Recent Neo-con articles by Michael Rubin "Enabling Kurdish Illusions", Kamal Said Qadir and Dr. Andrew McGregor's " Turkey's Coming Offensive Against the Iraqi-based PKK" suggest a fundamental shift in the Administration's policies in regards to Kurdistan and the Kurds with implications for the future. This would apply both in the post-occupa-tion period as well as the occupation period. The articles focus on subsidiary issues of the politics and leadership of the Kurdish peoples' struggle at a time when it is precisely the collective leadership decisions that have been putting front burner issues for the Kurdish people where they belong and not subordinating them to US concerns. The advance of southern Kurdistan has already been accomplished. The consolidation period needs to take every advantage of the status quo for as long as is opportune, but the KRG always needs to have a grounded perspective regarding the intentions of foreign governments.
The current sectarian conflict provides such a window of opportunity for Kurdish national forces to institutionalize the advances before moving any further. Lest anyone blame the Kurds for the actions of the Americans, it should be reminded that the invasion of Iraq did not take place for the benefit of the Kurdish people. The U.S. did not intervene after the Persian Gulf War in 1991 to promote and defend the Kurdish peoples. The no-fly zone certainly protected Kurdish forces from certain elements of Saddam Hussein's military. Kurdish unofficial autonomy and independence of action has existed since the 1991 war. The establishment of a representative government for southern Kurdistan and the inclusion of other sections of Kurdistan needs to be institutionalized and established legal and Constitutional authority as circumstances permit.
Turkish troops near the border to southern Kurdistan now number at 250,000. Clearly there are serious ramifications to such troop commitments by the Turkish government. The concrete experience of the US intervention has increased Kurdish self-defense forces to 175,000, and made them more capable of addressing security and defense issues on their own. This continues to define the main task as the consolidation of southern Kurdistan.
TO BE CONTINUED
Martin Zehr is an American political writer whose articles on the Kurds have been printed by the Kurdish Regional Government,
http://www.moera-krg.org/articles/detail.asp?smap=01030000&lngnr=12&anr=12121&rnr=140
as well as are posted on Kurdish political news forums, such as Kurdishmedia.com http://www.kurdmedia.com/articles.asp?id=14210 and Kurdish Aspect http://www.kurdishaspect.com/doc041007MZ.html , http://www.kurdishaspect.com/doc041107MZ.html , and http://www.kurdishaspect.com/doc051307MZ.html Replies to other ezines are at: http://www.alternet.org/audits/50215/ and Op-EdNews Posts can be found at: http://gregg-jocoy.blogspot.com/2007/04/mato-ska-builds-libraries-at.html The article on "Kurdistan:Under Construction" is also found on The Conservative Voice http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/24814.html and Kurdish Disagreements or Disputes? http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/25047.html
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