Wednesday, April 28, 2004
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Its back to square one as everyone is holding on to the Kurds as if its the last day on earth and some are saying the US might have to succumb to the temptation of creating three different federations, with Kurdistan being the new American beacon in the middle east. Of course, people like Chris Hitchens, assuming he buys into the idea any time soon, will have to argue why this is completely different than the "divide and quit" tactic of the british empire. I suppose one of the reasons would presumably be that unlike the British who didn't really give a shit about any of participants of the partition, the US will be active in siding with the Kurds in the long term. The problem, though, would be Syria flooding the Sunni federation with its people and Iran flooding the Shiite federation with its own. And if both federations welcome this influx, there goes the dwindling metric on the fight against islamofascism. It will also be a huge loss in the propaganda war, with the Arabs looking at Kurdistan as American territory with oil revenue coming out of Kirkuk-- a cross between Guantanamo and Saudi Arabia--and feeding the conspiracies that the US was out to break Iraq apart. When the US leaves the Sunnis and Shiites and pitches a tent in the north, moderate Iraqis in the two federations could feel betrayed to the extent that if the US launches attacks into those areas to clean out terrorists again they will be in a fight against the whole population more than ever.
