Wednesday, December 20, 2006

MID-WEEK KURDISH NEWS ROUNDUP

“One should rather die than be betrayed. There is no deceit in death. It delivers precisely what it has promised. Betrayal, though ... betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope.”
~ Steven Deitz.


Lemme see . . . I meant to point something out the other day but forgot to do so. Hiwacan at Hiwakan has a post about a new Gulen hospital in Hewlêr. That's Gulen as in Fethullah Gulen, Hodjaefendi, as in the Turkish Islamist who's living fat, dumb, and happy here in the US. The pashas were looking for this guy so why is the US protecting him? I thought the US was allergic to Islamists? They probably think they can control Turkish-Islam, just like the pashas thought they could control Turkish-Islam, but as long as the main targets of Turkish-Islamists are Kurds, what the hell?

I have to agree with Hiwa. Why does KRG allow Gulen hospitals and Gulen schools (the most poisonous of all) to soil Kurdistan with their presence? The KRG is certainly aware of Fethullahci political leanings and their inherent racism against Kurds, so why does it permit the Gulen Gang to run South Kurdistan, unless it is preparing South Kurdistan to become the next Turkish colony. These Fethullahci vermin should be driven from the land. . . with extreme prejudice. Let them come to America and set up schools and hospitals and convert the Americans to Turkish-Islam. I mean, I would pay to see that.

In other news, the US has suddenly discovered that Moqtada al-Sadr is more dangerous than al-Qaeda in Iraq. No, really?

Fatih Tas, two editors of Aram Publishers, and one translator for the same, have been acquitted of "insulting Turkishness" for translating and publishing Noam Chomsky's book Manufacturing Consent. It appears that Fatih Tas and more Aram Publishers' translators are still charged with the translation and publication of John Tirman's Spoils of War, a far more dangerous work because it specifically discusses US arms sales to Turkey and the use of those arms against the Kurdish population under Turkish occupation. For more on that, and other problems that translators face in the Turkish "Model of Democracy," see an item from Bianet, carried courtesy of the hevals at KurdishInfo.

The US Department of Agriculture has banned AWB from participating in American government programs and from contracting with the American government, from ABC News. AWB was involved with kickbacks to Saddam under the UN Oil-For-Food scam. Rastî readers will remember that the former US Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, his infamous The Cohen Group, and their partners, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, were involved with the AWB cover-up in Washington, so the question to ask is when will the US government investigate the slimeballs from TCG and DLA PRGC?

Don't hold your breath on that because, after all, American agriculture also benefited from business with Saddam. American denial of chemical weapons usage against Kurds was a direct result of American rice and wheat growers pressure on Congress to keep business ties with Iraq well-oiled. It takes a big fool to imagine that Kurds will get justice from the US.

Speaking of which, a statement by Masrour Barzanî in the Washington Post, carried on KurdishMedia has created a few waves in the blogosphere. Masrour even indirectly mentions the American friendly fire incident in 2003 which killed a number of pêşmerge and left Wajee Barzanî permanently and severely incapacitated. This is the first mention I've seen of that incident in public by the Barzanîs. In August, I posted the BBC video of that friendly fire incident, which you can see here.

Guess what? It must be pretty freaken' serious when one senior Barzanî mentions an incident carried out by Americans which left another senior Barzanî a vegetable. And what kind of gratitude does the US show for these kinds of Kurdish sacrifices? The ISG. If nothing else, the Başûrî should see clearly, at this point, that the Americans can never be trusted.

On the other hand . . . come on, Kak Masrour, don't be so insensitive, man. You know it's a tragedy only if Americans are blown up. And don't go around beggin, man. You sound like a Turk.

One right-wing blogger refers to Masrour's statement as commenting on the "lack of credibility of the ISG" and says that Masrour is correct in being suspicous of the ISG. It doesn't read that way to me; I hear Masrour commenting on the lack of American credibility and his suspicions of the US.

There is also a reference made there to the fact that, in complete opposition to the will of 98% of the Kurdish population of Iraqi-occupied Kurdistan, the Southern Kurdish leadership caved in to the demands of the US so that Kurds could be given what? The ISG. It's clear that in disregarding the will of the Southern Kurdish people, the US has no interest in bringing democracy to the region. The ISG merely adds weight to the fact.

Naturally any alleged American concern for Turkish invasion of South Kurdistan, and "setting up yet another genocide," is another smelly red herring. The Americans purposely ignored the attempted genocides of the past and continue to ignore the ongoing genocide in North Kurdistan, one in which the Americans have been directly complicit. The Americans have ignored the atrocities committed against Kurds under Syrian- and Iranian-occupation. The current American desperation which will lead to "dialog" with both Syria and Iran will include a continued disregard of the severe repression of Kurds by the Syrian and Iranian regimes.

The conclusion of this blogger is just as absurd as the rest of the post:


We need new directions in Iraq, but reverse shouldn't be one of them. We have responsibilities to the people who believed in us and in our mission, and a second betrayal in two decades would devastate our ability to win allies anywhere in the world. It could also convince the Kurds to act pre-emptively in their own defense by declaring their independence, which could touch off a war with the Turks. An American withdrawal without establishing Iraq's sovereignty and internal security will result in death and destruction on a far greater scale than anything we have seen from Iraq to this point, on top of the exposure of American will as non-existent.


Do you see it? The Americans continue to oppose the will of the people of South Kurdistan--independence. Why? Because it will start a war with the US-backed Turkish regime. Funny that there's no mention here of how the US stood by while its client state, Turkey, bombed South Kurdistan numerous times during Operation Northern Watch, and these bombings resulted in the deaths of innocent Kurdish civilians and the destruction of their villages. But this is connected to the genocide red herring. The real issue for those Americans who oppose the ISG is that implementation of the ISG will make the US look bad. It will create a credibility issue. It will expose "American will as non-existent."

Image isn't everything; it's the only thing.

More of the same can be read here. Pay attention to the last paragraph. Another is here.

How many times have I said it? No more cooperation.

In the meantime, Talabanî rescinded permission for a demonstration against the ISG report in Silêmanî. 2006 should go down in Kurdish history as the year in which the PUK worked like demons to repress free expression rights of Kurds.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

"The real issue for those Americans who oppose the ISG is that implementation of the ISG will make the US look bad."

I guess I somehow lost my American citizenship and never realized it.

Anonymous said...

http://www.nefel.com/articles/article_detail.asp?RubricNr=1&ArticleNr=1670

There is some info at Awene too. A Gulen school is okey, but not a simple seminar about Öcalan. What is interesting is that the seminar was going to be held by the culture minister of KRG. He was stopped by his own government.

Anonymous said...

Yes, this is a question for the KRG. Why do they approve of a Gulen school but NOT a simple seminar about Ocalan?

Why doesn't the KRG ever speak up for the rights of Kurds?

Anonymous said...

... the rights of Kurds across the border

Mizgîn said...

Why no discussion about Ocalan and why no speaking up for the rights of Kurds "across the border?" These are two very interesting questions.

If certain people honestly believed that Ocalan and his ideas, or policies of Koma Komalên Kurdistan, were stupid, don't you think they'd want a seminar on them, so that they could point out how stupid were the ideas and, by comparison, how much better their own ideas and programs were?

Instead of taking advantage of such an opportunity, they do not permit the opportunity. This tells me clearly that Ocalan's ideas and policies/programs of KKK are the opposite; they are appropriate alternatives to the circumstances that the Kurdish people find themselves in. The powers-that-be forbid discussion because they are afraid. They are afraid because they know that the apocu alternative is an appropriate one.

Perhaps they don't speak up for the rights of Kurds, whether in South Kurdistan or across the border because to do so would upset the status quo. And if I recall correctly, demonstrations that Rojhelatî wanted to hold last summer in Başûr in "SOLIDARITY" with the serhildan in Rojhelat were not permitted by KRG. Why? Would it have upset the status quo with the mullahs?

On the other hand, they are not only NOT afraid of the potential damage of Gulen schools, it would appear that they encourage the establishment of these schools. Isn't that cozy?

Yet they are afraid of Ocalan. . .

Interesting.

Anonymous said...

Mizgin, maybe the KRG are afraid of the friendly neighbors in friendly Turkey and friendly Persia. Neither regime has ever been shy about mass murder/mayhem to "prove a point."

Mizgîn said...

KRG is not so afraid to engage in joint military operations with the friendly neighbors, nor to engage in close business relations with them.

But if KRG is that afraid of the neighbors after having such close relations with them, it should step down and there should be new elections.