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Iraq: Tale of Two Regions, South vs. North « Thread Started

Daily newsbrief journal for July 2007, also see http://www.usdemocrats.com/brief for a global 100-page perpetual brief and follow twitter @usdemocrats


Iraq: Tale of Two Regions, South vs. North « Thread Started

Postby admin » Sat Jan 28, 2012 2:00 pm

Iraq: Tale of Two Regions, South vs. North « Thread Started on Jul 15, 2007, 9:32pm » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Iraq: Tale of Two Regions, South vs. North Rauf Naqishbendi Rauf Naqishbendi July 15, 2007read at source> http://www.americanchronicle.com/articl ... ID=32205My people have lived through a harsh and horrible genocidal campaign under the tyrannical leadership of Saddam Hussein. It has been three decades since I left my native country, Kurdistan, in northern Iraq. Two years ago, I returned home for the first time. I joined my family in the city of Sulaymanya, the city where my father was raised. With a population of nearly one million, it is one of the largest Kurdish cities. My parents originally lived nearby in the town of Halabja, which was destroyed by chemical bombing in March of 1988. The bombing destroyed our family home and business, and left my father permanently blind. After the Gulf war Kurdistan was declared a no-fly-zone by the coalition forces, which freed the Kurds from the oppression of Saddam’s regime and allowed Kurdistan to exist as an independent nation sustained by the United Nations oil for food program. The Kurds seized the opportunity to be free from Saddam’s dictatorship. They went to the voting ballot, cast their votes to elect members of parliament, a political governing body, and established a civil society all of which was unprecedented in Iraq’s history. They implemented hospitals and civil and legal institutions, ran their own university, and gathered an armed police and military force. In a short time they created a democratic system and a civil society never before imagined in the region. They proved to the world that they deserved and desired freedom and democracy. During my visit I was pleased to see peace and prosperity in Kurdistan. Kurds make up fewer than twenty percent of Iraqs population. Kurdistan borders Iran, Turkey, and Syria, yet there are fewer than six hundred American solders in the areamost assigned not to combat but to administrative work, for the Kurds are guarding themselves and their borders. One can see Kurdish soldiers, peshmarga, on every street and in checkpoints along all major roadways. These soldiers are friendly, polite, courteous, and loved by the public, and are thought of as guardian angels. While the southern regions of Iraq bring reports of chaos, in Sulaymanya there is absolutely a feeling of peace and security. There were times when I was leaving a city bar after midnight and I felt safe, whereas in most of southern Iraq after nightfall, whether for a curfew or due to bandits and gangs, one would be frightened to step out of their house. One of my relatives who lives in Baghdad told me that he was frightened to drive, fearing that bandits might kill him just to steal his car. Kurds treat Arab visitors with respect and a sense of decency, while Kurds in Iraqi Arabia are treated with disrespect and are sometimes killed for the Kurdish alliance with the US. Furthermore, Iraqi Arabs favorite vacation destination is Kurdistan. American civilians and military personnel are targeted and fear for their lives in the south while Kurdistan has became a place of rest and recreation for foreigners in Iraq. In Sulaymanya I saw smiling American soldiers in beautiful resorts who were treated like movie stars. People were going to them asking for photos with them. Many Iraqis from Iraqi Arabia are currently attempting to flee the country, and at the same time waves of Kurds from countries abroad, including the US, are returning safely to Kurdistan. Many specialized doctors and engineers from the south are fleeing to Kurdistan. Unemployment rates of fifty percent in the south are unheard of in Kurdistan, where employers have problems finding workers. Kurds are happy with the economic boom. Many, including my relatives, are working two jobs. While the destruction continues in Iraqi Arabia, in Sulaymanya and other parts of Kurdistan reconstruction and rebuilding are underway in a full scale as people remodel and build new houses, pave streets, and build bridges, highways, and hospitals. Saddams regime had erased more than four thousand villages and killed hundreds of thousands of villagers, and the efforts of the Kurds have reconstructed almost all of the erased villages. Kurds now look to the US for protection, but they fear the US might betray them, that they might lose their hard-earned democracy. Kurds are inspired by American democracy their peshmarga fought along side American troops to liberate Iraq and in the process more peshmarga have been killed than American soldiers. Surely, my trip to my homeland was worth it. As an American citizen I felt welcome, and that reaffirmed my pride in the United States. When I said I came from America, the people of Kurdistan thought I was from heaven. As a native son I was proud to see my people prospering under a democracy that they themselves had established. Kurdistan is the only peaceful and stable region in Iraq. Should the US seek genuine democracy and stability for Iraq, the Kurds will be eager to help. However, it would be a gruesome mistake for the US to ignore the Kurdish plight for freedom and tranquility. Kurds have proved to be the US’s only true friend in the region, and this friendship should be reciprocated but most importantly, as has happened in the past, this friendship should not be abandoned.
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