Kurdish/Israeli Ties: Lobbying, Expansion and Ethnic Cleansing

I've been working on this one for a bit- It's long, but, if I could do the research and type it up- You can read it :)   One of many pet projects at the blog- The  Kurds and the creation of a Kurdish state.So similar in it’s roots to the creation of Israel. One has to delve more then superficially into this area to make the connections. Many don’t want to. I guess, if I have to, that it’s easier to believe you’re on the right side of some presentation of  history, correcting some perceived wrong, as opposed to just being manipulated again and again.  If I had to guess? But mass manipulation is real.  Your perception is managed every day- You & I pick up ideas from a whole host of places- Doesn’t mean we should take these ideas/memes in unquestioningly. Without asking a whole host of questions about that information? Think of the Trivium when you think of information being presented. Back to the obvious, to me, synchronicity between the creation of Israel and the work in progress called Kurdistan.When I originally bookmarked the article on July 4/15, that forms the main body of this post, there was a couple of sentences addressing the fact that the Kurdish Lobby was based on the Israeli Lobby- Gone now.  My loss, but, no matter. I can make the connection between the Kurds and Israel/Israeli lobby quite easily.Just a taste:

Israel Kurdistan Network/Israeli-Kurdish Friendship League

There will be more.  Might the presence of a strong lobby linked to the Israeli lobby be an impetus for the creation of Kurdistan?  And worse is this lobby, via it's tentacles, reaching far and wide the reason so many support the creation of this 'nation' unquestioningly? Long article, I encourage you to read it all, of course. Relevant excerpts will be posted below How the Kurds helped draw the U.S. back to Iraq

The United States has a number of interests in Kurdistan, all of which serve to justify Obama’s retraction of the no-engagement policy. For instance, the region is a stable and trustworthy pro-U.S. ally that Washington needs in an increasingly unstable and chaotic Middle East

 It is in a geostrategic area bordering Iran and Syria. It also has the potential to be a great oil-exporting entity and has given contracts to several U.S. companies, including ExxonMobil and Chevron. And Erbil, the Kurdistan region’s capital, hosts a significant number of Americans.( I have at least one regular visitor from Erbil) Since the 1990s, and even more so since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003, the leadership has pursued a comprehensive foreign policy and diplomatic campaign to add to Washington’s various justifications for protecting the Kurds of Iraq.

Diplomacy is perceived by both the political elite and the general population of Iraqi Kurdistan to be an essential tool for progress. It serves as a uniting force.The diplomatic approach became essential for Iraq’s Kurds because of one key reality: their autonomy, and ultimately their statehood, would only emerge if they received the green light from neighboring and international states.

The Kurds’ diplomatic efforts are extensive.  An interviewee with inside knowledge of the KRG confided to the author that the KRG has spent millions of dollars on diplomacy, more than it has spent in any other area of operation. ( How many millions?) This includes, for example, training its diplomats on protocol and etiquette as well as diplomatic communications.

 Going back in time. Kurds telling US diplomats that which they want to hear. US diplomats, loving the lies.

According to a U.S. diplomatic cable, Barzani told then U.S. defense secretary Robert Gates that the KRG and the United States both desire a stable and unified Iraq. (lie on both counts) Similarly, KRG Interior Minister Karim Sinjari told a U.S. political adviser that “nearly all” Kurds understand their best hope for a brighter future is to be included as part of Iraq and not in an independent state. (more lies)Rather than antagonize Washington, the leadership has preferred to compromise and reap the benefits of increased trust.

To show good faith, the KRG leadership has made compromises in its relationship with Baghdad.In 2009, when the United States required consensus among political actors in the central government to push through an election law that was needed for the upcoming national elections, the Iraqi Kurd leaders, who were threatening to boycott the law because they were unhappy with the parliamentary seat allocation, eventually agreed to give up some of their seats in an effort to please the anxious American leadership. Falah Mustafa told American officials in Erbil that the compromise was worth it because it facilitated a stronger relationship with the U.S. president; building trust with Washington for future commitments guided this decision.Similarly, the Iraqi Kurd elite compromised on elements of Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution that calls for a referendum to decide whether the Iraqi province of Kirkuk should be annexed to the KRG. Although the deadline for the referendum was technically 2007, the Kurdish leadership, under pressure from Turkey and the United States, ultimately agreed to delay the vote to maintain relations with Ankara and Washington, which did not want the referendum to happen at that time. It has still not taken place. The KRG’s relations with Ankara and Washington have greatly improved following these decisions.(Until the Kurds ramp up their Turkish destabilization campaign with the help of their good friends in Israel) 

Iraqi Kurd diplomats have also positioned themselves as the only reliable actors within Iraq that can pursue the interests of foreign capitals. The leadership continues to stress to Washington that the central government in Baghdad is untrustworthy and incompetent. Kurdish leaders openly present themselves to be the only actors in Iraq who are committed to the constitution, and they attempt to delegitimize Arab Iraqi parties.During the reign of former Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, diplomats even drew comparisons between Maliki and Saddam Hussein. They juxtapose the Kurdistan region’s forward progress in human rights and democratization with Baghdad’s ineffectiveness on these issues to argue that they are natural partners for Washington. 

Such familiar memes

The leaders explain the KRG’s strength as a local partner by using its national parliamentary seats, which become important during every election cycle, to portray themselves as kingmakers in Baghdad. The (Kurdish) leadership has consistently argued in Washington that its military, the peshmerga, is the only reliable fighting force in Iraq. Fuad Hussein told an American audience in Washington in the summer of 2014 that “80 percent of the Iraq army has collapsed.” The diplomats remind their U.S. counterparts that no American soldiers were killed in the Kurdistan region following the 2003 war. After the ISF collapse, the Iraqi Kurd leadership regularly mentioned to leaders in Washington the difference in input versus output between Erbil and Baghdad.Washington has begun to appreciate the role of the peshmerga. In a Senate hearing on Iraq and Syria, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst stated her support for the peshmerga, saying that “they’re willing to fight. In close combat. And it is truly unmatched by any other group in that region.” Senator John McCain, moreover, has been leading an “arm the peshmerga” campaign.

John McCain. The man hasn't met a destabilizer or a war he can't support, no matter how ugly. 

 More critically, in the battle of Kobane in September 2014, the United States gave the green light for the Iraqi Kurd peshmerga, rather than any local Kurdish forces, to move into Syria to defend the city against the Islamic State. In doing this, the United States acknowledged the legitimacy of the peshmerga, not just as a superior force, but as an army that could carry out operations in another state.

The US gave the green light to Peshmerga forces to move into Syria? This speaks volumes to me, volumes! This speaks of ethnic cleansing. This speaks of Arabs being targeted. Christians targeted. Peshmerga forces killing Syrian Kurds- This speaks loudly and clearly to me  

Senior Iraqi Kurd officials also write opinion pieces in major U.S. newspapers. Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal in October 2007 in which he justified the KRG’s oil ambitions and attempted to limit any potential anxieties about these ambitions coming from Baghdad-leaning officials in the United States.A more indirect strategy is to seek to have Iraqi Kurdistan featured in U.S. media outlets. The leadership openly invites documentary makers to Erbil, and Qubad Talabani invited executives from Hollywood’s Sony and Miramax Studios to the KRG to show them the region’s magnificent landscapes and to raise Hollywood’s interest in the Kurdish struggle.

How very "Jewish". Perception management via  the Hollywood tribe

Kurdistan will be the second home for Jews after Israel

Journalist Thomas Friedman was invited to give the commencement address at the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani. While he was there, an aide to former KRG prime minister Barham Salih confirmed that the Iraqi Kurd leadership made sure to showcase the best of the region. Subsequently, Friedman wrote a piece in the New York Times titled “Iraq’s Best Hope” in which he described the Kurdistan region as “an island of decency in a still-roiling sea.”The editorial boards of several U.S. newspapers have come out in support Iraq’s Kurds. In February 2014, the Washington Post’s editorial board published an article in defense of Masoud Barzani, who was at the time protesting the State Department’s continued designation of his Kurdistan Democratic Party as a tier 3 terrorist organization. The Wall Street Journal, in August 2014, published an editorial that said “our long-time allies in northern Iraq deserve U.S. military support.”

Barzani- Jewish Kurd?JTA spins but in the end doesn't deny the claim. Multiple logical fallacies aside

"To the world’s surprise, it turns out that one of the Kurds’ top leaders is actually Jewish and that, as a result, the nascent Kurdish country will forge a close alliance with Israel, giving the Jewish state another toehold in the Middle East and access to the oil riches of the Iraqi north.  A far-fetched fantasy? Perhaps.... 

Back to main article

The region’s diplomacy prioritizes academic engagements as well. Diplomats often give lectures and talks at think tanks, academic institutions, and public organizations.Another policy has been to attract key U.S. officials who were already working on Iraq with financial incentives. Zalmay Khalilzad, shortly after his tenure as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, became an adviser to the Iraqi Kurd leadership. He then set up a company to advise multinational corporations investing in the Kurdistan region. Jay Garner, who was the director of the U.S. Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq, also became financially involved in the region after leaving his job as the Pentagon’s top figure in Iraq. And Ali Khedery, who had previously served in Baghdad with the U.S. Department of State as an adviser to five U.S. ambassadors and three generals, eventually left the State Department and joined ExxonMobil, where he was part of the team that moved ExxonMobil to the Kurdistan region.

For Falah Mustafa, head of foreign relations, having influential Americans invested in the region is another part of public diplomacy insofar as former ambassadors or generals may still carry weight in Washington and can thus speak on behalf of the KRG.Conclusion:The Kurdistan region seems to be in a fortunate position: it is a relatively stable enclave amid a chaotic region.( Seems to be?)

More critically, its security is backed by the United States and much of the international community. There are clear geostrategic reasons why Washington and other states are keen to protect the region. Most analysis has focused on these reasons and given little agency to the region’s leaders, who as representatives of an unrecognized state have less room to maneuver and are at the behest of stronger regional and international players.

To these authors, the KRG’s situation can almost be chalked up to being in the right place at the right time.While all this may be true, the region’s diplomats have, to some extent, influenced their own fate. They have done so by pursuing a pragmatic foreign policy and becoming a household name in foreign capitals like Washington, DC, to ensure that the old “no friends but the mountains” maxim is less likely to raise its ugly head in the future.

In plain talk the Kurds, with the help of Israel, have one hell of a lobby group   (or maybe two?) working away to promote their agenda.The book embedded below is called Neo-Conned- Plug Kurds and Israeli lobby/Israel/CIA etc into the search- That's some good reading ;)

And finally one last piece for this post Kurdish soldiers trained by Israelis        Newsnight has obtained the first pictures of Kurdish soldiers being trained by Israelis in Northern Iraq. The year is 2006. Watch the report at the link

When the former Israeli special forces soldiers were sent to Iraq in 2004 they were told they would be disowned if they were discovered. Their role there was to train two groups of Kurdish troops. One would act as a security force for the new Hawler International Airport (near Erbil) and the other, of more than 100 peshmerga or Kurdish fighters, would be trained for "special assignments", according to one of Newsnight's interviewees. ContractorsAn Israeli security consulting form called Interop acted as the main contractor for the Hawler airport project and set up two subsidiaries (Kudo and Colosium) to carry out work in Iraq. Kudo and Colosium described themselves as Swiss-registered companies.  It's a bit tense because you know where you are and you know who you are, and there's always a chance that you'll get revealed  An Israeli trainerIn addition to the training, Kudo provided quad bikes, communications equipment and security fencing. One of the founders of Interop, and its Chairman until 2003, was Danny Yatom, a former Head of Mossad - the Israeli foreign intelligence service and now an MP. He told Newsnight today: "I was not aware of what was done in 2004 and 2005 because I cut all contacts with the company when I entered the Israeli parliament in 2003."During 2004-5, Interop and Kudo were run by Shlomi Michaels, a former head of Israel's counter-terrorist unit.

Flashbacks:A smattering of better then 100 posts regarding the Kurds...

Of course there are many many more posts addressing the campaign of ethnic cleansing being conducted by the Kurdish militias against other Kurds, Christians and Arabs with the aid/assistance and full participation of NATO/Israel 

Link
http://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.com/2015/07/kurdishisraeli-ties-lobbying-…

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