COMMENTARY
What the Kurds Want
By BARHAM SALIH
SULEIMANIYAH, Iraq -- George
Bush and Tony Blair are icons for Iraqi Kurds for
overthrowing an evil regime. We are proud that Kurds fought
side by side with the coalition forces. According to the
Americans, our Kurdish soldiers gave an excellent account of
themselves. There is no better motivation on the battlefield
than to know that freedom is ahead, rather than some
Fedayeen thug behind.
In parts of Iraq there has
been inevitable disorder. The Baath Party pushed itself into
every corner of life. Its defeat has led to a temporary
vacuum. That is being filled, and leaders of communities are
emerging from within Iraq. If we are to build democracy we
must work with those who endured Saddam's Iraq and enable
them to discard the fear that dominated their lives. They
lived under a regime that executed people for suspected
thoughts as well as for real opposition. They have to be
empowered, not have self-serving and unknown leaders forced
upon them. Top regime criminals must be tried. The Baathist
mentality of deference must cease.
The new Iraqi state should
have clearly limited powers. Those who want a strong
executive presidency show no understanding of either Iraq or
the Middle East. The region is too full of strongmen, many
of whom are the West's best friends -- when it suits them.
It would be better for Iraq to have a representative,
collegial leadership. It cannot be democratic if it is not
also federal, a state that recognizes the rights of my
long-abused people. We Kurds, some 25% of all Iraqis, have
not been the only victims of Saddam and the failed state of
Iraq, but we have been its primary victims. The Kurds are
Iraq's democratic vanguard, thanks to 12 years of air cover;
we have a diversity of opinions, a free media, and a respect
for minority rights that is not found elsewhere in the
Islamic Middle East.
Free Iraqis need to strike a
careful balance. We must recognize suppressed identities and
religious rights while not favoring them. The new Iraq must
not be communally based. Federalism will be geographic,
discrimination illegal. Justice demands that we reverse
ethnic cleansing. The Arabization of Iraqi Kurdistan, the
settlement program that few have ever heard of, began 40
years ago, before the long tyranny of the Baath Party. Over
600,000 persons in Iraqi Kurdistan, mostly Kurds but also
Turkmens and Assyrian Christians, are internally displaced.
In the wake of liberation, there have been regrettable
episodes in which individuals have taken the law into their
hands in an attempt to redress Arabization. All reversals of
ethnic cleansing must be conducted lawfully: Iraqis have had
enough of violence and summary justice. The Arab settlers
who were used to colonize Khanaqin, Sinjar, Makhmoor,
Sheikhan and Kirkuk must be treated fairly. We must not
tolerate abuses.
Within the region we must
build good relations with our neighbors, promote the
peaceful resolution of disputes and, above all, end the use
of terrorism. At the same time, we will politely and firmly
ask our neighbors to leave us alone. As for the U.N., it has
a role to play; but it must win back the trust of Iraqis.
The U.N.'s Oil-for-Food program has been mismanaged
appallingly. Half of the money allocated to Iraqi Kurdistan
never reached us, thanks to bureaucratic obstacles erected
in Baghdad and supported by U.N. Plaza. In Suleimaniyah, we
have waited five years for the program to build a 400-bed
hospital. No money from Oil-for-Food was allocated to cover
the basic running costs of the Kurdish authorities. We could
not pay a single Kurdish teacher or doctor with this money,
while Oil-for-Food largesse went to Uday Hussein's National
Olympic Committee.
Despite change in Baghdad,
there has been no change of heart at the U.N. The U.N.
Secretary General has the right to take unspent Kurdish
money from the Oil-for-Food program and use it as he sees
fit for Iraq's immediate humanitarian needs. Nobody can
object to that in principle. The problem, as ever, is U.N.
practice. We have been told that any money taken from the
Kurdish account is "reimbursable," that we will still be
entitled to it. When, how, and, frankly, if, this money will
ever be reimbursed we do not know. Let international control
of Iraqi oil continue, but please, let it be to the benefit
of Iraqis and not U.N. bureaucrats.
* * * The transition in Iraq
will not be easy, and must be assessed in its proper
context. Iraq's decimated civil society -- coupled with the
many external influences -- will inevitably make the
transition a rather complicated process. The future of Iraq
is of consequence not only to the people of Iraq, but also
the wider Middle East and beyond. The stakes cannot be any
higher: for those of us who would like the Islamic Middle
East to aspire toward more democracy, as well as for those
who seek to maintain the status quo.
These historic challenges can
best be tackled through a partnership between Iraqis and the
U.S.-led coalition. A broad-based provisional national Iraqi
government must be established very soon, tasked with
maintaining order, resuming public services and preparing
for elections -- both local, for municipalities, and
national, for a constituent assembly to ratify a new
constitution. Free Iraqis must shoulder the responsibility
for governing their country. These are great challenges. We
do not pretend that we can surmount all of our problems and
we will need consistent support. Whatever happens, let us
not forget the terror that we have emerged from, just as we
will never forget those who freed us.
Mr. Salih, of the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan, is prime minister of the Kurdistan
Regional Government.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL April
22, 2003
