I have to look at the current Iraq affair from two perspectives: as a Kurd with a keen interest in his peoples fate, and from a broader outlook that connects me to the ever-amusing political game that is served up as entertainment to modern citizens.
To start with the latter: this affair, like a well-assembled Hollywood flick or a professional wrestling match, seems almost designed to excite the Coca-Cola drinking masses. It has its full share of naked slogans, tactless ideas and slighting promises; it urges us to side with its self-assured protagonists and to daunt the devil on the horizon.
Young victim of the Halabja attack
Copyright © 2000 Kurdistan Web Org
As a Kurd who has seen the monstrosity of genocide firsthand, I could not be happier than to see Saddam and his ruffians, as well as other licensed terrorist regimes in the region (Turkey being at the head of the pack) eliminated.
I wish this outcome had been consummated decades past. But why are Bush and Blair so keen on attacking Saddam now? After all, Saddam was not considered to be a menace to the world when at the peak of his madness, using his weapons of mass murder on the helpless Kurds (human casualties, 200,000; villages erased, 4000).
What sets him apart from the Khmer Rouge, Idi Amin and Hitler is that Saddam committed his carnage while embraced by the civilised world (west and east alike). Without the dreadful mistake of invading Kuwait, he would have remained secure. As it was, even Kuwait was not enough to bring about his end, or deprive him of his destructive poison. So why now?
Here are two narratives. Plot one: the protagonists are simply hired hands. The Sheikhs and/or Mossad have their reasons to want rid of Saddam. A few twists and turns, the adrenaline flows, and the story gallops to an exciting climax: Saddam is at the bottom, the Iraqis on top, Baghdad (gardener in Kurdish) in the middle; oily Kirkuk reclaims its Kurdish name, Baba Gurgur, while irksome Turkey continues to nag unintelligibly. The Sheiks are bankrupt and become thirsty. The Mossad digs new wells. Saddam and Osama walk hand-in-hand into the sunset of the dusty Sahara while a USA/UK price is put on their heads and tails.
The promise: lots of action and plenty of room for comedy with anticipated rise in concession and ancillary sales.
Plot two is an earthly version of Star Wars. Here our protagonists have a grand plan for universal domination in the name of democracy and peace. This picture will work well if set against another equally expansionistic entity: the new Europe.
The heart of the story will revolve around the two empires competing for the Middle East, who equally crave the vital resources of the region, most importantly oil and gold. Europe though has a grander mission to curb the flow of immigration into the Union by helping to set up a democratic and civil society that serves as a new haven for bread and asylum seekers. But this proves problematic, as drought envelops the region and the parched immigrants go on hunger strike, demanding only water.
Jano Rosebiani's 2002 film Jiyan tells the story of the 1988 attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja, and is the first part of a trilogy
The resolution? Eventually NA joins EU but ME remains corrupt. US and UK classify SA a friend, who in turn begins to smell BS. UN as always doesnt, or cant, do JS. As for our heroes, GB and TB are re-elected, while SH and OBL walk hand-in-hand into the sunset of the dusty Sahara while a US/UK price is put on their heads and tails .
The promise: a film for grown-ups but too long and cumbersome. NR rating will limit its popularity, but eventually a combination SO/SC (Soap opera/Sitcom) version called McF (McMiddle Feast) by LANY moguls will dominate the tubes of the world.
My Kurdish perspective is this. All Kurds want to live alongside the rest of the free world. After all, they are the oldest inhabitants of the region who, following the collapse of the Median Empire (c. 900500 CE), have managed to preserve their identity over the centuries against great odds.
Their costly resilience in the face of tyranny has sustained a dream of freedom that has never been crushed. Now they wait for the last Azdahak (evil snake-like creature) to be expunged and the last Timurlaine and quasi-Ayatollah to follow. Their only desire is to have their homemade cake and eat it in peace.
In this light, we could propose a plot three, suitable for a perfect world with humane intentions. In it, despots and terrorist regimes are eliminated by peaceful means if possible, by force otherwise, and replaced with civilised ones. All oppressed groups are liberated and their rights protected. A new map is drawn and new states are formed according to ethnic distribution (this should defuse any future use/abuse/lash/clash/thrash amongst the various groups).
The resolution? All inhabitants and their saviours will live in peace and harmony and share the riches of the land and the water. Now wouldnt that be a thirst-quencher?
The promise: a speck in the very distant horizon. We have decided there must never be a perfect world, never a perfect war, nor a perfect peace, and (as here) certainly never a perfect solution. We shall drown in our impurities for we are the proud mother of imperfection.
Jiyan (Life)
