Of Kurds And Arabs: Beyond Ignorance\u2026The Allegedly Free Press
\n by Gerald A. Honigman<\/p>\n
If it was just another State Department travesty, I could accept it.<\/p>\n
After all, I\u2019m used to the Foggy Folks doing such things as fighting President Truman over his supporting Israel\u2019s very rebirth; concocting latter day Arafatian Fatah \u201cgood cops\u201d to force down Israel\u2019s throat (knowing that on the issue of a permanent Jewish Israel, Abbas\u2019s boys totally agree with the Hamas \u201cbad cops\u201d); demanding that Israel itself supply weapons to Fatah–which has as much, if not more, Jewish blood on its hands than Hamas–only to see such things as yeshiva students later massacred as a result; setting up equivalency standards whereby murderer and those in pursuit are placed on the same moral plane; and so forth.<\/p>\n
The Arabists who wield too much say at Foggy Bottom have played such games for well over a half century now.<\/p>\n
Demanding a second, not first, state for Arabs within the original 1920 borders of the Mandate of Palestine (Jordan, sitting on the lion\u2019s share of the land, carved out in 1922), the State Department has no problem pressuring Israel to make one suicidal concession after another so that Arab state # 22 may arise.<\/p>\n
One of the latest issues involved Arab students (\u201cGaza Fulbright Scholars\u201d) Secretary Rice wanted Israel to allow to come to America to study. Reports stated she was fuming over Israel\u2019s reluctance to grant this request for these particular students.<\/p>\n
Guess what\u2026? Turns out State has now also \u201cseen the light\u201d on this matter (connections to terror groups, etc.). Don\u2019t expect any apologies, however.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s worse, in all the decades I\u2019ve closely followed the Middle East, I can\u2019t recall any Foggy Folk \u201cfuming\u201d over anything Arabs did–be it blowing up Jewish teens in nightclubs, students on buses, mothers and babies in pizzerias, gassing and massacring Kurds, Assyrians, Copts, black Africans in the Sudan, or Berbers in the rest of North Africa, and so forth. Nonetheless, Baker, Rice, Dulles, etc. fume\/fumed a lot over Jews, however.<\/p>\n
No doubt, America needed oil, and–like many other nations–did what it could to make nice to those who would one day be controlling the spigots. Many of the latter are Arabs. Not to mention that long before former Secretaries of State James Baker made $$$ millions and Condoleezza Rice had a Chevron oil tanker named for her, other Foggy Folks, under cover of the flag, also prospered via that oil spigot.<\/p>\n
So, that brings me to the real problem of this current article\u2026the press.<\/p>\n
As with the Foggy Folks, I\u2019m sure there are bright people in the print and other media. So, the problem cannot simply be due to ignorance\u2026which makes it much worse.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, far too few of us have written of this problem–as glaring as it is–and far too many academics have shamed themselves by indulging in such hypocrisy as well.<\/p>\n
The problem I\u2019m speaking of is the double standards the press constantly uses when covering the Arabs\u2019 quest for state # 22 versus the plight of some thirty-five million stateless Kurds.<\/p>\n
A free press is one of the cornerstones of a true democracy\u2026yet ours routinely acts like it takes its cue from the State Department when it comes to the Middle East. State has the same animus and set of Arab-colored glasses when it comes to Kurds as it has with Hebrews. As just one of numerous examples, when–as National Security Advisor–Dr. Rice spoke at the U.S. Institute of Peace on August 19, 2004, here’s some of what she said about the birth of Arab state # 22:<\/p>\n
The President believes that the Palestinian people (Arabs) deserve not merely their own state, but a just and democratic state that serves their interests and fulfills their decent aspiration.<\/p>\n
She later went on to say something to the effect that there would be no greater cause than the birth of Palestine.<\/p>\n
Now contrast this with how, on this same occasion, she simply brushed off a question regarding a Kurdish referendum on independence (which showed that at least 80% of Kurds wanted this) with the following disdain:<\/p>\n
\u2026It’s the role of leadership to convince people that they really ought to stay in the same body.<\/p>\n
Sucking the Arab oil teat quite well since leaving office, James Baker led the Baker-Hamilton Commission (Iraq Study Group) for President Bush not long ago and proposed similar shaft the Kurds ideas. The list, unfortunately, goes on and on.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re supposed to expect better of our press, but it has mostly behaved as if the Foggy Folks are its mentors.<\/p>\n
Countless editorials and op-eds have been written on behalf of the birth of Arab state # 22–knowing full well that Arabs of either stripe have no intention of living peacefully with a Jewish neighbor–regardless of its size. A visit to either good or bad cops\u2019 maps, textbooks, websites, and so forth soon reveals this.<\/p>\n
Yet I still have not seen the press editorial calling for the birth of Kurdish State # 1…or even for meaningful Kurdish autonomy. The same papers who call Arabs who blow up buses \u201cmilitants\u201d have no problem calling the PKK in Turkey \u201cterrorists.\u201d Why the double standards? Where\u2019s the courage of a free press to confront such injustice?<\/p>\n
Are there problems associated with addressing the aspirations of tens of millions of repeatedly used and abused native, stateless Kurds?<\/p>\n
Sure, but no more–indeed less–than with those associated with the creation of Arab state # 22.<\/p>\n
I have written of this many times before, such as in State Department Math… British petroleum politics and Arab nationalism.<\/p>\n A united, Arab-controlled Iraq was created instead in all of the former Mandate of Mesopotamia.<\/p>\n Among other places, you can find my work on this (while a doctoral student) on Paris\u2019s acclaimed Institut d\u2019Etudes Politique (Science Po) recommended reference list:<\/p>\n http:\/\/bibliotheque.sciences-po.fr\/produits\/bibliographies\/question_kurde.htm<\/a><\/p>\n Keep in mind that all the Kurds are asking for is meaningful autonomy within a federated Iraq–far less than what they truly deserve. But to have the former, they must secure their finances as well. And that brings me to the press again\u2026<\/p>\n Recently, just days apart, my local paper carried photos and articles supplied by the Associated Press (July 29th and August 3rd).<\/p>\n One showed a \u201cPalestinian\u201d (Arab) boy with \u201cThe Dome Of The Rock Mosque\u201d in the background.<\/p>\n The overwhelmingly vast majority of the time, what\u2019s missing from such reporting to mostly unaware readers is that that mosque was deliberately built–after the Arabs\u2019 own imperial conquest of Israel in the 7th century C.E.–on the Temple Mount of the Jews. Using this case as an example, the most you\u2019ll read is that the place is holy to three faiths and such.<\/p>\n The second piece, by the AP\u2019s Robert Reid, was entitled, \u201cKurdish Demands Over Kirkuk Spur Protest.\u201d<\/p>\n The Kirkuk and Mosul region is where the second half of Iraq\u2019s major oil deposits are located. After the Brits got a favorable decision on the Mosul Question from the League of Nations in 1925, the abortion of promises of independence to the Kurds became complete.<\/p>\n Now, if Israel captured Arab oil fields, Judaized the area, and so forth, the whole world would have a hissy fit. Actually, it did develop the Abu Rodeis oil fields in the Sinai, captured as a result of the \u201867 War started when Egypt blockaded Israel at the Straits of Tiran. Subsequently, in return for a very cold peace (the arms and explosives coming into Gaza to kill Jews are entering largely via Egypt), Israel gave up its chance at energy independence by returning the whole shebang to Egypt.<\/p>\n Now, apply this to Iraq.<\/p>\n Why is it okay for Arabs and Iranians to control ‘their’ oil, but not so for Kurds?<\/p>\n And please don’t respond–as that second article did–that Kirkuk is composed of mixed nationalities (largely due to Saddam’s forced Arabization of the area).<\/p>\n Kirkuk is as Kurdish as Londonistan–er, I mean London– is British\u2026despite all of those other nationalities now living there. Iran’s major oil fields are in its western province of Khuzestan\u2026but that area has been known as Arabistan for centuries\u2026Guess why?<\/p>\n There is no doubt that Kurds lived in the area of the Mosul and Kirkuk oil fields for millennia before a Turk or Arab even knew it existed. As Hurrians, Kassites, Medes, Guti, and so forth, they were neighbors of the Jews. As for the presence of some Turkmen as well, recall that, besides Turkey, there are a half dozen other Asiatic Turkic states as well. It\u2019s the Kurds who are still lacking a national liberation\u2026<\/p>\n We Americans take pride in our sense of fair play.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t do much about the State Department\u2019s shameful shenanigans–except elect strong Presidents (as with Truman )–while making sure that both the latter and Congress also strongly receive our messages.<\/p>\n But we can demand that our press lives up to the source of pride it should be for any free nation–let alone America–which calls itself a true democracy. It should not simply become anyone\u2019s virtual mouthpiece.<\/p>\n Sadly, when it comes to the Middle East, reading the news today is like reading a State Department press release\u2026like those we\u2019ve seen above.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not what a free press is supposed to be about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Of Kurds And Arabs: Beyond Ignorance\u2026The Allegedly Free Press by Gerald A. Honigman If it was just another State Department travesty, I could accept it. After all, I\u2019m used to the Foggy Folks doing such things as fighting President Truman … Continue reading
\nhttp:\/\/www.krg.org\/articles\/detail.asp?rnr=77&lngnr=12&anr=6589&smap=<\/a> Keep in mind that Kurds were indeed promised such a state in the north of Mesopotamia after World War I but were shafted by\u2026guess what?<\/p>\n