playing the Enemy of My Enemy Game, our favorite Forgein Policy...
I am at a loss to explain why they haven't joined Al-Baghdadi and his roving band of Psycho-Sociopaths.

Anonymous said...

Agreed.....let the Kurds have their own state. As usual, let a free people rule themselves.

Anonymous said...

AMMO ROUNDUP

52 senators warn of sweeping ammo bans, say Second Amendment 'at risk'

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/52-senators-warn-of-sweeping-ammo-bans-say-2nd-amendment-at-risk/article/2561295

Anonymous said...

"Americans have more responsibility here than most of us are aware of. It was President Woodrow Wilson, after the First World War, who inscribed the idea of self-determination for the Kurds in the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, a document that all Kurds can readily cite. Later machinations by Britain and France and Turkey, all of them greedy for the oil in the Kurdish provinces, cheated the Kurds of their birthright and shoehorned them into Iraq. More recently, the Ford-Kissinger administration encouraged the Kurds to rebel against Baghdad, offering blandishments of greater autonomy, and then cynically abandoned them in 1975, provoking yet another refugee crisis and a terrible campaign of reprisal by Saddam Hussein. In 1991, George Bush Sr. went to war partly in the name of Kurdish rights and then chose to forget his own high-toned rhetoric. This, too, is a story that every Kurd can tell you. However the fate of Iraq is to be decided, we cannot permit another chapter in this record of betrayal. Meanwhile, you should certainly go and see it for yourself, and also shed a tear for what might have been." http://jamsidedown.com/2007/03/iraq-was-not-cr.html

Funny how Woodrow Wilson's name turns up associated with so many foreign policy debacles.

But perhaps the most famous quote that describes all of this is Colin Powell's "You break it, you bought it!" which applies to way more history than Saddam's overthrow. After all, Iraq traces it's birth to the British and French screwing all of the people in the region after the breaking of the Ottoman Empire.

Try reading "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" by T. E. Lawrence

Cederq said...

Kurds, the main reason we don't support them, no oil.... they had oil, we would be falling all over ourselves to help, protect them...

Anonymous said...

Well, the biggest reason to keep up appearences with the Baghdad "government" is Turkey. Nato membership and potential EU status be damned they will roll south if they think they can get it without involving big state actors. Not that they would have anything to fear from Uncle Sugar. Crushing the Kurds, whom are somewhat of an alley to the west, has been on the menu for a very long time.

Dont think so? Talk to an Armenian. That is, of course, if you can find one.

FSHB said...

Turkey will apply every ounce of pressure it has on the US, in order to prevent a Kurdish state. Turkey has the US by the short hairs, they know where the bodies are hidden. The Kurds are brave people and deserve their own state, and may even get it, but the US will never back them.

Jimmy the Saint said...

Yeah, but screwing the Kurds over is kind of an honored tradition now, unfortunately.

The State Department logo should just be a picture of Eric Stratton saying "You fucked up; you trusted us!"

dbjack46 said...

I can't recall hearing anything out of the United Nations either when Saddam was gassing the Kurds by the thousands or during the Obama administration and their fight with the Islamic State (ISIS or, if a lib, ISIL).
I may be a slow learner, but seems to me the UN is all about keeping the status quo rather than letting natural law taking its own course.

Anonymous said...

Globe and Mail reporting M855 ban off the table: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/obama-administration-pulls-proposal-to-ban-armor-piercing-ammo/article23394356/

Anonymous said...

The Iraq wars have always been about breaking the country into 3. ISIS is the latest CIA/StateDept created gambit for this. Its all about control of oil mostly as its destined to Europe.

Anonymous said...

Kurdish leadership/revolutionary groups are comunallist- NOT communists (not exactly socialists either). And so the international ownership class will NEVER allow them a country of their own, quite aside from the Turkish issues (and that the whole point of what we did to Iraq is aimed to prevent any strong, effective governance in any area there, most particularly one which might wish to use control the natural resources of the area for local benefit)

Anonymous said...

God dammit. Enough of the oil bullshit ok? Like guns, it is not about the guns, it's about CONTROL.

BUT LETS TOO, get something straight about muslims. They are the king of playing the victim while actually being the aggressors. Let's just review how this young nation has dealt with them ok? We have tried trade. We've tried tartgetting only their pirating on open seas, we even tried going on land to nail the Pirates hideouts....leave the Thomas Jefferson era and enter modern AMERICA (and you thought I was talking Somalia pirates lol). In modern times, we've tried aid- both direct money and food aside from military hardware. We have tried staying out of their tribal wars, we've tried supporting the less bad guys against the more bad guys, we even sent our own to defend the -well- too poor and too weak to make war upon us, the infedels. We have tried limited engagement and then leaving and we've even tried straight up nation building. Indeed we've even tried open diplomatic respect. All to no avail. Why? Is it our failure?

No it's not our failure. The problem is ISLAM itself. It is a violent death cult masquerading as a religion, functioning as a unquestionable and unchanging political system that holds lies deceit and barbarism at its core, all in attempt to take over the world. Pure domination and 100% forced submission.

There is but one solution -complete destruction. All out obliteration of their ability to make war. If that means killing every last one of the violent johadi zealots, then so be it. No Quarter! But but but what about just not meddling in their affairs???? Say the blame AMERICA pukes. Guess what you dolts, the jihadis have been attacking every civilized community on the planet since BEFORE WE WERE A NATION! In this case, we actually DO know which came first, the chicken or the egg. ISLAM is the egg and because FOOLS like to try to cherry pick history, AMERICA is CHICKEN.

EVERY American could be within our border, we could have zero embassies and zero economic contact with MUSLIM nations, we could act as if they did not exist and you know what? ISLAMIC zealots would STILL target and ATTACK this nation and her people. Why? Because their phony ass book TELLS THEM TO DO SO. See, we dare separate rule of law from religion, even as we admit one was the baseline start of the other. We are an open society, where individuals are tasked with being guided by their own moral compass, as they believe their Koran is the ONLY moral compass. We believe people must choose their way, they believe the way must be imposed and submitted to.

It would be wonderful if we could just turn away and leave them to their own devices - witnessing them fight among themselves forever. But the reality is clear - ISLAM has declared open warfare upon all who refuse to submit to it, no matter where they are. So wake up and smell the coffee ok? It's not US causing the problem - it's THEM! All those refusing to admit this harsh actuality only serve to prolong and escalate the barbarism - which will one day require crusade-like action to destroy growing by as much as long as apologists refuse to admit the truth. MUSLIMS are RESPONSIBLE for attempting to foist ISLAM upon those who do not want it.

For those who will now retort that we foist democracy upon them - know this. That is nothing more than assigning responsibility for what comes next - either they get a solid handle on the barbarians themselves OR the excuse that "it's just the fault of the brutal dictators the USA supports and props up" falls asunder because they chose it themselves ....and that means the whining gets them nothing as they are destroyed one by one. Sorry yall, just sick to death of the blame AMERICA bullshit Spewed constantly when ISLAM has been waging this war five times longer than AMERICA has existed. Enough of the idiocy PLEASE!!!

Anonymous said...

Bifurcate Iraq. Divide the northern half into Kurdistan. The southern half will remain Iraq. Give all Christians and remaining Jews safe passage into Kurdistan before declaring the new borders. Now you have a truly moderate Muslim/Christian/Jewish state sharing a border with our ally Jordan, as well as a buffer with Syria and Iran. The Saudis could care less. The Iranians will bitch & moan as will the Turks but now we have a direct line from Israel into Jordan into Kurdistan.

Eventually, Iraq will fall after being occupied by nothing aside from stone-age Sunnis. 21st century Kurdistan can then invade and conquer the entire country that was formerly Iraq for good. Now we have 3 allies sharing borders: Israel, Jordan, Kurdistan and Kuwait.

Then we'll be getting somewhere. What do they all have in common? - at one time they've waged war against dictators and/or radical Islamic savages.

Those enemies of my enemies are my friends.
But, before any of this begins: EXTERMINATE EVERY SINGLE FIGHTER, SUPPORTER or AID to ISIS. EVERY SINGLE ONE MUST BE DONE AWAY WITH.

Anonymous said...

(Quote)
EXTERMINATE EVERY SINGLE FIGHTER, SUPPORTER or AID to ISIS. EVERY SINGLE ONE MUST BE DONE AWAY WITH.
(End quote)

You do know that US intelligence turned loose the leader from prison, and arranged the Saudi startup money for these guys, hoping there would be conflict between their new startup and the existing Iraqi resistance groups they were having the most trouble with?

Just like the Israelis did for starting up Hamas, when they thought it was a good way to cut secular, socialist Fatah down via internecine conflict among Palestinians.