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Tuesday, Nov 10, 2009
What leads you to assume that democracy will be the outcome this time?
Everybody we have spoken to from the vice president [Dick Cheney] to the secretary of defense [Donald Rumsfeld] confirmed that they are not just for regime change but that they want to replace this regime with a democratic form of representative government. That is definitely welcomed by us and we believe that this is the only way to go forward. The vice president specifically said, "American lives should not be risked for replacing a dictator with another." In Iraq we have a unique opportunity to bring about democracy. If we could do it in Iraqi Kurdistan, which is the least developed part of Iraq, I think the prognosis for democracy for the rest of Iraq is good. I think the Islamic Middle East definitely needs that boost. We need to change that pattern of politics. We look to help from Western powers and neighbors to overcome our predicaments.
I was in London working as a spokesman for my movement during the Gulf War and trying to make the point that the problem is not in Kuwait but in Baghdad and that unless you have a democratic representative government in Iraq, the miserable pattern of Iraqi politics of internal repression and external repression will continue. I hope this time the world will heed the lessons of the past and help bring about an Iraq at peace with itself.
Let's go back to war plans. What is your sense of the timing?
We are yet to be told any of the specifics in terms of timing and such. But I think it's imperative that the message should be war for Iraq and freedom for Iraqi people. I make that point to people in Washington. This should be about the freedom of Iraqi people -- about empowering Iraqis to reclaim their country as a nation at peace with its own people.
Is a full-scale U.S. invasion in the cards?
We have not been told any specifics for an invasion as such but I don't think it will take an invasion. The people of Iraq are ready for change and the Arab streets of Iraq would welcome international assistance to liberate the country and this misery.
But no doubt your troops, the peshmerga, will play a role?
The peshmergas have been at the forefront of the struggle to bring democracy to Iraq. We were fighting this government of Iraq even when the U.S. was supporting it. So we have been the consistent one in fighting for a democratic movement in the country.
Given the current Iraqi regime's history of horrendous crimes and abuses, the "day after" in Baghdad could easily turn into a retribution frenzy. How will people know where to stop? Beyond Saddam's inner circle, are there plans to push for war-crimes indictments against top-ranking Baath Party officials and the Iraqi military?
Those who have participated in the war crimes that have taken place in Iraq, the top leadership, need to be brought to justice and answer for their crimes. But I hope that the South Africa model of "truth and reconciliation" will apply. We've had so much violence in our country that it would be wise for us to practice this tolerance and not embark on a campaign of revenge that could be unending and unrelenting. I hope the top leadership will be held responsible for these terrible atrocities affecting the Kurdish people, "the Arab marshes," and other segments of the Iraqi society should be brought to an international court of justice.
[In citing the "the Arab marshes," Salih is referring to the Arabs in the southern marsh lands of Iraq, who are predominantly Shiite and have been leading an insurgency against the Iraqi government for more than a decade. Unlike the Kurds and other opposition groups, they have very little contact with the outside world and, for the most part, are not on Washington's radar. -- Ed.]
These are subjects hotly debated within Iraqi opposition circles these days but I think it's premature for me to speculate on the specific modalities. In 1991 when the uprising took place we issued a general amnesty for the rank and file of the Baathist establishment and the military forces in our region. We'll have to do that, most probably. We should seek ways of restitution and not engage in a terrible cycle of violence that will take many years. We need to get busy rebuilding Iraq, and revenge should not be a priority. Justice requires that the Iraqi people be given a peaceful environment and no doubt that those who were responsible for directing and ordering these terrible atrocities will need to be brought to justice. But we should not make that a tool to exact retribution on anyone that might have been associated with this regime here and there. We'll need to lift ourselves beyond the past and the problems we are faced with.
