Iraq Civil War

The second war front in the neighborhood is Iraq. For 13 years, ever since America’s invasion over a bizarre set of falsehoods, US forces have been fighting and dying on the side of the Iraqi government. Nouri al-Maliki was America’s puppet Prime Minister in Iraq and he turned into a ruthless and corrupt dictator that made even his own Shiite supporters take up arms to overthrow him. Take a look at any current map of Iraq today and you’ll see just how bad America lost the Iraq War.

Like Syria, there are four forces fighting in Iraq – the US-backed government, Shiite militias, ISIS, and the Kurds. The Iraqi Shiite militias control roughly 35% of the country. ISIS controls an equally large 35%. The Kurds control 20%. And the side the US is on, the Iraqi government, controls the capitol of Baghdad and little else. Due to that ongoing losing fight, the Kurds and Shiite militias have long been officially labeled as terrorist groups and enemies of the United States.

Now, American, Kurdish and Shiite militias have physically joined together in Iraq to fight off the same ISIS forces America has been arming and training at a US military base in southern Turkey. Not stopping there, the US even abandoned its own ally – the Iraqi government – and has acknowledged the 13-year effort to keep Iraq together was a failure. Official US policy now recognizes two sovereign countries in Iraq, and one of them is our enemy-turned-ally, Kurdistan.

Kurds – from enemy to ally

Like Palestine, Tibet, Taiwan and others, Kurdistan is a country that doesn’t exist but should. It existed for over 2,000 years and wants to exist again. But the historic borders of Kurdistan would necessitate the country be carved out of parts of Syria, Iraq, Iran and Turkey. And due to America’s NATO alliance with Turkey and its conquest of Iraq, the US government as always considered the Kurdish people as terrorists for their century-long fight to regain their independence.

We at Whiteout Press have long been supporters of Kurdish independence. Their history as a people and a nation, combined with their current impossible war for freedom, generates sympathy from anyone who admires an underdog fighting for freedom. As far back as 2011, we documented the Kurds’ plight in Iraq and Syria. At the time, the US government had deemed them our national enemies. But we said then what America has finally discovered, the Kurds are about the only ‘good guys’ in the entire chaotic two-nation civil war. US policy still considers the Kurds a terrorist group. But now we’re fighting with them and against them at the same time.

History of the Kurds

Since the Kurds have been a national enemy of the US for years, American media outlets have never told the American people their heart-wrenching story. We brought that story to our readers three years ago, and it’s worth telling again.

From the 2011 Whiteout Press article, ‘Iran invades Iraq to attack Kurds’:

‘Who are the Kurds?

In 612 BC, the Medes, the Kurds ancient ancestors, founded their empire. According to the Institute, this isn’t just the year their nation achieved the status of empire, it’s actually the first year in the Kurdish calendar. Right now, Kurds are living in the year 2624. It was in that year twenty-six hundred years ago, that the Kurds conquered the Assyrian empire and reigned over the whole of ancient Iran.

Around 6 BC, the Kurds fell under the rule of the Arab-Muslim invasion, of which the Kurds were neither. Resisting assimilation and fighting Arab tribes for centuries, it was the year 837 when a Kurdish lord named Rozeguite founded the sovereign Kurdish town of Akhlat. Three hundred years later, the Turks would take their turn to conquer the Kurds. In fact, the Kurds were among the soldiers fighting Christian Crusaders under the leadership of the historic Saladin.

Retaining their own language, culture and independence, by 1200 Kurdistan was again a semi-autonomous nation. The Kurds even successfully fought off the Mongolian invasion along with their Muslim neighbors. In 1500, the Kurds were forced to choose sides between the Ottoman Turks and the Persian empire. With a promised autonomy under Turkish alliance, the Kurds went to war against the Persians, modern day Iran.

Following the global example from America’s war for independence, followed immediately by the French Revolution, the Kurds fought repeated revolutions from 1830 to 1881. With the Ottoman Turks on the losing side of World War 1, the victorious allies, America, France and Britain, recommended the international recognition of an independent Kurdistan. Unfortunately, local armies were more powerful than international recommendations and Kurdistan was swallowed up by its neighbors.

In 1925, the League of Nations officially eliminated the country of Kurdistan. It divided up the Kurds’ land between four neighboring countries – Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. And that is how it’s remained ever since. To quote the Kurdish Institute in Paris, the Kurdish people are a victim of their geography and of history.

Still today, Kurdish fighters refuse to give up the struggle for freedom and independence. In the West, as well as the East, they’re labeled as terrorists. Preferring to be thought of as ‘freedom fighters’ and with numerous rebel groups fighting for their cause, the Kurds soldier on, a people without a nation.’

America fighting wars against itself

All things considered, America may want to reconsider opening a third front in the war against itself. Nothing proves that more than the fact that ISIS is US-armed and US-trained. Their weapons say ‘Made in USA’ and they didn’t all come from fleeing Iraqi soldiers dropping their rifles. As of this morning, the pre-emptive war policy called ‘The Bush Doctrine’ is now in effect, again. So with our nation back at war, here’s an updated summary of where America now stands:

• America fought a 13-year war with thousands of US casualties to force Iraq to stay together in a Lincolnesque dream of unity by force. Now, our troops have joined our Kurdish and Shiite militia enemies, while still fighting against them for the US-backed government in Baghdad.

• After arming, funding and training ISIS in our war to topple the Russian-allied Assad regime in Syria, America finds itself this morning on the side of the Assad regime in the war against ISIS.

• And last but not least, after fighting Kurdish freedom fighters for three decades and labeling them as international terrorists, they are now our closest military ally in the Middle East and the US is now simultaneously fighting against them in Iraq and Turkey and for them in Iraq and Syria.

Before the American people create another generation of anti-American militants, and 20 more years of perpetual war, we may first want to ask ourselves why we’re fighting ourselves, fighting on six sides of three wars. And more importantly, who put us in this position and why. We’ll give you one hint – The answer starts with Republican and Democrat and ends with Wall Street.