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TimmyMWD said 03/13, 09:43 AM
Whenever we leave Iraq, an inevitable series of events will occur that will escalate into a full fledged genocide against the Kurds in the Middle East. That minority ethnic group; which lives in area that covers portions of Iran, Iraq, and Turkey, has for quite some time been pushing for their own independent nation (referred often times as Kurdistan). There are militant factions of Kurds who have resorted to armed rebellion and terrorist tactics to fuel their agenda. This has angered powerful nations - Turkey's recent incursion into Iraq proves this.

Even with the presence of the US military, Turkey was still willing to ignore Iraqi sovereignty and launch raids in northern Iraq against the Kurds. If this is going on when the United States is there - what will happen when we leave? The Kurds will undoubtedly look to the United States for recognition in similar fashion to Kosovo, but it would be politically impossible for us to support this independence move.

As with all policies in the Mid East, we will be paralyzed by our need to appease our allies. Turkey and Iraq will go unchecked in their genocide against the Kurds once they push for independence.

TimmyMWD said 03/14, 10:11 AM
This argument is not about whether we should stay in Iraq or not to stop the genocide, rather will a genocide occur when we leave. Your solution is admirable, but is rather utopian. Do you really think we would risk upsetting Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran for the formation of a new nation? Turkey is a critical ally in the region; and if their secular government makes a concession such as losing land to a Kurdistan; it would collapse their nation is a fundamentalist take over.

Furthermore, there is NO chance we would support Kurdistan because we would get called on a double standard for NOT advocating the same thing for Palestine. If you don't believe me, look at our stance in nearby Georgia in the Caucuses - even though they want the same thing Kosovo wanted, we did not want to disrupt the region and its energy resources by advocating independence for that ethnic group.

The fact that we have basically given the green light for Turkey to go into Iraq and hunt down members of the PKK now shows that we have no support for the Kurds, despite their very pro-US views in Northern Iraq. Iraq would NEVER let them become independent because there is a huge oil field where they live.

TimmyMWD said 03/18, 08:00 AM
Base, the fact that the region the Kurds live in has the second largest oilfield in Iraq proves why Iraq and other nations would not allow their independence. What incentive would Iraq have to give up this land? All it would do is further incite violence among the various sectarian groups. Your claim that only Iraq would have to give up land is a false one - Kurdish separatist groups want the whole region they live in; including parts of Turkey and Iran. To them, only getting their land from Iraq would be like just getting the kitchen and garage, but other families getting the rest of their house.

Furthermore, your argument that we wouldn't let state sponsored genocide occur in the Middle East because they are a national interest is unfortunately naive. It is more in in our interest to keep the current nation states stable, so if we needed to appease those forces it would mean no support for the Kurds. Even if they got land only from Iraq, Turkey would still be flippant at the newly created rival state. If any proof is needed that we would acquiesce to Turkey and not the oppressed ethnic group; look at what happened when we tried to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.