Barzani, a hypocrite! Re: Iraq's Kurdish leader snubs Rice, refuses to meet

In article <1198013002.3102668648.1004835085@servebbs.org>,

<NY.Transfer.News@blythe.org> wrote:

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>Iraq's Kurdish leader snubs Rice, refuses to meet

>

>Via NY Transfer News Collective All the News that Doesn't Fit

>

>BBC - Dec 18, 2007

>http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7150355.stm

>

>Iraq's Kurdish leader snubs Rice

>

>" It is unacceptable that the United States, in charge of monitoring

>our airspace, authorised Turkey to bomb our villages" -- Nechirvan

>Barzani PM, Kurdish Regional Government

Well, Mr. Barzani is a hypocrite, isn't he?

Mr. Barzani was overjoyed when America invaded Iraq and gave him a

large swath of Northern Iraq _for free_, something he and his Kurdish

fighters could not do by themselves. And then the Bush occupation of

Iraq made it possible for his lieutenant Jalal Talabani to become the

president of Iraq, succeeding Saddam Hussein and giving the Kurdish

Iraqis a disproportionally large share of power that could eventually

give the Kurds their own nation within an oil-rich territory. And all

these benefits came at the price tag of close to a million deaths,

several million homeless, and some FIVE million orphans in Iraq, as of

2007.

So sweet is the deal for Barzani and yet all he and his fighters have

been working on is to have their sovereign nation independent of Iraq.

I don't blame them for yearning for their own sovereign country.

But I find it hard to believe that he had the gall to say:

"It is unacceptable that the United States, in charge of monitoring

our airspace, authorised Turkey to bomb our villages" -- Nechirvan

Barzani PM, Kurdish Regional Government

So, does Mr. Barzani honestly think that Mr. Bush invaded Iraq for

altruistic reasons and for giving the Kurds what they had dreamed of

but could not achieved by themselves in particular?

What does Mr. Barzani think is the reason why it would not have been

the Iraqis themselves who were ``in charge of monitoring'' their own

airspace?

(In fact, Mr. Bush has not been in any hurry to let the Iraqis have an

air force of their own to defend themselves.)

Mr. Barzani should know this English saying: ``Beggars can't be

choosers''.

Mr. Barzani should also know that he has a lot of Iraqi blood on his

hands.

He has to choose. If he chooses to be an Iraqi, then he is a traitor

of Iraq. If he chooses not to be an Iraqi, then he cannot at the same

time claim the Iraqi airspace as ``our airspace''.

And finally, if he is still dissatisfied with what he's gotten from

this war and tries to expand his ambition into the Turkish territory,

then he has to sweat some to wrestle it from the Turks.

But he can't act like a spoiled child in Mr. Bush's lap.

And I seriously doubt that Condoleezza Rice would lose any sleep on

Mr. Barzani's refusal to receive her.

Mr. Barzani should know that the lady didn't lose a wink when she was

in charge of America's national security when 9/11 struck!

lo yeeOn

========

>

>The head of Iraq's Kurdish regional government has refused to meet the

>US secretary of state because of the US position on Turkish

>cross-border raids.

>

>Massoud Barzani had been scheduled to meet Condoleezza Rice in Baghdad,

>but withdrew "as a sign of protest" after several villages were bombed

>on Sunday.

>

>The air strikes on alleged positions of PKK separatist rebels were

>followed by an incursion by 300 troops on Tuesday.

>

>They moved 3km (1.9 miles) over Iraq's border, but later reportedly

>withdrew.

>

>The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, has said almost 2,000 people in

>northern Iraq have fled their homes in recent days as a result of the

>Turkish operations.

>

>'Sign of protest'

>

>Speaking to reporters in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil, the prime

>minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Nechirvan Barzani, said

>its president had refused to meet Ms Rice because of Washington's

>tolerance of the recent Turkish raids.

>

>"It was decided that Massoud Barzani would go to Baghdad to take part

>in a meeting with Condoleezza Rice and other officials, but he will not

>go now as a sign of protest against the American position on the

>bombings by Turkey," he said.

>

>"It is unacceptable that the United States, in charge of monitoring our

>airspace, authorised Turkey to bomb our villages," he added.

>

>Following the Turkish air strikes on Sunday, the US embassy in Baghdad

>denied that US military commanders had approved the attacks, but

>admitted they had been informed they would take place.

>

>After meeting Iraqi officials in Baghdad, Ms Rice said the US, Turkey

>and Iraq shared a common interest "in stopping the activities of the

>PKK".

>

>She argued that the separatist rebel group threatened to undo the

>progress that has been made in northern Iraq.

>

>"This is a circumstance in which the US has constantly counselled that

>we need an overall comprehensive approach to this problem and that no

>one should do anything that threatens to destabilise the north," she

>said.

>

>Her Iraqi counterpart, Hoshyar Zebari, who is a member of Mr Barzani's

>Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP), said the Iraqi government remained

>concerned about the threat to civilians in the north.

>

>But he noted that the recent Turkish raids had been in sparsely

>populated areas.

>

>Iraqi officials have said the Turkish air strikes on Sunday targeted 10

>villages and killed one woman. The PKK has reported seven deaths.

>

>'Whatever is necessary'

>

>Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan re-asserted his

>country's right to defend itself from attacks by the PKK.

>

>''We are using our rights based on the international law against a

>terrorist organisation," he told a news conference in Ankara.

>

>"Our army is doing whatever is necessary. Our security forces will

>continue to do whatever is necessary," he added, echoing comments made

>by President Abdullah Gul.

>

>The declaration came after a spokesman for the Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga

>security forces told the BBC that some 300 lightly armed Turkish troops

>crossed the border into northern Iraq.

>

>The spokesman said the soldiers moved up to 3km (1.9 miles) inside Iraq

>in an area called Seeda Kan - in the triangle between Iraq, Iran and

>Turkey.

>

>Later, Fouad Hussein, chief of staff of President Barzani, said the

>troops withdrew less than 24 hours after the incursion.

>

>"The Turkish force that entered is no longer there," Mr Hussein told

>Reuters.

>

>The incursion was believed to be the first major Turkish troop

>deployment in Iraq since Turkey's parliament voted in October to allow

>the military to launch cross-border operations to combat the PKK.

>

>Ankara accuses the PKK of using bases inside Iraq to launch attacks on

>Turkey.

>

>Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops near the mountainous border with

>northern Iraq, backed by tanks, artillery and warplanes.

>

>As many as 3,000 PKK members are believed to be based inside northern

>Iraq. Turkey has accused the local Kurdish authorities of supporting

>them.

>

>- ------------------------------

>Sidebar:

> MOUNTING BORDER TENSION

>7 Oct PKK rebels kill 13 Turkish troops near Iraqi border

>17 Oct - Turkish MPs allow military operations in Iraq

>21 Oct - 12 Turkish troops die in PKK ambush near Iraqi border

>30 Nov - Turkish cabinet backs PKK pursuits in Iraq

>13 Nov - Turkey shells PKK targets in Iraq, Baghdad says

>1 Dec - Turkish army targets rebels in Iraq, inflicting "heavy losses"

>16 Dec - Turkish jets bomb PKK targets in Iraq for the first time

>- -------------------------------

>

>

>

>© BBC MMVII

>

>

>

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