Bad Pawns, by Layla Anwar

http://arabwomanblues.blogspot.com/

Thursday, October 18, 2007
Bad Pawns

So, America has finally woken up to the Armenian Genocide in a perfect timing that just haphazardly coincides with:
a) matter of fact talks in D.C about the partition plan of Iraq.
b) with incursions by Turkey into Northern Iraq to fight off another brand of potential Kurdish warlords the PKK backed by our own warlords Talabani and Barazani.

This latter fled to Najaf, hiding behind the skirts of Ammar al Hakeem of the SIIC or maybe behind Muqtada al Sadr's – Go figure. And Turkey,the other day, said through its military spokesman “ties with the U.S might be irreversibly damaged.” A combo of the bill on the Armenian Genocide and this headache of the PKK. Now you really don’t want to mess with the Turks...
A humble piece of advice from me. And, last but not least
c) a full backing by Ammar Al Hakeem, head of SIIC, member of the puppet government in Baghdad, in support of the partition plan. His sick father, Abdel Aziz al Hakeem, urged his son not to forget the “regions.” Since daddy's plea, Ammar has visited the Anbar provinces and met with Abu Risha, a Sunni joker just like the other Sunni joker/puppet Tariq al Hashemi who seems to equally flirt with the Biden idea. (see my post "True Colors" and for those with a strong stomach, check also “New map of Iraq”) Interesting developments, don’t you think? Is someone trying to isolate Turkey by any chance ? Is someone wanting to inflame the Turkish Kurds as this Turkish PKK militant said to a journalist.“ Murat Karayilan, head of the armed wing of the PKK, told the Associated Press on Saturday that Turkey could expect to meet tough resistance if its forces crossed the border. Iraq's Kurds will not support the Turkish army," he said. If Turkey starts its attack, we will swing the Turkish public opinion by political, civil and military struggle." Is someone preparing another “Turkish repression against the Kurds” litany of woes ? Is someone trying to deepen the fabricated Sunni–Shia divide by nastily teasing Turkey ? Or maybe someone is simply not happy with an Islamic Turkish party being the dominant player and wants to eradicate this whole idea of Islamic parties even if they happen to be part of a secular system ? Or maybe it is a preparation for an “independent Kurdistan” that will include parts of Turkey or at least force it into accepting one in Northern Iraq?

I say a bit of all the above, with the predominant feature being that of Kurdish independence and by correlation the partition of Iraq... Yes that is no.1 on the Agenda. It has been decided so in D.C. by the Zionist-Jewish Lobby. I have already covered Kurdish historical relations with Israel and Iran. (see one my earlier post-“Our Brothers the Kurds”) Since the Americans and their lapdogs, the Brits, designated no-fly zones in 1991, the ties between the Kurds, Israel and Iran, have deepened and they have become soul mates, so to speak.

A few reminders and examples (and I have a nice pack) of the Kurdish - Israeli -American - Iranian love affair.

1) Friday Dec.6, 1996. Kurds aided by Mossad says writer from the Jerusalem Post. “Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad operated for 10 years in Iraq. The book “Broken Hope” by Shlomo Nakdimon, published by the daily newspaper, Yediot Aharanot, said the book was based on interviews with 70 people most of whom were Mossad agents and Israeli soldiers. Some described how the Mossad organized the Kurds into units that attacked Iraqi troops in the North, killing 10’000 Iraqi soldiers."

2) On 15.3.2002. The Turkish daily Hurriet said: "...quoting a report prepared recently by the Turkish intelligence units that the Kurdistani Democratic party led by Masoud al-Barazani and the Kurdistani National Federation led by Jalal Talibani are establishing close relations with Syria and Iran."The report said that al-Barazani started to develop his relations with both Syria and Iran in order to minimize the Turkish influence, noting that in light of this fact, al-Barazani is making intensive efforts to open new border gates like the two gates "Haj Omran" and "Fais Khabour," with the aim of making a link up to other countries, instead of the border Khabour gate between Turkey and the Northern Iraq area. The report unveiled that the al-Barazani administration intensified its work to found an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq area and that in collaboration with the Kurdistani National Federation, held secret talks recently in Germany in order to prevent any obstruction act by the Turkish side, before the founding of this state, which is expected to be declared following a possible American strike in Iraq. The report remarked that the two administration of al-Talibani and al-Barazani expect the return back of the Turkish security forces in North Iraq to Turkey very shortly, and therefore they are planning for the imposition of an UN forces at the site, to replace these forces, noting that al-Barazani has prepared also the Iraqi federal state constitution in order to convert it into an independent state in the future, stressing that the Kurdish language is the official Language for Kurdistan area "

3) On 19.3.2003 the BBC Arabic news service quotes Talabani saying in Teheran: ”We are in dire need of Iran’s help in establishing security and stability in Iraq" (Teheran nov.27)

4) On Monday June 21, 2004, a Guardian article bearing the title of “ Israelis using Kurds to build power base” says: “Israel has always supported the Kurds in a Machiavellian way - a balance against Saddam," one former Israeli intelligence officer told the New Yorker."

5) On August 3rd 2005, the Washington Post reports that the CIA created a para military group called the “Scorpions” (The CIA would not discuss it), made of exiled Iraqis, trained them in counter insurgency tactics. Those who helped recruit them were Kurds and they infiltrated Iraq in 2002.“Authorized by a presidential finding signed by President Bush in February or March 2002, the Scorpions were part of a policy of "regime change" in Iraq. The covert members, many of whom were exiles recruited by the Kurds, were trained in target identification, explosives and small arms at two secret bases in Jordan, according to one US government official. They were sent surreptitiously into Iraq before the war and were in cities such as Baghdad, Fallujah and Qaim to give the impression that a rebellion was underway and to conduct light sabotage, according to the two defense sources and the three former and current intelligence officials.

"They painted X's [for targeting] on buildings and things like that," said one former intelligence officer…. After the initial combat phase of the war, the CIA used the paramilitary units as translators and to fetch supplies and retrieve informants in an increasingly dangerous Iraq where CIA officers largely stayed within the protected Green Zone, according to the officials…. When they entered Iraq after the invasion, because they wore civilian clothes and traveled in civilian vehicles…”

6) On 9.12.2005, Kurd.net website quotes from Kasrat Rasoul, a former prime minister of Kurdistan and a senior figure in Talabani's PUK party. "If an Islamic party becomes the government in Iraq or if there is a civil war between the Sunnis and Shi'ites, then we will separate” and the article continues “But at heart secession remains a dream, and for the meantime the Kurds, long-time allies of Washington, are sticking to the line that Iraq is united -- unless civil war forces it to collapse, or future stability makes a secession vote possible” and the article continues: “Were they ever to do so, they also have a well-disciplined, 250,000-strong militia force, known as the peshmerga, to defend their territory -- a corner of northeastern Iraq where business is booming…”

7) On the 20th of September 2006, the BBC reports that Israelis are training Kurdish forces and I quote : “The BBC has obtained evidence that Israelis have been giving military training to Kurds in northern Iraq. A report on the BBC TV program Newsnight showed Israeli experts in northern Iraq, drilling Kurdish militias in shooting techniques..."Patience, am not finished yet...And Iran, your darling Iran, where the SIIC party of Al Hakeem, The Dawa’a guys like Maliki, Al Jaafari, Jawad Solaghr, and Muqtada Al Sadr...amongst others have been hiding for years preparing alongside the Kurds - the partition of Iraq. And I quote:“2002 In June, the SCIRI (now SIIC) met with US State Department officials in Washington to discuss cooperation in a potential war against the Iraqi regime. The US offered military funding to the group. In December, the SCIRI(SIIC) met with other Iraqi opposition groups in London to discuss options for a post-Saddam Iraq."The sources said the US had started a ‘flurry of contacts with various forces among the Iraqi opposition... Intensive contacts are being held with both the Kurdish and Shi'ite opposition in order to establish springboards for potential operations..." [The Australian, July 1, 2002].

Am still not done...I have also mentioned the evil necessity of ethnic and sectarian cleansing to prepare the demographic grounds for Partition. (see my post "Persian for Dummies" - entre autres) At the risk of repeating myself for the 100th time, I reiterate. The South and parts of the Center of Iraq have been totally cleansed from Sunnis. Sabeans, and Christians by the sectarian Militias from Iran and Jaysh al Mahdi is one of the militias involved.

The North, and again I repeat, has been ethnically cleansed from Arabs, Christians, Yazidis, Sabeans, and Turkmens...in preparation for the Kurdish Independent State that a lot of you applauded and that a lot of you helped contribute to its establishment by fabricating grotesque lies about Kurdish "oppression"...not to mention Shia "repression". I will never forgive you for this one. Bref, let me continue...Sulaimaniyah, Erbil, Dohuk (both of which were majority Assyrian by the way), Mosul (which was majority Arab Sunnis and Chaldeans) and Kirkuk which was majority Turkmen, then Arab and a minority of Kurds have now become and are becoming, in the case of Mosul, full Kurdish regions.

Take Kirkuk, for example. Massive ethnic cleansing and displacement is taking place before the Referendum on Kirkuk is due towards the end of this year.
Now read on... “Since 10th April 2003 – the day after the fall of Baghdad – a real Kurdish invasion took place in Kerkuk: Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, respectively leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) organized militarily a massive immigration of Kurds to the territories they wanted to conquer. The newly arrived Kurds registered on the election lists and are waiting for the referendum which is to take place before next December 31st.

The aim of the operation: to give a democratic varnish to the annexation of Kerkuk and its surrounding region by the Kurds and hand over to the Americans the petrol fields of Baba Gurgur, situated near Kerkuk.

The International Crisis Group (ISG) has received the testimony of a - Turkmen - member of the Governorate which summarizes the situation: “In 2003, Kerkuk had 800.000 inhabitants. Today it has 1.150.000 inhabitants. Where do these 300.000 additional inhabitants come from? They correspond to at least 50.000 families. One knows that 10.000 families were expelled; where do these 40.000 additional families come from?” Since then the population has reached 1.500.000 inhabitants, mainly Kurds who are in favour of the annexation. The practical application of the operation is not simple because article 140 of the new Iraqi “constitution” states that the referendum must be preceded by the “normalisation” of the situation in the region, and by a “census”. The “normalisation” is under way. It means the return of the displaced Kurds, Turkmens and Assyrians and – in parallel – the departure of the Arabs who replaced them.

Pressures are being put on the Kurds who refuse to return because they have remade their life somewhere else or fear that the annexation will turn into a blood bath. In order to make them change their minds, the “Kurdish Regional Government” no longer delivers administrative documents to them and deprive them of social aid.

The methods utilized against the non-Kurds are more radical. If they refuse the 15.000 dollars compensation, they risk being assassinated or disappearing in the prisons of the autonomous Region.

The attack of 7th July 2007 in Amirli – 150 dead, 250 wounded – reminds us of the savagery of the Irgoun in Palestine . On the spot, the Kurdish secret services are accused and the answer was not slow in coming: on 16th July a vehicle exploded in Kerkuk in front of the UPK headquarters, making many victims.

The newly arrived Kurds (in Kerkuk) do not all live there. Many remain in Suleymaniya or in Erbil , because of the lack of housing or for security reasons. They only go to Kerkuk during the week-ends to justify their “relocation”. To become an elector in Kerkuk, it is sufficient to dig foundations of a house or to reserve an apartment in a building that has yet to be constructed … The “census”, however, is not easy to organize. It must carry out the ethnic and religious tally of the inhabitants of the Kerkuk region, and that of the “contested territories”, that is to say those which are claimed by the Kurds. The problem is that these ‘contested territories’ stretch from Mount Sinjar at the Syrian border, to the Iranian border… and to about 20 kilometres South of Baghdad.

For the Arabs, Turkmens, Yezidis, Shabaks and Assyrians who have been living in these regions for a considerable period of time and who are all hostile to the partition of Iraq , it is a declaration of war.“ (for more on Turkmen, see European Turkmen Friendship Association blog)

All the above is some background literature for you. Now listen to what an Arab Iraqi relative who arrived from Erbil told me. I still can’t believe I have to qualify for you, each time, the ethnicity and/or the sect.

“I needed to process some official documents. I could not find the building. All the signposts were in Kurdish. I stopped a Kurdish man and asked him to translate for me. I was lost. We started talking and he asked me if I was an Arab. Well obviously I replied. I need translations. So the Kurd said to me. “You Arabs are idiots. You will never learn. Why do you consider Israel an enemy? Israel has done nothing to you...Embrace them as friends and see what a wonderful people they are...” I am glad that two days ago, an IRIN article appeared confirming the total de-Arabization of the North , in particular Kirkuk. Not only that, but Patrick Cockburn in some rare moment of lucidity, wrote a good piece on the squalid conditions and vile kurdish treatment of Arab Iraqi refugees in Sulaymaniah. (search the Independent newspaper) And do not forget what I have mentioned in several previous posts namely, that Arab Iraqis needs visas to Kurdistan plus two Kurdish sponsors. And that the Iraqi flag is FORBIDDEN in “ Kurdistan.” Only Kurdish flags are allowed and only the Kurdish militias - peshmergas. This latter is now considered the official "Army of Kurdistan"

And I need to remind our “Kurdish brothers”:- They were the only group in the M.E region who were given autonomy in the 70's.- That the previous Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein built the Sulaimaniyah University for them, teaching in Kurdish only.- That the Kurdish language was forced down our throats in secondary schools in Baghdad.- That I personally met several Kurds from Iraq, who did not speak ONE word of Arabic and am talking the 80’s here. We had to converse in English.... So when some deceitful son of a bitch comes and talks to me about forced Arabization of the Kurds, all I want to do is smack him right in the face. I have much more to say but this is proving to be a long post and I am tired. But then, the list of lies concocted by the Kurds, the Americans, the anti-war movement, the left including the Arab left and the so called Human rights agencies was much longer and way more dangerous... They led to Today. A country in pieces. A country that is raped, plundered, destroyed, and about to be partitioned...

My rage is truly infinite. My father (bless his soul) and my mother kept reminding me. They said:”Layla, Iraq is the Backbone of the Arab World.”
To be honest, I did not quite understand the full implications of such a statement, then. Today, I do. Iraq was not only the Cradle of Civilization, it was indeed the Pillar, the Column, The Spinal Vertebrae, the Backbone of the Arab world. Now that it has crumbled, now that it has broken up, the rest will follow...One by one...the other countries will come tumbling down...one by one, a ripple effect from Baghdad...to the rest of the World.

And if God decides to grant me long life, I shall sit, laid back, arms folded and observe...with the same “polite indifference” (to use one of Jabotinsky’s expressions) that I witnessed on your faces when my country came tumbling down...I shall observe, quietly, with no fuss, the snakes, the invertebrates, the worms, the termites, the spineless crawlers, of geopolitics, crawl on that same Chess board only to be eventually crushed... like pawns...one by one.

And I shall observe that Chess board, covered in blood and wonder amused, what will you have to say now ? Now, that the game is over.

Checkmate to You !

Nota Bene: A special thanks to A.S and "Woman who loves Iraq" for the added information on the Kurds.


Text in blue: quoted from 'Hold-Up à Baba Gurgur' by Gilles Munier