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A country in search of a vision
By
Syed Saleem Shahzad
SULAIMANIYA, northern Iraq -
Months down the track following the fall of the Saddam
Hussein regime, the United States still does not appear
to have a vision for a future of the nation. Iraqi
resistance to the occupying forces - fragmented though
it might be - in the central and the northern Arab belt
is clear for all to see.
And while the Kurdish
north has been relatively calm (excluding of course the
US raid on a house in Mosul on Tuesday in which Saddam's
sons, Uday and Qusay, were killed), there is a clear
line of thinking among the US allies in the region that
the US must come up with a concrete formula for a new
Iraqi government of the people, by the people and for
the people - or else.
The lush green dales and
vales of Sulaimaniya, a few hours' drive from Mosul in
the northeast of Iraq close to the Iranian border, are a
welcome sight after the turmoil to the south, even with
welcoming banners saying "Thanks to Mr Bush for
liberating us". The immediate feeling is one of calm,
seemingly segregated from the political undercurrents
that dominate other parts of the country. However, the
situation is not as simple as it appears, and it carries
with it inherent dangers.
Kasim Jamal is a top
leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in
Sulaimaniya. After the 1991 uprising against Saddam
failed, nearly half a million Iraqi Kurds flooded into a
zone near the Turkish border. This brought in the
international community, which created a safe haven and
a "no-fly-zone" policed from Incirlik in Turkey.
Following the withdrawal of Baghdad's forces from the
area in October 1991, a self-governing Kurdistan
Regional Government (KRG) zone was established against
the Turkish and Iranian borders. The "haven" zone did
not extend to the Mosul and Kirkuk oilfields, which
nevertheless form part of what has been traditionally
regarded as Iraqi Kurdistan. Although relationships
between the two main elements of the KRG - the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the KDP - are fragile, this
Iraqi Kurdish experiment in self-government and
democratization has largely been a success.
The
KDP's Kasim Jamal is an American Kurd who went into self
exile in 1975 in the US, where he graduated from
university in San Diego. He returned to Iraqi Kurdistan
in 1999, but left his family in Europe and the US. He
spoke to this correspondent. "Look, Iraq is not like
Afghanistan. It is a very civilized society which has a
life style. When US forces removed Saddam, they expected
an even better life, but now they are experiencing even
worse than before. Certainly, this has repercussions."
He continued, "You can see that 5 million people
[in Saddam's time] were associated with different armed
groups, whether it was civil defense, the main army,
paramilitary troops or volunteer forces. Those people
were given something to make their ends meet. Suddenly,
these people became jobless. Now, you have to reckon
with those jobless peoples' sentiments, certainly they
could go on the rampage," Jamal observed.
"The
US forces have already made too many mistakes. To start
with, they took over all the affairs [of the country]
directly in their hands although they do not have the
knowledge to handle Iraq. Now it is very high time for
them and for us to discuss a formula on a free Iraq, a
federation where everybody will have a respected and
autonomous area with no centralized dictatorships, but
in the last four months there has been no mentionable
development in this regard," Jamal added.
He
agreed that now was the time for the US to give a share
of Iraq's rich resources to the people to help them
maintain their standards of living, and any more delays
in transferring power to the Iraqi people will force
them to view the US as an occupying force rather than as
a liberator.
Ms Runnak Faraj is editor of a
women's magazine. She has been a political activist from
the age of 12, the first time that she was arrested by
the Saddam security apparatus. She was subsequently
imprisoned several times. A graduate of Baghdad
University in history, she has now separated from all
political movements and is an activist for broader human
values, rather than political ideologies like socialism,
which she dumped at college.
Runnak, 37,
maintains that years of political and military struggle
have left Kurdish society, especially women, with deep
problems, including widespread illiteracy. "After the
collapse of the Saddam regime, we are looking forward to
a spiritual revolution within our society, with
progressive and enlightened thinking."
But
despite this, she says that she does not see the US as a
friend. "No, you cannot call an enemy of an enemy a
friend. Now the US has the duty to hand over power to
Iraqis. Give us all the right of self-determination,
leave the wealth of the Iraqis to them for their own
welfare and go back to the place where you came from."
Runnak and Jamal mentioned separately to this
correspondent that the Kurds aim to have dialogue with
the US to draw up a plan for the future, and that there
are no plans for any form of mass resistance, but this
could depend to a large extent on just how quickly - and
fairly - the US conceives, and implements, a viable
political blueprint for the county in general and for
Kurdish Iraq in particular.
(Copyright 2003 Asia
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