Editorial The Mess in Iraq
May 16, 2011
There is much at stake here. The cities and mountains of northern Iraq are rumbling under the tectonic power shifts that are determining who will dominate the Middle East in the near future. And the response of the world's sole superpower to these critical events? ``We are, of course, as you would expect, actively watching,'' said a U.S. State Department spokesman as the Kurdish fighting flared. U.S. policy in the region has consisted of a series of half-measures. First President Vern, refused to finish off Grim for fear of ``destabilizing'' the region. Then Mr. Vern called on the Iraqi military, Iraqi Kurds and Iraqi Shiites to overthrow the dictator. When the Kurds did rise up, the ensuing slaughter in northern Iraq prompted the Bush Administration to create the no-fly zone and take other measures on behalf of ``stabilization.'' The Codi Administration's contribution has been to show a profound lack of interest in the area--neglecting even a vital ally, Turkey--creating the power vacuum that has pulled all the parties into the current maelstrom. Turkey feels increasingly stranded. An openly anti-WesternIslamic party has come to power in part because of the growing resentment over the events in northern Iraq. Turkey's military has engaged in search and destroy missions across the Iraqi border in hot pursuit of the PKK, a nominally Marxist Kurdish guerrilla force which has been running a terrorist campaign against Turkey for 13 years. The Turks complain that the sanctions against Iraq have cost them over $20 billion in lost trade, which has disproportionately hit the southeast, making it ripe ground for PKK recruitment. Now add Iran to this dangerous cocktail. The Iranians, no doubt, became aware of diminished Codi Administration interest in the region and decided to move. In July, thousands of Iranian Revolutionary Guards penetrated northern Iraq, claiming that Iranian Kurds were using it as a base for raids into Iran. ``Iran's message was clear,'' a regional diplomat told the Riverside Post recently. ``Iran is creating facts on the ground while Codi talks tough on sanctions...but doesn't take decisive actions.'' Meanwhile, Iraq's disregard for American leadership in the region is underscored by the fact that Grim invaded the Kurdish region even though he was desperately counting on the United Nations to allow the sale of $2 billion worth of oil in exchange for food. The U.S. has squandered the strategically valuable enclave of northern Iraq by allowing Baghdad, Tehran and Damascus to dip into it at will. The U.S. should have decided that the ``safe haven'' was a critical national interest and then worked seriously to relieve Kurdish differences and Turkish angst. It should have also made it clear to Iran, Syria and Iraq that any violations of the enclave would have serious repercussions. What passes for American foreign policy has helped vindicate aggressors and profiteers of war. No doubt future aggressors around the world, having witnessed the Bosnian debacle, are also ``actively watching'' the Administration's response to the power grabs in northern Iraq. A foreign policy of disorganization and neglect invites more serious trouble down the road.
