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No thanks to America
21/12/2011 17:05
ERBIL, Dec. 20 (AKnews) - The U.S forces have left the soil of Iraq and the American flag is gone from our sky. The plug that kept the sectarian conflict from blowing out has gone. This destructive blast is not an imaginary threat but a visible one.
The US has done only one good thing for Iraq since 2003; overthrow Saddam Hussein. The rest was all ugliness. It was a moral duty for the U.S. to reconstruct Iraq and lead it to the vale of security. Instead it deserts the country on the cusp of civil war, before the hungry wolf neighbor.
There are two possible futures: either civil war and partition or the restoration of a dictatorship.
Division I believe is unlikely. If it happens it brings about destruction more than prosperity. But restoring a dictatorship, there is nothing easier. The Shiite sect has the majority in this country and either through the ballot or through war can reach the power. The Islamic Republic of Iran by its side will not only support this but will reinforce the Iranian belief that Baghdad has been part of Iran since Safawis.
The Arab countries have no objection to this. Do we not see the Arab Guardian, Qatar, stay mute over the shaky situation in Iraq but for regime change in Syria has nothing but enthusiasm?
The reason for this is clear. Syria, contrary to Iraq, is a Sunni dominated country. It has been ruled for many decades by the Alawite Assads and kept close to Islamic Republic of Iran. This is quite opposite to the state in Iraq. A "house-swap" is underway in these two countries.
In brief, following this year's revolutions the Arab region is heading to a new schism which will end in a sectarian bloodbath. In most of the countries where uprisings took place, political Islam - Sunni political Islam - has reached power. In the others, it is looking to.
What makes this joke more funny is Turkey's interference in the Arab issues, reminiscent of the disputes between Safawis and Othmans more than five hundred years ago.
You pitiful Arab and Muslim nations, as an Arab proverb said "Arab Wen, Tanbura Wen". This all comes at a phase when neo-colonialism is stepping into the region in a new insidious guise. This time the occupier does not have a material presence one can stand against. This time they are coming through the sale of bombs, tanks and warplanes.
They destroyed the army of Iraq, as they did in Libya. In Syria no doubt this will happen again. Isn't it strange that these three countries' armies were equipped with Russian weapons and the army was so ruined it requires rearming? Why didn't it happen in Tunisia, Egypt or Yemen? Why are Russians against intervention only in Libya and Syria if the issue is not arms sales?
How you dulled yourself Iraqi compatriots. You should plead America not to leave. Say: "don't you ever leave us in front of every enemy." On the contrary, you propped your backs against America. For years you fought an army which was here to protect us until we could defend ourselves.
Now what are we when seen in front of the threat from Iran and Turkey? We turn on the TV mouthpieces of Shiite and Sunnis and are stunned by these irresponsible machines in this critical situation. Where is America and where are you?
Who then are Kurds in this? As the Kurdish poet said they are "between the millstones of Rome and Ajam (Turks)." The Kurds have been a national issue for decades. We have not had a sectarian issue because Iraqi power was in hands of Sunnis. Upon hearing of disputes between Kurds and Shiites, Kurds do not know what to say.
What is more two neighboring countries have supported the Kurdish uprising. Syria since 1975 and Iran since 1979. Both are wicked. In the retrenching of this Muslim Arab world, in the dispute between Shiite and Sunnis which has emerged from Morocco through Peshawar, who will Kurds become a shill for? Who are we, Shiite or Sunni? We are neither or both.
With the advent of the crisis in Syria issues were made for the Kurds. The Kurdish leadership in Baghdad sided with the Syrian regime which is certainly the Iranian demand. On the contrary the leadership in Erbil turned the relations with Turkey hotter. If this is so far role-exchange among the Kurdish politicians, it poses a threat that tomorrow may be the end of the grist "between the millstones of Rome and Ajam."
Kurds could play a better role in the New Iraq, instead of being observers. The golden slogan of Kurds has so long been "democracy for Iraq and then something for the Kurds". It is true today Iraqi Kurds lean towards separation but separation cannot come without a democracy in Iraq. It is not that we are totally above responsibility for the eruption of sectarian violence in Iraq, in the same way we may not be totally safe from its snares.
Still there is time. The Kurdish leadership runs Iraq more professionally and duly and, to me, more patriotically and responsibly than Shiite and Sunnis. Kurds can play a more active role than and become the stop on the sectarian blowout. The prosperity of Iraq certainly will be benefit us, contrary to the proverb "one man's loss is another man's gain".
"No thanks to America" is the sentiment in the hear of all Iraqis today. Perhaps tomorrow "thanks to the Kurds" may replace it.
By Bedran Ahmed Habeeb
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