by Colonel Dennis P. Chapman
Download the full article: Our Ambivalent Iraqi-Kurdistan Policy
Twenty-three years ago I was nearing the end of a miserable Plebe year at West Point, having endured for ten months innumerable humiliating rebukes from upperclassmen and a severe and nearly constant state of mortification deriving from the great many embarrassing blunders, nearly all of my own making, that I had suffered since first passing through the Academy's gates the summer before. Throughout this year of horrors however, I had had one small comfort -- I had fallen in love with a hometown girl whom we'll call "Eva." Eva and I had been friends in high school and a stream of letters and phone calls through my dark time had deepened feelings, at least on my on end. In our correspondence Eva had given every indication of sharing my feelings and I had naturally very much looked forward to a reunion with her over the Christmas holidays. Things started out well enough -- a couple of dates, a cuddle, a kiss -- and then nothing. Eva became nearly unreachable and always unavailable. Disappointed and hurt I made my sad way back to my hard life on the Hudson only to find, to my surprise and joy, Eva once again renewing the connection! Another stream of letters and calls, more hopes for a joyful reunion and a happily ever after -- and, upon returning home for summer leave, another disappointment -- a date or two and another disappearing act. Needless to say, I'd have been better served had I taken the advice of the upperclassmen, who, when demanding to know "How are they all?" expected but one answer: "They are all fickle but one, Sir!" For my dear Eva was nothing if not fickle.
By now the patient reader will be wondering just what any of this has to do with Iraqi Kurdistan or our policy toward it. The answer is simply this: The United States has been nothing if not fickle in our treatment of the Kurdistan Region since 2003. By this point, seven years after the 2003 invasion, the Kurds of Iraq can be forgiven if America begins to look to them less like Lady Liberty, holding high aloft her shining torch as a beacon of freedom and justice, and more like my fickle friend Eva. Congress passes resolutions to commemorate Kurdish accomplishments but provides little or no practical help; American commanders rush to Erbil when Kurdish help is needed on thorny problems, only to disappear again as soon as the problem is gotten under control; Iraqi Kurds flock to America's colors during a long and difficult war, only to be turned away at our borders by immigration authorities too ignorant or naí¯ve to see the difference between the Kurdish parties -- our allies -- and our many enemies throughout the region. In short, we have not been able to make up our minds as to just what our relationship with Iraqi Kurdistan ought to be.
Download the full article: Our Ambivalent Iraqi-Kurdistan Policy
Colonel Dennis P. Chapman commanded a U.S. Military Transition Team embedded within an all-Kurdish Iraqi Army Brigade based in Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan Region. He deployed with the brigade during their participation in the Baghdad Security Plan (at the time of the U.S. surge). Colonel Chapman completed a one-year military fellowship with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) where his principal research focus was the security services of the Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq. He is the author of a book on Iraqi Kurdistan, Security Forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government, forthcoming soon from Mazda Publishers.
