I recently had a discussion with a friend who expressed what I considered a proposal that made a great deal of sense.
The US government should support the formation of a Kurd country of Kurdistan. The geographic boundries would be the original ones before it was divided amonst Iraq, Iran and Turkey. By creating such an enity, the USA would have a friendly, government already established, armed force, intelligent functioning country in the Middle East. This would benefit the democratic west, muslim middle east and the world as a whole. It would also serve as a silent invisabe protective for Israel.
I would like to hear views ond opinions on this subject. Would this be a platform issue for Unity08? Platform Issue== Alternate proposals to debate to win the war on terrorism.
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The Turks wont tolerate a Kurdistan, they would wipe it out. (In fact they just had an election and the whole world is fortunate for the outcome.)
But maybe we can try for a semi-independent Kurdish province in the north, with US backing & troops. Then let the Europeans or someone keep peace near the central part including Bahgdad as we pull out.
If we go north and reduce troops, it satisfies some political objectives, at home & abroad.
Still, who can we count on to prevent the civil war in the south and central regions. It would have to be someone strong.
i like that idea, the kurds already like us, we freed them from the tyrant. help them form their own state/country and support them in everyway, military, technology, food, construction, build them up into a very productive country. They would be a great friend to have in that part of the world.
As much as I would love to see the Kurdish section of iraq an idependent country, it is realistically a no go. I agree with Kim that the turks would see that as a boon to Kurdish irredentist and revanchist pressures on a great chunk of turkey (and Iran) that are primarily Kurds. we need to be courting the kurds, but not at the risk of losing he Turks. An independent Kurdistan would result in a Turkish invasion to protect the substantial Turkmen poulation in Kurdistan Iraq now. We would not be able to contain that and the only ones who would benefit are the jihad/salafi/shia extremists terrorists elements and the Iranians. It would cause untold discord in the area unecessarily - not needed now.
We need to keep at least a dejure Kurdistan within Iraq to pass muster with he turks. defacto the kurds can have a federal entity within Iraq and keep their autonomy. but we need to keep the Turks with us as much as possible. One of the great mistakes Bush made in the leadup to the march 2024 war was to fail to get the Turks on board diplomatically at laest with the invasion and get alocal committed to the cause and allow our troops to come in from the north. we need a good local like the Turks and the Egyptians and Jordanians to bolstera stability force that could supplement our troops efforts in Iraq. USE the LOCALS!! Don't alienate them.
DC - 3rd ward - milligansstew08@yahoo.com
http://milligansstew.blogspot.com
There are already ads in papers for "Kurdistan" - they are becoming quite autonomous. They have also done a separate oil deal with a good Bush buddy
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/28/world/middleeast/28iraq.html
BUT - they are nominally still under the Iraq central government. A truly independent Kurdistan would not sit well with Turkey - or Iran.
The main mess in Iraq isn't in the Kurd area, so how does formation of a Kurdistan country help settle the Iraq mess?
US Marine vet Vietnam 4/68 - 8/69 5th District, NJ
Lets remember that Turkey is trying to join the EU, which has already seen federated systems broken for the sake of self determination like Bosnia, Albania, and Slovakia. What is different about Kurdistan? Even the Chinese shed Mongolia. If the USA supported the Kurds, it'd create enormous problems for Iran and distract them from nuclear ambitions. And if the government in Ankara tried to use force against the Kurds, it mite well see Istanbul break away, which would readily be accepted by the EU, glad to have that province back in Europe where its ancient roots have always been.
Who is going to support the religious fanatics in Ankara against the Kurds? Why does the principle of self determination stop at the Bosphorus? There are economic benefits as well. There already is a new pipeline across the Kurdish part of Turkey headed for the Mediterranean. This would allow the export of Kurdish oil without having to rely on the choke point of the straits of Hormuz- which the EU and the US would welcome, and go a long ways twards stabilizing the price of oil.