The Americans
Will Never Change Baghdad (The Kurdish Globe, Iraqi Kurdistan)
"Baghdad
has ruled amid pools of blood for thousands of years and power has been held by
the sword. … Before depending on Baghdad, one should recall the recent
centuries of history. The U.S. sacrificed thousands of its men and women for
freedom, liberty, and the building of a democratic Iraq. Yet now Iraqis
themselves are obsessed with sectarian, religious and ethno-racist wars. … The
Middle East considers deception to be bravery, losing as victory and the greatest
value to humanity their graphic images of beheadings, imprisonment and bloody
killing."
When talking about the kind of Baghdad that is needed, the
matter isn't about Kurds.
The world needs a Baghdad trusted by all and where there is
democracy and openness, not dictatorship and a self-imposed leadership. So can
the Baghdad we now see become the image for a new era? The question is of
course problematic.
Because before anything else, Baghdad has ruled amid pools
of blood for thousands of years and power has been held by the sword. So given
the historical background, how likely is it that all of a sudden we'll see a democratic,
secure and peaceful Baghdad?
It was not long ago when Hulagu
Khan ruled, or just yesterday when Saddam Hussein ruled with iron hand, or now,
when an ethnic power is rules.
Thus, no one here should be fooled or influenced by the ups
and downs of developments, nor should international bodies be deceived or
believe in passing or stated policies, because the Middle East neither
considers obedience surrender, nor does it believe that development is a
victory for humanity.
The Middle East considers deception to be bravery, losing as
victory and the greatest value to humanity their graphic images of beheadings,
imprisonment and bloody killing.
Therefore, all countries, even the United States, should
take care to identify the true quality of Baghdad. Otherwise, one will find it
impossible to distinguish among [Caliph] Harun
al-Rashid, Saddam Hussein or Nuri al-Maliki.
It is true that every human being is selfish to the bone,
but that doesn't mean every selfish man is egocentric and unilateral, just as
it doesn't mean that every democratic person avoids the of tanks and warplanes to
exterminate opponents, or every liberal man has more than one wife.
Today's Baghdad demonstrates the reality
that it can neither give up racism, nor does it have the determination to
stop its sectarianism.
Thus, before depending on Baghdad, one should recall the recent
centuries of history. The U.S. sacrificed thousands of its men and women for
freedom, liberty, and the building of a democratic Iraq. Yet now Iraqis
themselves are obsessed with sectarian, religious and ethno-racist wars.
In the East, only the faces change. The system, however, remains
unchanged and dominated by ethnic and religious groups and the power of
tribesmen. That is why when the U.S. sends people from its multi-religious or
multi-ethnic shores to Iraq, that doesn't mean Iraq's mud-made leaders become
so.
This is easily observed when the Americans return exiles from
Europe, the United States and Canada to demonstrate that democratic, civil and
open people will take power, and from the moment they take office they turn
into sultans and pharaohs - tyrants who only God himself can defeat.
It is an essential question: what kind of
Baghdad do Kurds need, and what kind of Baghdad does the United States,
Britain, France and Germany need - as opposed to Russia, Iran and China?
We no longer need Baghdad just for the sake of ruling over
us. We no longer need a Baghdad that cannot sustain balance, equality and
justice.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
What message could this Baghdad - the Baghdad that kills
Christians, imposes sanctions on Kurds, remains silent and powerless in the
face of ISIL - give to humanity and global society? That
is why local or international powers would be better off changing their own
views of Baghdad rather than trying to change Baghdad.
Baghdad will be simultaneously beautiful and powerful only when
it no longer brings dictators, tyrants and the unwise to power.
It must promote people who live and think and make decisions
in line with the era. For Kurds, the only useful Baghdad would be one of
genuine democracy, coexistence and openness. As my illiterate mother said: Son!
Such a thing would not be Baghdad. The Iraqi capital has always been and will
always be this way!
It would be better for those who want to change Baghdad to
change themselves instead, and adapt to the life and thinking
in Baghdad. Is this the way out? Of course not. It is
a fact, and politics must live with this fact.
