We Are Making Progress in Iraq
While the media offers mostly images of violence, and many Americans have grown weary of the war in Iraq, I bring hopeful news to Washington this week as I meet with the administration and members of Congress.
Since 2003, we have built the Kurdistan Region as a model for democracy and a gateway for development for all of Iraq. We are willing partners in this transition toward an Iraqi government that is representative of all its people. Through our peshmerga forces, we provide some of the most effective units against al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. We Kurds are committed to a federal, democratic Iraq at peace within its borders and with its neighbors.
We are working with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and the Iraqi leadership in Baghdad on the difficult issues facing our country. Our relationship with Iraq's federal government has never been better. And progress is being made on an oil law, the status of disputed territories, the proper role for Iraq's neighbors to play, and on relations between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Turkey.
First, the oil law. We will now start negotiations using a draft drawn up in February of 2007. We'll also establish a process to send the national oil law, the revenue sharing law, and the laws concerning the Iraqi National Oil Company and the Oil Ministry in Baghdad to parliament as one package – to be voted up or down.
New oil contracts will be approved based on agreed-upon guidelines. The oil exploration contracts the KRG has already signed won't present a problem, because they were negotiated based on the highest standards of transparency.
There is also progress in settling the status of Kirkuk and other disputed territories. Previous Iraqi regimes expelled Kurds, Turkmen and Christians from Kirkuk, and gerrymandered provincial borders to change its demography. Article 140 of the Iraqi Constitution establishes a legal process to remedy this injustice. We are encouraged that the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General is helping to develop a proposal regarding the implementation of Article 140.
As we resolve internal issues, we also understand the importance of a peaceful relationship with all our neighbors, based on mutual respect and noninterference in internal affairs.
To that end, we will continue reassuring our neighbors that a federal Iraq is not a threat. But we will also continue to encourage our neighbors to do what they can to stop terrorists from infiltrating Iraq.
We think it is imperative that Middle Eastern states send their diplomatic representatives to Iraq, and for these states to proactively prevent terrorists from slipping across their borders. Unprovoked and recurring bombardment of the Kurdistan Region by Turkey and Iran must stop.
There has also been a historic step forward in KRG-Turkish relations. On May 1, I represented my government in the first high-level, official bilateral meeting with Turkey. Held in Baghdad, the meeting was conducted in a cordial atmosphere, and both sides stressed similar views on a wide range of issues. We reiterated to our Turkish colleagues our commitment to good neighborly relations, which is underscored by the growing Turkish investment in the Kurdistan Region. Our talks also focused on the need for practical steps and continued dialogue on all outstanding issues, including the problem of the PKK.
We Kurds understand and share America's frustration with the pace of political progress in Iraq. We are doing all we can to create security, stability and prosperity. While progress has not come fast enough, Iraq remains a worthy cause.
As Americans debate the future of the U.S. role in Iraq, allow me to say that America's mission remains vital to the stability and security of our region. A precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces could be calamitous. We welcome a U.S. presence in the Kurdistan Region as part of any redeployment of forces.
The Kurdish people of Iraq suffered under Saddam Hussein. And we fought and died alongside Americans to liberate our country. There is no ambiguity about the depth of gratitude that Kurds feel for America's sacrifices in Iraq. Americans who have been killed or wounded in Iraq are heroes to me and to all of Iraq's Kurds. We will never forget what you have done for us.
Mr. Barzani is prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq.
Clinton claims Kentucky but Obama targets milestone
©AFP - Robyn Beck
LOUISVILLE (AFP) - Hillary Clinton scored a consolation win in Tuesday's Kentucky primary, but Barack Obama remained on course to surpass a milestone toward the Democrats' White House nomination.
The former first lady was projected to be the big winner in the bourbon and horseracing state of Kentucky, whose blue-collar voters and older women formed the same kind of pro-Clinton coalition seen in other states.
The New York senator vowed anew never to give up until after the closely fought Democratic primary season ends on June 3.
"It's not just Kentucky bluegrass that's music to my ears. It's the sound of your overwhelming vote of confidence even in the face of some pretty tough odds," she told raucous supporters here.
©AFP/Getty Images/File - Anne Sherwood
"This is one of the closest races for a party's nomination in recent history. We're winning the popular vote and I'm more determined than ever to see that every vote is cast and every ballot is counted," Clinton said.
With more than 86 percent of the Kentucky vote counted, Clinton was trouncing Obama by 65 percent to 31.
But Obama was tipped to take the liberal western state of Oregon, where voting was ending at 0300 GMT Wednesday, and clinch a symbolic majority of elected delegates after more than five months of Democratic nominating battles.
©AFP/Getty Images - Craig Mitchelldyer
Obama, cementing his bid to be the party's champion in November's election showdown against Republican John McCain, was set for his own victory rally in Iowa, the scene of his shock win in the first nominating contest in January.
The Iowa event was to remind Americans "that this was a very unlikely journey that we've taken," Obama told MSNBC, while attacking McCain for offering a "third term" for President George W. Bush.
But fearful of provoking the combative Clinton, the Obama campaign denied it was adopting a triumphalist tone about securing a majority of pledged delegates.
"I just see this as a major step. It's not the end," Minnesota's Obama-backing Senator Amy Klobuchar said on MSNBC after Kentucky was declared for Clinton.
Klobuchar dismissed Clinton's argument that Obama would struggle with white working-class voters against McCain.
©AFPTV
But Clinton's campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, said the Kentucky outcome was enough to give superdelegates reason to doubt Obama's capacity to win against McCain in November.
"Everybody keeps saying it's over, but Hillary Clinton keeps winning in purple states," he said, referring to swing states that are a mix of Republican red and Democratic blue.
"Every single poll we have seen shows Hillary Clinton beating John McCain."
According to RealClearPolitics.com, Obama had 1,610 pledged delegates heading into Tuesday's primaries, just 17 short of a majority on the final stretch of the Democratic primary campaign.
©AFP/Getty Images - Eric Thayer
With party elders known as "superdelegates" thrown in, the website said he had 1,915 delegates in total -- so needed 111 more to reach the newly revised winning line of 2,026, counting a recently elected Democrat from Mississippi.
A total of 103 delegates was up for grabs in Oregon and Kentucky.
McAuliffe turned to no lesser an authority than Karl Rove, Bush's long-time counselor and a hate figure for most Democrats, to burnish his arguments about electability.
An electoral map prepared by Rove's consulting firm and leaked to the press showed Clinton beating McCain easily in November. The race with Obama as the Democratic nominee was suggested to be much tighter.
But that contention, and Clinton's claim that she now leads in the popular vote including disputed primaries in Florida and Michigan, has not cut much ice with superdelegates as more party elders drift towards Obama.
Both Obama and Clinton were heading to Florida Wednesday. The Sunshine State's primary results, like Michigan's, were voided by Democratic bosses over a scheduling row.
Heading to the final contests in Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota, Clinton's hopes hinge in large part on getting the Florida and Michigan delegates reinstated at a Democratic National Committee meeting on May 31.
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