Iranian Troops Threaten Kurdistan Region
Dr. Michael D. Evans
Published August 23, 2007
President Bush’s recent move to declare Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a “specially designated global terrorist” group has apparently emboldened the leaders of Iran’s elite military group to begin a more overt move against Iraq…and especially the Kurds in Northern Iraq. According to recent reports, Tehran has moved several thousand Revolutionary Guards units to an area north-east of Iraq. And they are not just on the Kurdistan border as observers.
Kurdistan villages high in the mountains near the Iranian border have been shelled by Revolutionary Guard forces. Two Iraqi women were wounded, livestock killed and property damaged. At least 1000 Kurds have fled their homes in fear for their lives. There are also reports of attacks on other northern Iraq villages and on the province of Sulaimaniya.
An Iranian army helicopter was reportedly downed and six Revolutionary Guards killed by Kurdish guerrillas. A Kurdistan Regional Government deputy minister, Jabar Yawar declared: “If this escalates, it could pose a real threat to the Kurdistan region, which is Iraq’s most stable area.” Mr. Yawar said he expected the U.S. and Baghdad to formally protest the attack against this “blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty” to the government in Tehran.
Earlier this year during a State visit to Kurdistan, I stood on the Iran border high in the mountains of Kurdistan and wondered how long it would be before either Iran or Turkey made a move to invade the area. In meetings with President Mahmoud Barzani and Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani we talked openly about how the Kurds could help fight and win the war in Iraq, and what they would need to do so. That they are not lacking in determination is evident; however, the weapons needed to help the U.S. win the battle for Iraq are non-existent.
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, Kurdistan, is where America needs to invest its money rather than bleed money from that region into the coffers of the regimes that consider America the enemy. It is odd that $400 billion dollars has been spent in Iraq and the Kurds have no U.S. military equipment with which to help fight the war on terror and to stop an invasion by either Turkey or Iran. To see our allies using old, Russian AK-47s is an embarrassment.
The Kurds have willingly offered to fight alongside U.S. troops, sweeping from the north to the south in a surge to rid Iraq of terrorists crossing the border from Iran. This would put an end to Revolutionary Guards corps setting up Shi’ite militia and terror training camps in Iraq. According to U.S. Major-General Rick Lynch, “We think there are about 50 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards [training Shi’ite extremists] and escalating “indirect fire attacks” on U.S. troops in the region. Lynch says that the attacks are becoming “more accurate and more effective” and therefore, more deadly.
I believe the United States needs to move a major military base into Erbil. This has not yet happened even though Kurdistan not only welcomed U.S. troops openly, but also fought alongside them to take the cities in the north when the Turks refused to allow the U.S. to operate out of Turkey at the beginning of “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. Not one American soldier was killed during that Kurdish/U.S. operation.
The United States needs to reward stable regimes economically. To do it, the United States 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.
President Bush must stand firm in his declaration that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard be named a “specially designated global terrorist” group. Such a move could mean increased scrutiny from those foreign companies that covertly do business with the military group, and of course, less money to fund terrorist activities in the coffers of the Revolutionary Guard.
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Dr. Michael Evans is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Final Move Beyond Iraq, www.beyondiraq.com.
Published August 23, 2007
President Bush’s recent move to declare Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a “specially designated global terrorist” group has apparently emboldened the leaders of Iran’s elite military group to begin a more overt move against Iraq…and especially the Kurds in Northern Iraq. According to recent reports, Tehran has moved several thousand Revolutionary Guards units to an area north-east of Iraq. And they are not just on the Kurdistan border as observers.
Kurdistan villages high in the mountains near the Iranian border have been shelled by Revolutionary Guard forces. Two Iraqi women were wounded, livestock killed and property damaged. At least 1000 Kurds have fled their homes in fear for their lives. There are also reports of attacks on other northern Iraq villages and on the province of Sulaimaniya.
An Iranian army helicopter was reportedly downed and six Revolutionary Guards killed by Kurdish guerrillas. A Kurdistan Regional Government deputy minister, Jabar Yawar declared: “If this escalates, it could pose a real threat to the Kurdistan region, which is Iraq’s most stable area.” Mr. Yawar said he expected the U.S. and Baghdad to formally protest the attack against this “blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty” to the government in Tehran.
Earlier this year during a State visit to Kurdistan, I stood on the Iran border high in the mountains of Kurdistan and wondered how long it would be before either Iran or Turkey made a move to invade the area. In meetings with President Mahmoud Barzani and Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani we talked openly about how the Kurds could help fight and win the war in Iraq, and what they would need to do so. That they are not lacking in determination is evident; however, the weapons needed to help the U.S. win the battle for Iraq are non-existent.
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, Kurdistan, is where America needs to invest its money rather than bleed money from that region into the coffers of the regimes that consider America the enemy. It is odd that $400 billion dollars has been spent in Iraq and the Kurds have no U.S. military equipment with which to help fight the war on terror and to stop an invasion by either Turkey or Iran. To see our allies using old, Russian AK-47s is an embarrassment.
The Kurds have willingly offered to fight alongside U.S. troops, sweeping from the north to the south in a surge to rid Iraq of terrorists crossing the border from Iran. This would put an end to Revolutionary Guards corps setting up Shi’ite militia and terror training camps in Iraq. According to U.S. Major-General Rick Lynch, “We think there are about 50 members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards [training Shi’ite extremists] and escalating “indirect fire attacks” on U.S. troops in the region. Lynch says that the attacks are becoming “more accurate and more effective” and therefore, more deadly.
I believe the United States needs to move a major military base into Erbil. This has not yet happened even though Kurdistan not only welcomed U.S. troops openly, but also fought alongside them to take the cities in the north when the Turks refused to allow the U.S. to operate out of Turkey at the beginning of “Operation Iraqi Freedom”. Not one American soldier was killed during that Kurdish/U.S. operation.
The United States needs to reward stable regimes economically. To do it, the United States 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.
President Bush must stand firm in his declaration that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard be named a “specially designated global terrorist” group. Such a move could mean increased scrutiny from those foreign companies that covertly do business with the military group, and of course, less money to fund terrorist activities in the coffers of the Revolutionary Guard.
**********
Dr. Michael Evans is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Final Move Beyond Iraq, www.beyondiraq.com.
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