The fighting in Iraq seems to have garnered quite a bit of attention on numerous fronts. We have President Obama attempting to go the minimal route and basically claim he has sent sufficient Special Forces troops to advise and assist as needed to turn the table and somehow force to make the Iraqi military stand and fight rather than run in flight as they have thus far. The reality is not quite as pretty or honorable but is probably the best option all things considered as far as saving Baghdad from itself. These special units which are being deployed consists of at least one Special Ops Unit who are trained specifically on IT (information technology), networking, and computer sciences and are tasked with destroying, neutralizing and rendering inoperative the massive computer complex, monitoring, as well as data retrieval and storage capable of gathering, storing and analyzing an impressively wide, extensive and complex variety and amount of data. Perhaps this is the smart way to go all things considered. The United States hopefully learned a lesson from their adventurism in Iraq and Afghanistan, namely that you cannot impose by force, coercion or any other implied form of persuasion a democratic governance which will produce a multicultural and acceptive society amongst peoples who are still part of a culture which is tribal, clan based or religiously exclusive such as exists between the Sunni and Shiite Islamic denominations without first reorienting their educational system and then remaining with a heavily influencing if not also heavy footprint residual force for probably close to two generations and maybe far longer as their basic approach and exclusive societal structure has been basically transformed into a system more adapted for inclusive, multicultural based society which can then become an operative democratic society. Establishing a democratic governance in a clan or tribal society can only produce a society in which the predominant faction will gain control over the government and use that power to make their rule permanently entrenched and often will go so far as to eradicate any other sector of the society they perceive as a threat.
What has been ignored in Iraq is the slow but steady eradication of the Sunni influences on the government by the Shiites who feel they are entitled to impose their will as a vengeance on the many decades of Sunni oppressions committed on them. They were simply using their control of the government to apply payback for the slights and oppressions they had suffered at the hands of the Sunnis under Saddam Hussein. This treatment by the Shiite government on their Sunni countrymen was restrained for as long as the United States military was present and preventing the majority Shiites from imposing their will and utilizing the government as a large club to oppress the Sunnis which served two purposes, it guaranteed their continued control of the governance and it limited the rights and liberties to their rival form of Islam, the Sunnis. The Shiite controlled government in Baghdad also would have imposed their will in a similar manner on the Kurds except the Kurds formed their own militia which performed the same role as a national army in defending their territories from outside influence thus protecting the Kurds enabling them to establish their own semiautonomous kingdom in the northern areas of Iraq. This has provided the only stable area in Iraq since the removal of the American forces and is the one saving grace which remains and is a credit to the United States liberation of Iraq from the oppressive rule of Saddam Hussein. The Kurds are also the only force thus far which has successfully stood up to the invading forces of ISIS even to the point of re-liberating Kirkuk after the Iraqi military stationed there simply evacuated before the advancing ISIS terrorists. Hopefully, when all is said and done and the new divisions of Iraq become somewhat stable, or at least as stable as anything currently can be in much of the Middle East, the Kurds will retain both Kirkuk and Mosul.
What would be an even grander vision would be the Kurds declaring themselves free from the dictates and alien government in Baghdad and establish the nation of Kurdistan, something which was presented to them as a promise which was not only never kept but intentionally broken over oil by the British. When the time came to establish the promised area of Kurdish autonomy and nationhood, the British made a new deal for the oil in northern Iraq as well as their already established agreement over the southern oil fields and thus Iraqi leader King Faisal was granted dominion over the Kurdish lands and Kurdistan was erased from the plans and the map. The Israelis are familiar with the British form of promises and honoring said promises as not only did the British take over three-fourths of the promised British Mandate for the Jewish State and in its stead establish Jordan as a gift to the Hashemites, a losers condolence prize after they were removed from their positions in Mecca and Medina, but also to this very day as the British are complicit with the Palestinian claims to Judea, Samaria and Gaza despite their solemn promises that the lands west of the Jordan River, after stealing those lands east of the Jordan River, would be inviolate and forever reserved and part of the Jewish State. If Israel relied on British promises, even Tel Aviv would not be a safe haven kept as promised for Jews to reside.
The Kurds have had their own autonomous enclave for well over a decade starting with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein by the forces of the United States. They are sufficiently independent from the influences and controlling reach of the Shiite government in Baghdad that they have begun pumping the oil in their region through a Turkish pipeline to which they have become connected. Their initial shipment under the auspices of their declared governance, the autonomous Kurdish Regional Government, is sitting in the SCF Altia tanker ready to be unloaded tomorrow at the port city of Ashkelon by the Israelis. Israel has reached an agreement to buy Kurdish produced oil which will be piped through the Ceyhan pipeline despite opposition and protestations from Baghdad, obviously, and the United States, Israel has accepted this first shipment and is working to develop further relations with the Kurdish Regional Government. Israel should inform the Kurdish Regional Government that Israel is prepared to recognize the autonomous areas under Kurdish control, including Kirkuk and also Mosul if they should gain control of this city after the Iraqi unrest settles down, as an independent nation of Kurdistan and willing to enter a mutual defense pact promising to assist in the defense of the Kurdish areas should any outside force attempt to compromise their borders and lands. Such an event would controvert the claims from Baghdad that they control the region and that they and only they are permitted to sell all the oil within the Kurdish Regional Government areas. Perhaps it is time for Israelis and the Kurdish peoples to claim the lands which were promised them at the end of World War I with the setting up of the mandate system under which both the Kurds and the Jews were promised homelands but those promises proved to be fluidic and the Jews saw over three-fourths of their mandated lands stolen and presented to an Arab potentate and the Kurds saw their promise simply dissolve completely as Iraq was given their lands in exchange for allowing the British to control the oil in the previously promised Kurdish lands.
The Kurds and Israelis share relatively good relations and share a history replete with broken British promises as major tragedies in their history, making their friendship that much stronger for the shared experiences. These difficult times with Iraq being swallowed by terrorist violence and assaults from the ISIS terrorist forces and the potential for Iranian troops to enter Iraq presumably for the purpose of assisting in the protection of the Shiite government in Baghdad and to repel the ISIS forces who are currently wreaking havoc over much of central and southern Iraq. Why should Iran or the United States have the right to intervene and defend the Baghdad government of Iraq and Israel be prevented from recognizing and promising to assist in the defense of the Kurdish lands in the north should they come under attack from terrorists or other outside forces. Contrary to their opinions, the United States and Iran have not been granted hegemonic control over the entire Middle East or even simply the Iraqi areas claimed by Baghdad. The Kurds have been operating independently for years and have earned the right to declare their independence. Why is it permissible for the disparate peoples who made up what used to be Yugoslavia be permitted to establish their own little fiefdom nations all of which would easily fit within the area controlled by the Kurdish people and the Kurds are forbidden from the same autonomous freedom to have their own lands. Just because President Obama or the State Department does not like the idea does not mean that such is forbidden. The Kurds should simply remind President Obama of his promise that the United States would no longer dictate to the world what they could or could not do and the world would not any longer require the permission from Washington before acting in their own best interests. This time of distress and dire threats is the perfect time to allow the Kurds to establish their own independent nation as their having defended their lands and the reputation of their military forces, militias as they are referred to, being largely responsible for the northern Kurdish defended region being left in peace. If keeping their area peaceful and under its own governance’s control and this serenity being the exception should be reason enough for the establishment of Kurdistan as they are not being protected by the Iraqi army or any other force out of Baghdad, so they should not be governed by those who are unwilling to protect them as they appear to be unable to protect their own or any other part of Iraq. Long live Kurdistan, friend and sharer of similar history and friend of Israel.
Beyond the Cusp 