Change, Yes, But Cut the Rhetoric

as always, I am eager to hear your thoughts. 

 

by Vivian Salama

PostGlobal – WashingtonPost.com 

 

Unlike many countries in the world, America is no stranger to change. However, when change is coupled with incompetence, as we have seen in recent years, the results are disastrous. The last 10 years of American politics have been tainted by everything from sex scandals to wars, cover-ups to erroneous intelligence. The globalization machine has engulfed us in its belly at an uncontrollable rate and we, as a declining superpower, have not exhibited the maturity to receive some of the rapid, all-encompassing changes as have many countries in the developing world.

 

As an American born on the cusp of generations X and Y, I can honestly say that the bulk of my adulthood has been packed with uninspiring and often baffling politics. We could use a lot of change right now, but what we really need is competence, honesty and someone to inspire this nation to get back on its feet.

 

The economy is faltering in ways I have never experienced in my adult life. Our servicemen and women are dying in the name of freedom and liberation as are those we have supposedly sought to liberate. American politicians continue to lose popularity on the international and domestic stages while the leaders pegged as public enemies win over the hearts and minds of people around the world.

 

This nation is ripe for a change for the better. However, we must not mistake a change in the gender, race or religion of the Commander-in-Chief as one that ensures a better, more secure future. The most recent media blitz surrounding the remaining candidates – but particularly Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton – has clouded some key competency issues. I hope that Super Duper Tuesday (Feb. 5) will narrow the field of candidates and give way to true electoral scrutiny without the tongue-in-cheek politicking that has painted the past few weeks.

 

Change is healthy – that is, real change, not just rhetorical. The competence of American leaders, however, is an absolute imperative particularly in a world shrinking at the hands of globalization.

State of the Union tonight…

…..or shall I say, the State of Disunion. 

 

As a political junkie/reporter, I must admit that this is one of my favorite annual political events. Jon Stewart recently did a brilliant skit creating two rival characters – “First Term Bush” and “Second Term Bush” – using old, contradictory clips of Bush from both terms, many of those clips coming directly from his previous State of the Union addresses.  It is extremely telling that Bush today has the lowest approval rating since Nixon had during the Watergate affair.  ‘Tis a sign of the times, no doubt.  Luckily, most analysts suspect tonight’s speech will be nothing more than a recap of the last 7 years plus some words to ease concerns over the economy.  Thank goodness — I don’t think this country can handle any more of President Bush’s bright ideas.  In the meantime, here are some interesting facts about the State of the Union address:

(Reuters) – When President George W. Bush gives his State of the Union speech on Monday, he will continue a constitutionally mandated tradition begun over 200 years ago by George Washington.

Following are some key facts about presidential State of the Union messages:

ORIGINS:

* State of the Union messages to Congress by the president are required by Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution which says, “He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

* The State of the Union has become an annual speech given before a joint session of Congress in the House of Representatives chamber at the U.S. Capitol.

* George Washington gave the first State of the Union speech on January 8, 1790 in New York City, then the provisional U.S. capital.

* Starting with Thomas Jefferson’s first State of the Union in 1801 until William Howard Taft’s last message in 1912, the State of the Union was a written report sent to Congress. Woodrow Wilson resumed the tradition of giving the State of the Union message in a speech to Congress.

* The phrase “State of the Union” did not become widely used until after 1935, when Franklin Roosevelt started using the term.

* SOME QUOTES:

- “We look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want — which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear.” — Franklin Roosevelt, January 6, 1941.

- “As you know, I have provided to the special prosecutor voluntarily a great deal of material. I believe that I have provided all the material that he needs to conclude his investigations … I believe the time has come to bring that investigation and the other investigations of this matter to an end. One year of Watergate is enough.” — Richard Nixon, January 30, 1974.

 

- “Yes, we will have our differences. But let us always remember — what unites us far outweighs whatever divides us. Those who sent us here to serve them — the millions of Americans watching and listening tonight — expect this of us. Let’s prove to them and to ourselves that democracy works even in an election year.” — Ronald Reagan, January 25, 1988.

- “Some time in the next 10 to 20 years, the major security threat this country will face will come from the enemies of the nation state: the narco-traffickers and the terrorists and the organized criminals, who will be organized together, working together, with increasing access to ever-more sophisticated chemical and biological weapons.” — Bill Clinton, January 27, 2000.

Gaza Power Cuts – Email from a friend

The following is an email sent to me by my friend Mohammed Omar, a journalist in Gaza.  Mohammed is also a photographer and he sent me numerous photos, but they are far too disturbing to post.  Believe me when I say that I cannot begin to describe the horror revealed in some of these photos.  Undoubtedly, this conflict has done nothing but punish innocent lives – both Palestinian and Israeli.  It is accomplishing NOTHING.  If the international community continues sitting back, twirling its thumbs and leaving things to get worse, I fear for what is to come.  Desperate people do desperate things.  We mustn’t forget this. – v

——————–

Where to start…, what to talk about…?  The crippling electricity shortages, affecting hospitals as well as civilians?  The air strikes & on-going, daily bombings by the Israeli army, their indiscriminate targeting of civilians and police stations…?   Israel ’s non-accidental, enforced starvation of 1.5 million people by closing off ALL borders and not allowing in even UN aid, let alone basic medicinal, food, and construction needs…? 
 
Shortages of fuel have re-surfaced in Gaza : most of Gaza has no electricity and even more importantly, the shortage of medicine in Palestinian hospitals continues to increase, with the Ministry of Health reporting a looming humanitarian catastrophe.
 
Or should I begin with the bomb which just hit a wedding close to the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza City , with 15 apartment buildings within the bomb’s target range?  One woman was killed and 47 others were injured –mostly children and women who had been inside their homes or playing on the street!!  Scenes of children injured, bleeding and crying just moments after they had been enjoying a wedding celebration in a Gaza wedding hall…a horrific sight likely to go without mention of that in most news sources.
 
The injured were evacuated to Al Shifa hospital, where it was then hard to find enough beds and blankets for them, with children crammed three to four on a bed due to overcrowding. 
 
Earlier Friday, Israel closed its border with the Gaza Strip to all traffic in what officials say is response to cross-border rocket fire, preventing even UN humanitarian supplies from getting in.  The decision came after Israel vowed to broaden its military campaign against Gaza militants who have fired more than 110 home made rockets at southern Israel in the last three days resulting in the injury of two Israelis.
 
In contrast, 19 Palestinians were killed in one day last Wednesday during another Israeli attack, this one targeting the eastern part of Gaza City . 
 
These are the latest attacks, but not the only: since the visit of US president and ‘peacemaker’, George Bush, within only 74 hours, Israel has killed 37 people and injured more than 90.  Those numbers, which could again go up at any minute, were confirmed by Khaled Radi, the Ministry of Health spokesman in Gaza .  Radi also said that Israel is using internationally illegal weapons, which makes it impossible for people to identify the bodies of their relatives as they have been destroyed to unrecognizable ends.
 
Among the tens killed were a 13 year old boy and his father and uncle, killed in what Israel claims was “a mistake”.  Another Israeli attack killed a mother, Maryam Al Rahel, and her son, Mohammed, who were on a donkey cart when an Israeli warplane bombed them.  Their bodies, like so many others, were rendered into small pieces of flesh, scattered everywhere!
 
I and some journalist colleagues went to offer condolences to a journalist friend of ours for the death of his cousin as a result of medicine shortages on Wednesday.  While on the way, there was a lot of shooting going on, from funerals and demonstrations.  Later, as we were starting to drive off from our parking spot, Mohammed, another journalist, suggested waiting for a moment.  But as others preferred to not wait around, we eventually left. 
 
After we had gone just a few minutes down the road, we learned that the place where our car had been parked had just been bombed, targeting and killing two Palestinians, injuring another three.  “It could have been us who were killed,” one of the journalists said to me.  I answered: “Thanks to God, it wasn’t.  But this is so sad; it must be terrible for their families, with children left behind and no one now to support them.” 
 
As predicted, the death toll has risen since I began this report: another two have been killed in northern Gaza , and another 4 badly injured.  Israeli Ministry spokesman, Shlomo Dror says that: “It’s unacceptable that people in Sderot are living in fear every day and people in the Gaza Strip are living life as usual.”
 
And I wonder, what exactly does he consider “life as usual”?  For if he means it is normal that over 35 civilians should be killed in 4 days, an entire population should be on the verge of starvation and should be forced to shiver through winter nights without electricity or sufficient blankets, that hospitals and medical centers should be forced to shut down or operate at sub-par capability and without needed medicine, food, blankets, and even space,…the list goes on…well then yes, we are living life as usual.

FYI: MOHAMMED OMAR POSTS MANY OF HIS ARTICLES AND PHOTOS AT www.rafahtoday.org

Gaza plunged into darkness as Israeli fuel blockade takes effect

JUST AWFUL!

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
Monday January 21, 2008
The Guardian 

Parts of Gaza were pitched into darkness last night after its only power plant was shut down following a move by Israel to halt fuel shipments under its new closure of the small, overcrowded strip of land.As fuel supplies ran out, the plant was shut down. Earlier, queues formed on the streets and at petrol stations and warehouses selling cooking gas as the shortages began to take effect. Blackouts have stretched to 12 hours a day in recent weeks.

The closure came after a week of the most intense conflict between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza for more than a year. Nearly 40 Palestinians have been killed in the past week, at least 10 of them civilians.

From Damascus, Khaled Mashaal, the exiled leader of Hamas, appealed to Arab leaders and his rival, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, to forget their differences and help the Gazans: “All Arab leaders, exercise real pressure to stop this Zionist crime … Take up your role and responsibility. We are not asking you to wage a military war against Israel … but just stand with us in pride and honour.”

Mashaal said he had been in contact with some Arab countries, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to see if they would pressure Israel. He had asked Egypt to provide fuel for the Gaza plant.

Over the weekend Palestinian militants drastically reduced the number of makeshift rockets they fired into Israel. Israeli officials accused Palestinians of exaggerating the fuel crisis and said the blame lay with the militants.

There was swift condemnation of Israel yesterday from Israeli and western human rights groups and from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Rafik Maliha, the director of the power plant, said the last fuel shipment had arrived on Thursday. The plant was built to provide 140 megawatts of electricity but has never operated at that level. At best, officials at the plant say it could produce 80MW. But early last week, before the closure was imposed, it was down to 45MW, enough to provide less than a fifth of the demand from Gaza’s 1.5 million people. The rest of the electricity is bought from Israel and Egypt.

Israeli officials said the policy was directly linked to the rocket attacks. “If they stop the rockets today, everything would go back to normal,” said Arye Mekel, a foreign ministry spokesman.

Egypt accuses Europe of discrimination, xenophobia

This crossed the wires this morning.  First, we learned that Egypt was not mentioned in President Bush’s speech during his Middle East tour about Arab governments that are on the path to democratization; now this.  So much for being a regional ally!  It almost sounds like Russia’s spat with the British Council.  Frankly, Egypt is a long way from the days of Gamal Abdel Nasser where it can afford to intigate any negativity between itself and the West.  It depends far too much on US (and European) foreign aid to have the luxury of burning bridges.  Still, Europe is now home to far too many Arabs/Muslims for it to make hasty and potentially inflamatory comments.

CAIRO, Jan 18 (Reuters) – Angry about a European Parliament resolution on human rights in Egypt, the Egyptian government countered with an accusation that religious and ethnic minorities face increasing discrimination in Europe.

“Egypt is deeply concerned at the deteriorating state of the rights of religious and ethnic minorities and immigrants on the European continent,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

“(The spokesman) condemned the prevalence of the phenomenon of xenophobia and discrimination against Muslims in various parts of Europe,” added the statement, issued late on Thursday.

It cited a report by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as saying that Muslims in Europe face discrimination in education and housing and through stereotyping as terrorists or extremists.

An OSCE report in 2006 said that intolerance and discrimination against Muslims have become increasingly prevalent in the OSCE region in recent years.

The Egyptian government and parliament have dismissed the European Parliament’s resolution as unwarranted interference in Egyptians affairs. The parliament has said it will cut off some forms of contact with the European body.

The resolution, passed on Thursday, called on the Egyptian government “to end all forms of harassment, including judicial measures, detention of media professionals and, more generally, human rights defenders and activists.”

It called for the immediate release of opposition politician Ayman Nour and for a change in the law on military courts, which the Egyptian authorities have sometimes used against the government’s political opponents.

The Egyptian statement said: “Egypt rejects … any attempt by any party to set itself up as inspector of human rights in Egypt or as mentor to the Egyptian people.”

But the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition group, welcomed aspects of the European resolution. “Human rights have become an international language, even if each country has its specificities,” said Hussein Mohamed Ibrahim, deputy leader of the Islamist movement’s parliamentary group.

“When it (the European Parliament) talks about the existence of torture in Egypt, then that is real. When it talks about referrals to military courts, this is something that really happens. What is needed is dialogue about it in a transparent and objective manner,” he added.

NY Arab American Comedy Festival

Hey everyone.  I wanted to support my friends in this weekend’s Arab American Comedy Festival, scheduled to begin this weekend in New York City. Here’s a message from one of the co-founders, Dean Obiedallah:

Want to start the New Year with some great laughs?  Join us for the 5th Annual NY Arab-American Comedy Festival which will be held January 18-23, 2008 in NYC. This will be our biggest and funniest Festival ever!

The Festival showcases Arab-American comedians, sketch comedy and comedic films:

-January 18-19: Arab-American headliner stand up comedy show: Featuring some of the top comedians from across the country who have appeared on Comedy Central, ABC’s “The View,” CNN, and PBS, including: Aron Kader (Comedy Central’s “Axis of Evil” special), Maysoon Zayid (PBS upcoming documentary “Muslim American Comics come of Age”), Dean Obeidallah (Comedy Central’s “Axis of Evil” and “The Watch List”), Nasry Malak (Comedy Central’s “The Watch List”), Jimmy Goson (LA Improv), Ronnie Khalil (Comedy Central’s “The Watch List”), Amer Zahr (ABC’s “Politically Incorrect”), Maria Shehata (Comedy Central’s “The Watch List”), Sherif Hedayat (Comedy Central’s “Open Mic Fight”) and more.

-January 20 and 21: “Sketch Comedy Nights” – This edgy comedy show will feature 90 minutes of original sketches written by some of the top Arab-American comedic writers in the country and stars Arab-American actors who appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in feature films and TV shows. No topic is off limits as we comedically tackle issues ranging from the presidential campaign, to the struggles of being Arab-American in post 9/11 America, to Fox News, to Arab-American dating and even American pop culture.;

- January 22: “”New Faces of Arab Comedy” featuring some of the top up and coming Arab-American comedians from across the country and Canada including from Los Angeles: Mike Batayeh (“American East”) and Noel Elgrably (“Sultans of Satire”), from Canada: Eman El-Husseini, from NY: Amanda Baramki, Meena Dimian, Mohamed Masoud, from Michigan: George Saba, from Virginia Remy Munasifi  and from Washington D.C.: Michael Tarazi
-January 23: Short comedic film Night and a big closing night party.

All shows are at the Zipper Theater and are only $20 per event. Tickets are now on sale at www.zippertheater.com or by calling 866-811-4111.

In the past years, all the events have sold out in advance, so even though we are holding our Festival at a bigger venue this year, we still encourage you to buy tickets in advance.

For more details about the Festival, or to make a donation to our not for profit Festival, please visit: www.arabcomedy.org.

Yanktipathy…. and other new words

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

by Vivian Salama

PostGlobal: WashingtonPost.com

Australians are voting online for a “Word of the Year” from a list of new words to be included in the dictionary: among the frontrunners, “Chindia”, “globesity,” and “password fatigue.” Create your favorite new word of the year that tells us something about trends in your country.  I’d like to submit the following words for consideration.

Yanktipathy – [yank-tip-uh-thee] – noun. [Yankee + antipathy]
1. A natural, basic, or habitual repugnance of natives or inhabitants of the United States.
2. An instinctive contrariety or opposition in feeling to U.S. foreign policy, intervention, occupation, or the people responsible for it all. [see also CHENEY]
3. An object of natural aversion or habitual dislike to American social values, pop icons, fast food or sports.
4. Distaste for all things American, full stop.

Wiretrapped – [wahyuh r-trap-ing] – adjective [wiretap + trap]
1. A consequence of the U.S.-led War on Terror, describing the feeling by some to the surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) of persons within the United States incident to the collection of foreign intelligence.

Wiresnapping – [wahyuh r-snap-ing] – verb [wiretapping + snap]
1. The move by telecommunications companies to cut off FBI access to wiretaps after the agency failed to pay half of nearly 1,000 FBI telecommunications bills, including one invoice for $66,000 at an unidentified field office. [see also DOH!]

Hot Dollar – [hot dol-er] noun
1. A term describing the inflation and devaluation of the U.S. dollar.
2. Ironic. Term used to describe the not-so-hot dollar
3. The name of a Southern Rapper from Hattiesburg, Mississippi known for his hit single “Streetz On Lock.”
 

Addictionet – [uh-dik-shuh -net] adjective [internet + addiction]
1. The potential for being enslaved to use of the Internet in a psychologically or physically habit-forming manner, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
2. Spending four hours a day, or more, online.
3. Also known as Internet addiction disorder (IAD) – a theorized disorder first addressed by Dr. Ivan Goldberg in 1995. In China, which is home to the world’s second largest online population after the U.S., rehab clinics have begun treating young men and women — sometimes with low voltage jolts. Some experts in China believe as many as 2.5 million of their citizens suffer from Internet addiction.

Socioviralnet – [soh-seeol – vy-ral net] adjective [Social + viral internet videos]
1. The infectious sociological impact of viral internet videos sweeping the World Wide Web in recent years.
2. One of the major impacts the Internet has had on globalization.
3. The YouTube effect.
4. Videos that have evolved from online entertainment to news items. Among the big hits in 2007:
• Southern teen calling himself Chris Crocker imploring the media to “Leave Britney Alone!” – a reference to the recent meltdown of pop star Britney Spears.
• Miss Teen USA pageant contestant from South Carolina, Lauren Caitlin Upton’s response to a question about why Americans are unable to locate the U.S. on a map. Said Miss Upton: “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don’t have maps.” It only got worse.
• Obama’s Girl – Actress and model Amber Lee Ettinger lip-sings a provocative (satirical) dedication to the “B to the A to the R-A-C-K-O-B-A-M-A, Barack Obama.” In response, the presidential hopeful called it “”just one more example of the fertile imagination of the Internet.”

 

Campaign drain – [kam-peyn dreyn] verb
1. The gradual loss or strain impacting candidates in the longer-than-usual 2008 presidential race.
2. May be used as a strategy for winning votes. Eg. Hillary Clinton’s show of emotion the night before winning the New Hampshire primary may be considered a strategic show of campaign drain.

Across America, Deadly Echoes of Foreign Battles

SO sad, but not surprising!!! 

January 13, 2008

War Torn

NEW YORK TIMES  

By DEBORAH SONTAG and LIZETTE ALVAREZ

Late one night in the summer of 2005, Matthew Sepi, a 20-year-old Iraq combat veteran, headed out to a 7-Eleven in the seedy Las Vegas neighborhood where he had settled after leaving the Army.This particular 7-Eleven sits in the shadow of the Stratosphere casino-hotel in a section of town called the Naked City. By day, the area, littered with malt liquor cans, looks depressed but not menacing. By night, it becomes, in the words of a local homicide detective, “like Falluja.”

Mr. Sepi did not like to venture outside too late. But, plagued by nightmares about an Iraqi civilian killed by his unit, he often needed alcohol to fall asleep. And so it was that night, when, seized by a gut feeling of lurking danger, he slid a trench coat over his slight frame — and tucked an assault rifle inside it.

“Matthew knew he shouldn’t be taking his AK-47 to the 7-Eleven,” Detective Laura Andersen said, “but he was scared to death in that neighborhood, he was military trained and, in his mind, he needed the weapon to protect himself.”

Head bowed, Mr. Sepi scurried down an alley, ignoring shouts about trespassing on gang turf. A battle-weary grenadier who was still legally under-age, he paid a stranger to buy him two tall cans of beer, his self-prescribed treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

As Mr. Sepi started home, two gang members, both large and both armed, stepped out of the darkness. Mr. Sepi said in an interview that he spied the butt of a gun, heard a boom, saw a flash and “just snapped.”

In the end, one gang member lay dead, bleeding onto the pavement. The other was wounded. And Mr. Sepi fled, “breaking contact” with the enemy, as he later described it. With his rifle raised, he crept home, loaded 180 rounds of ammunition into his car and drove until police lights flashed behind him.

 “Who did I take fire from?” he asked urgently. Wearing his Army camouflage pants, the diminutive young man said he had been ambushed and then instinctively “engaged the targets.” He shook. He also cried.

“I felt very bad for him,” Detective Andersen said.

Nonetheless, Mr. Sepi was booked, and a local newspaper soon reported: “Iraq veteran arrested in killing.”

Town by town across the country, headlines have been telling similar stories. Lakewood, Wash.: “Family Blames Iraq After Son Kills Wife.” Pierre, S.D.: “Soldier Charged With Murder Testifies About Postwar Stress.” Colorado Springs: “Iraq War Vets Suspected in Two Slayings, Crime Ring.”

Individually, these are stories of local crimes, gut-wrenching postscripts to the war for the military men, their victims and their communities. Taken together, they paint the patchwork picture of a quiet phenomenon, tracing a cross-country trail of death and heartbreak.

The New York Times found 121 cases in which veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan committed a killing in this country, or were charged with one, after their return from war. In many of those cases, combat trauma and the stress of deployment — along with alcohol abuse, family discord and other attendant problems — appear to have set the stage for a tragedy that was part destruction, part self-destruction.

Bill Richardson Ends White House Bid

I just heard New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announce he will not continue his bid for the Democratic nomination.  It’s really too bad.  His credentials are impressive and his committment to American foreign policy is, I believe, unmatched by any other candidate. As we head toward Super Duper Tuesday, I’m sure we’ll be hearing more announcements similar to this one. 

Kurdish Minister Says Turkey’s Attacks Are Self-Defeating

by Vivian Salama

PostGlobal – WashingtonPost.com

The Turkish military has stepped up attacks against Kurdish rebels hiding in the mountains of Northern Iraq. Warplanes have carried out a number of cross-border raids to target the thousands of militants whom the military suspects are taking shelter in the predominantly Kurdish part of Iraq. In response to the bombings’ displacement of numerous Kurdish Iraqi families, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered the government to pay one million dinars (approximately US$ 815).The strikes followed an agreement between the United States and Turkey to share intelligence on the activities of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which was labeled a terrorist organization by both Turkey and the United States. The semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) – an important U.S. ally – has lobbied in Washington and Ankara against a military incursion. The escalating situation in Northern Iraq is expected to dominate the agenda when President George W. Bush hosts Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul at the White House on Jan. 8.Kurdish officials condemn Turkey’s attacks, saying they have done little to quell PKK activities and have only delayed a viable solution. Meanwhile, a PKK leader in Northern Iraq has vowed to take his people’s battle for autonomy deep within Turkey’s borders.

Falah Mustafa Bakir, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the KRG, says the attacks are a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. He spoke to Vivian Salama from Irbil on December 31st.

Excerpts:

Vivian Salama: At least three hundred Turkish commandos have reportedly raided Northern Iraq. What is the official response to this by the Regional Government of Kurdistan?

Falah Mustafa Bakir: The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq demands that Turkey end immediately its military actions in Iraq. The entire political leadership of Iraq — Arabs and Kurds — is united in condemning Turkey’s attack on our territory, which is in violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Turkish forces should not be operating in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Military action moves us farther away from a solution, not closer.

Information that emerged last week suggests that President Bush may have made a deal with President Erdogan during his Nov. 5 visit to Washington, under which the Turks would get a green light to attack PKK bases. You have repeatedly made reference to Kurdistan’s strong ties with the United States. What is your reaction to this information? Were you aware of such an agreement?

The Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq counts itself among America’s best friends and allies in Iraq and the Middle East. I do not know about a “green light,” but we were aware of the widely reported agreement between the United States and Turkey regarding intelligence-sharing about the PKK.

Washington should understand the dangerous precedent and negative consequences of allowing Turkey, or any of Iraq’s neighbors, to take military action in Iraqi territory. We are appealing formally to the United States — as a close friend of the KRG, Iraq, and Turkey — to use its good offices to demand an immediate end to Turkish military action and to support a peaceful diplomatic solution to this long-running conflict. The U.S. has an important role to play in protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Iraq and in bringing all parties to the table to seek a peaceful solution.

Kurdish officials have traveled to Ankara in an attempt to dissuade Turkey from taking such actions. Still, Turkey went ahead with the raids. What does this tell you about Turkey’s willingness to cooperate with the KRG?

The KRG does not support the PKK in any way, and therefore our territory and our people should not be accountable for PKK violence against Turkish citizens and soldiers. Indeed, we have condemned these acts of violence by the PKK. Furthermore, the KRG, both publicly and privately, has made clear that it is ready to work with Turkey on a comprehensive political solution to the problem of the PKK. KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has formally offered talks with Ankara in a multi-lateral context — that is, including Turkey, US, and Iraqi officials. You would have to ask Turkish officials why they spurn KRG offers of dialogue and cooperation on the PKK and other issues, and instead resort to military force against our region of Iraq. Despite recent Turkish actions, we still are open to a political solution and willing to sit down at any time and in any place to seek a peaceful solution. It is not too late for diplomacy to succeed.

How do you think such a move by Turkey will impact the (in)stability in greater Iraq, if at all?

Turkey’s actions will only hinder efforts toward stability and national reconciliation in Iraq. This is a delicate time in Iraqi politics, with some progress being made with regard to security. The Kurdistan Region has so far been free of the sectarian violence that has consumed much of the rest of the country. The KRG’s commitment to democracy and the rule of law should be seen as a model for the rest of Iraq. An attack on our region threatens the stability and progress not only of the Kurdistan Region, but of all of Iraq. We hope the Turkish authorities will understand that these attacks will only make the situation worse for all concerned. We want peaceful and productive relations with all our neighbors, especially Turkey, and we are willing to work with them to bring stability to our common border.

What, in your belief, is the solution to the PKK-Turkey issue?

The long-term solution to the PKK problem is political, not military. It is connected to the larger issue of the role of the Kurds in Turkish politics. There has been some progress on the Kurdish issue by the current government in Turkey, but more needs to be done. We hope that Turkey will come to realize this, and that it will also understand that we in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq pose no threat to anyone. Our stability and progress should be seen by all our neighbors as a positive development.