Iraq Journal Part II, Dr. Mike Evans

January 30, 2007, Northern Iraq

(I am interviewing Adnan Mufti, Speaker of the House of Kurdistan.)

“I read the Iraq Study Group report that criticized your region for not flying the Iraq flag,” I said.

Adnan responded, “Yes, they did. This was the same flag planted in over 5000 villages that were gassed. We have a constitution, and our region is democratic. Why must we fly the Iraqi flag? Would the U.S. ask the Jews that suffered in the Holocaust to fly the Nazi flag? We refuse to honor the ‘Hitler’ who gassed our people; we want the new flag approved by our Constitution.” Adnan also rejected the Iraq Study Group’s proposal that two terror states, Iran and Syria, “meddle in our affairs.”

“Why,” he asked, “did no one from the Iraq Study Group come here? They ask where the proof is that the Bush policy is succeeding in Iraq. We are the proof. Your nations saved us from extermination. We are a stable region that is a model of everything the U.S. wants for Iraq. Why is it being kept hidden?” I am reminded as I look into his eyes that he was the target of a bomb attack by fanatic Muslims because of his strong support for America, and was poisoned by Saddam Hussein, and almost died.

Adnan placed a letter in my hands to deliver to President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. He said, “I sent it through diplomatic channels via the U.S. Ambassador, but did not hear back.” I promised I would do my best to get it into the hands of the President.

I found the Kurds to be very tolerant of other religions. They enjoyed telling me their history, which traces back to the Medes. From the story of Daniel in the lion’s den and the conversion of the Mede king, Darius, to the appeal of a Jewish orphan, Esther. They told me of the Magi, the wise men who followed the star and presented gifts to the Christ child, and of the Medes who were converted on the day of Pentecost.

They told me about Christians by the tens of thousands that had fled north out of Sunni and Shiite strongholds toward the Valley of Nineveh, a few miles from Erbil. The horrible story of a fourteen-year-old being crucified for sharing his faith broke my heart as I thought of the innocence of my own precious grandchildren. I heard of a pastor who was beheaded for sharing the Gospel, and of women having had acid thrown in their faces for going to church. The church in Iraq is under siege, yet the world remains silent.

I found it strange that the U.S. has no base in Erbil to fight the war on terror. The greatest success story in all of Iraq, a model to inspire true democracy, is being completely ignored. Kurdistan is where America needs to invest its money rather than bleed money from Kurdistan into the coffers of the regimes that consider America the enemy. I also found it odd that 400 billion dollars has been spent in Iraq, and the Kurds have no U.S. military equipment with which to fight the war on terror. To see our allies using old Russian AK-47s is an embarrassment.

In this book, I will give you a no-spin understanding of the problem, but also of the solution. The first step is to begin by rewarding our allies and stop appeasing our enemies; what a novel approach.

As an example, I believe the U.S. needs to move a major military base into Erbil and allow the Kurds to have 100 percent of the money they were promised. This is not happening. The U.S. needs to reward stable regimes economically. To do it, the U.S. must stand up to Turkey and Iran, both of which hate the Kurds. The Kirkuk oilfields should be turned over to the Kurds that have, in the past, controlled the Kirkuk region. Saddam killed them to get them out and moved pro-Saddam regimes in to protect his investment.

The word in the U.S. is to redefine the war goals in Iraq. Yet, it is clear that the U.S. has been 100 percent successful in the Kurdish region which represents millions of people. I have proposed to the Iraqi Kurdish leaders that I would work with them to host an Iraq Study Group in the U.S. based on moral clarity, as opposed to an “appeasement study group.”

The war in Iraq can be won; one only needs to go to Kurdistan to see one of the greatest success stories. Military moms and dads need to go to Kurdistan. When they do, they will be treated as heroes and will know that the sacrifice was not in vain. The Kurdish people run to kiss them and honor them in ways beyond America’s ability to imagine. They love the families because they, too, have lost loved ones. They are filled with amazing compassion and gratitude.

The U.S. National Intelligence Agency declassified a report suggesting that President Bush’s new strategy for controlling violence must show progress within twelve to eighteen months or risk further deterioration. Show progress? What a sick joke. You have one-fourth of Iraq living in stability; not one U.S. soldier has been killed there…ever. There has not been a terror attack in 18 months. If that is not progress, what is?

Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense, says that the U.S. is planning to stop Iran from contributing to the violence in Iraq. If so, the border with Iran must be closed, the Embassy and consulates closed, and the Iraqis that have proven their allegiance, i.e., the Kurds, must be given the tools to do the job. It is not securing Baghdad; it is about isolating Iran. That will not happen unless the push is from the north to the south, with the Iraqi Kurds doing the pushing. The Turkish army has already pushed its way into Southern Kurdistan. If the U.S. does not move into the area quickly, the Turks and the Iranians will. The war must be fought north to south with allies, not south to north with enemies.

Over and over I have been told that Iraqi ministries in Baghdad are helping the terrorists. The Shiites and Sunnis will not end their conflict; it is being fueled and fed by Arab countries. The only hope to save Iraq is by enlisting the Iraqi Kurds.

Winning the war in Iraq will not happen by fighting in Central or Southern Iraq. America is not going to win over corrupt theocracies by distorting their reality. Getting in bed with the enemy is not the solution; it is the problem.

It is so obvious to me that Iraq is headed over the cliff of an Islamic revolution that is being birthed between the Shiites and Sunnis.

Mike Evans

(Coming: Part III, Friday, February 23, and Part IV, Friday, March 2.)

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