[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 24426]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      KURDISTAN IS MODEL FOR IRAQ

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                            HON. JOE WILSON

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 20, 2008

  Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, I would like to submit 
the following op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal on November 
12, 2008, by Masoud Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. 
It conveys the strong and important relationship between the Iraqi 
Kurdish population and the United States as well as their efforts to 
help build a peaceful Iraq. I was fortunate this year to visit the 
Kurdistan Region, and I know firsthand of Kurdish appreciation of the 
American people.

           [From the Wall Street Journal, November 12, 2008]

Kurdistan Is a Model for Iraq--Our Path to a Secular, Federal Democracy 
                        is Inspired by the U.S.

                          (By Masoud Barzani)

       Iraq's Kurds have consistently been America's closest 
     allies in Iraq. Our Peshmerga forces fought alongside the 
     U.S. military to liberate the country, suffering more 
     casualties than any other U.S. ally.
       And while some Iraqi politicians have challenged the U.S.-
     Iraq security agreement, Iraq's Kurdish leaders have endorsed 
     the pact as essential for U.S. combat troops to continue 
     fighting terrorists in Iraq.
       The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is committed to a 
     federal, democratic Iraq that is at peace with its neighbors.
       We have benefited enormously from the service and 
     sacrifices of America's armed forces and their families, and 
     we are deeply grateful. We are also proud to have shared in 
     such sacrifices; my brother was among those severely wounded 
     during the liberation of Iraq.
       Last year, following a U.S. request, we deployed Kurdish 
     troops to Baghdad. These troops played a decisive role in the 
     success of the surge. Last month I once again visited Baghdad 
     to meet with the leadership of the federal government. We 
     stressed our commitment to developing an Iraqi state that 
     abides by its constitution and that is based upon a federal 
     model with clearly delineated powers for its regions.
       In spite of all this, some commentators now suggest that 
     the Kurds are causing problems by insisting on territorial 
     demands and proceeding with the development of Kurdistan's 
     oil resources. These allegations are troubling. We are 
     proceeding entirely in accord with the Iraqi constitution, 
     implementing provisions that were brokered by the U.S.
       In the constitutional negotiations that took place in the 
     summer of 2005, two issues were critical to us: first, that 
     the Kurdistan Region has the right to develop the oil on its 
     territory, and second, that there be a fair process to 
     determine the administrative borders of Iraq's Kurdistan 
     Region--thus resolving once and for all the issue of 
     ``disputed'' territories.
       Unfortunately, ever since the discovery of oil in Iraq in 
     the 1920s, successive Iraqi governments have sought to keep 
     oil out of Kurdish hands, blocking exploration and 
     development of fields in Kurdistan. Saddam Hussein's 
     government went even further, using Iraqi oil revenues to 
     finance the military campaigns that destroyed more than 4,500 
     Kurdish villages and to pay for the poison gas used to kill 
     thousands of Kurdish civilians.
       The Kurdish leadership agreed to a U.S.-sponsored 
     compromise in 2005 in which the central government would have 
     the authority to manage existing oil fields, but new fields 
     would fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the regions. 
     Since then, the KRG has taken the lead with Baghdad in 
     negotiations on a hydrocarbon law that is faithful to Iraq's 
     constitution and is conducive to modernizing Iraq's oil 
     infrastructure and substantially increasing its oil 
     production.
       We have awarded contracts for foreign oil companies 
     (including some American ones) to explore our territory. In 
     so doing, Kurdistan is not threatening the unity of Iraq. It 
     is simply implementing the constitution.
       The ``disputed territories'' have a tragic history. Since 
     the 1950s, Iraqi regimes encouraged Arabs to settle in Kirkuk 
     and other predominantly Kurdish and Turkmen areas. Saddam 
     Hussein accelerated this process by engaging in ethnic 
     cleansing, expelling or killing Kurds and Turkmen, or by 
     requiring nationality corrections (in which non-Arabs are 
     forced to declare themselves to be Arabs) and by moving Arabs 
     into Kurdish homes.
       The dispute between Baghdad and the Kurds over Kirkuk has 
     lasted more than 80 years and has often been violent. All 
     sides have now agreed to a formula to resolve the problem, to 
     bring justice to Kirkuk, and to correct the crimes against 
     Kurds committed by Saddam Hussein's regime. Iraq's 
     constitution requires that a referendum be held in disputed 
     territories to determine if their populations want to join 
     the Kurdistan Region. Conducting a plebiscite is not easy, 
     but it is preferable to another 80 years of conflict.
       If the pro-Kurdistan side should lose the referendum in 
     Kirkuk, I promise that Kurdistan will respect that result. 
     And if they win, I promise that we will do everything in our 
     power to ensure outsized representation of Kirkuk's Turkmen, 
     Arabs and Christians both on the local level and in the 
     parliament and government of the Kurdistan Region.
       Regional stability cannot come from resolving internal 
     disputes alone. That is why expanding and deepening our ties 
     with Turkey is my top priority.
       My meeting last month in Baghdad with the Turkish special 
     envoy to Iraq was a historic and positive development. There 
     should be further direct contacts between the KRG and Turkey, 
     as well as multilateral contacts that involve the U.S. We are 
     eager to work with Turkey to seek increased peace and 
     prosperity in the region.
       I am proud that the Kurdistan Region is both a model and 
     gateway for the rest of Iraq. Our difficult path to a 
     secular, federal democracy is very much inspired by the U.S. 
     And so we look forward to working with the Obama-Biden 
     administration to support and defend our hard-fought 
     successes in Iraq, and to remain proud of what the Kurdistan 
     region is today: a thriving civil society in the heart of the 
     Middle East. When we insist on strict compliance with our 
     country's constitution, we are only following America's great 
     example.

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