Kurds Deserting Army En Masse
Remember that a major part of Bush’s (new) plan, is that the Iraqi army has to be able to take over, ASAP? Kurds disagree. In short: they seem to be deserting en masse since the Iraqi government announced that it plans on sending Kurdish army brigades to Baghdad. The main problem is that (deserted) Kurds don’t consider the sectarian violence to be their battle. There is also the problem of language and the Kurds are afraid that, if they go to Baghdad to fight, they will be singled out by both the Sunni and Shiite militias.
“The soldiers don’t know the Arabic language, the Arab tradition, and they don’t have any experience fighting terror,” said Anwar Dolani, a former peshmerga commander who leads the brigade that’s being transferred to Baghdad from the Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah.
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“I joined the army to be a soldier in my homeland, among my people. Not to fight for others who I have nothing to do with,” said Ameen Kareem, 38, who took a week’s leave with other soldiers from his brigade in Irbil and never returned. “I used to fight in the mountains and valleys, not in the streets.”Kareem said he knew that deserting was risky, but he said he’d rather be behind bars in Kurdistan than a “soldier in Baghdad’s fire.” Without the language and with his Kurdish features, he was sure he would stand out, he said. He’s a Kurd, he said, and he has no reason to become a target in an Arab war.
[...]
Farman Mohammed, 42, celebrated the Muslim Eid holiday with his family last month and didn’t go back when he heard that he might be deployed to Baghdad. Afraid for his life, he found a new job and settled in with his family.“The fanatic Sunnis in Baghdad kill the Shiites, and vice versa. Both of them are outraged against the Kurds. They will not hesitate to kill us and accuse us of being collaborators with the occupiers,” he said. “How can we face them alone?”
[...]
Mohammed Abdoul, 41, reluctantly prepared to leave for the Iraqi capital earlier this week. Fear clouded his mind.“I don’t know why we should interfere in this Sunni-Shiite war,” he said. “If I am going to face a difficult task in Baghdad and feel sectarian tension, I will leave the army forever, come back to Sulaimaniyah and work in the market.”
The Kurds express some valid concerns; why – for instance – doesn’t the Iraqi government sent Kurdish brigades that actually speak Arabic and isn’t the danger very realy that, indeed, Kurdish soldiers will be singled out and won’t Shiites and Sunnis turn against the Kurds in general? Kurdistan is now (relatively) safe.
However, although some of their concerns might be understandable, those concerns became irrelevant at the moment they became soldiers of the Iraqi army. If they strictly wanted to defend Kurdistan, they should have signed up for some kind of Kurdish army, for a militia, or they should have ‘normal’ jobs. What they should not have done, is signing up for the Iraqi army and then deserting at the moment they actually have to fight. Once they became soldiers of Iraq, they should have been loyal to Iraq first. Kurdistan second.
Kurds focus on Kurds first. They make up good soldiers as long as they are directly fighting for their own people / part of the country. But once it is expected of them to defend the entire country, also those who are not Kurds, quite some of them bail.
Theorizing aside, this also represents yet another big problem in the Iraq war: one of the ideas behind Bush’s plans is that the Iraqi army will take over from the U.S. soon. The idea is that the Iraqi army will be the one who truly puts an end to the sectarian violence, at least in the long run. All articles I’ve read lately imply one thing quite clearly: no matter what al-Maliki thinks of it, the Iraqi army is not able to do something against the violence that’s tearing the country apart, and it’s quite likely that it will not be able to do so for quite some time to come.
35 Responses to “Kurds Deserting Army En Masse”
“Once they became soldiers of Iraq, they should have been loyal to Iraq first. Kurdistan second.”
They were, before religious infighting turned the country to hell. Why should the Kurds help either side in this sectarian bloodbath when, when it’s all over, the ‘winner’ will more than likely go right back to trying to suppress them again?
Iraq is a fractured country, the Kurds know this. They’re the only one of the three who (ignoring possible Turkish & regional animosity towards a Kurdish State) at this point have any chance of salvaging a peaceful government out of this mess.
This article seems to underscore one bit of reality that has not been as widely discussed as one might expect. Kurdistan is now a de facto independent nation. Maybe Maliki and the Turks aren’t happy about it, but right now there is not a whole lot that they can do to change it. The Kurds will not willingly give up the independence that has eluded them for hundreds (thousands?) of years in order to become a minority in a corrupt, failed state. This one has been a “no brainer” since the end of the first Gulf War but once again, the “historically, ethnographically, and geographically challenged” geniuses who planned this misadventure missed it.
well that’s interesting, I my quote becomes the comment, and my comment the quote O_o Sorry!
I suppose I should reword that then. The Kurds are, as a faction, the only one of the three interested in stability and peace that doesn’t come at the expense of slaughtering one or both of the other factions… they have a right to only be interested in their own security, the other two factions have proven that without an iron fist keeping them apart they’re more interested in reenacting a medieval religious war with modern weaponry.
The civil war centered in Baghdad is not the Kurds problem.
Though this is just one story discussing a few people leaving the Iraqi Army, the prospect of the upcoming operations in Baghdad will be hindered if this problem becomes more widespread. I am not surprised by this because just a few months ago a battalion from northern Iraq was sent down to Fallujah and only about 36% of the men in the battalion showed up.
Secondly, this does not bode well for the US’ neo-conservative group. Kagan has been steadily decreasing the numbers of American troops required to do the job since the realities of the situation are dumped upon his precious plan, but if the Iraqis start bailing, who is actually going to clear and hold a city of 6 million people.
To top it off, there are moral objectives associated with the upcoming battle in Baghdad. How can “good” win over “evil” if we lack soldiers to do the work? The battle is not defined as defeating the insurgents and militias on the battlefield, but one where “freedom” defeats “oppresion” and “terror”. This plan is already starting to show strains on how it can unravel.
Finally, instead of using local nationals to do their work, why not just contract out the work to some enterprising company? Why not hire Blackwater, Triple Canopy, CusterBattles, and so forth? Hell, the administration has been doing this for four years now – we have never had the soldiers on the ground to do the complete work, so we contract out. Why should this not be anything different? Outside the Beltway.
I’m not surprised. In one of the other sections on Iraq I questioned the wisdom of counting on Kurdish segments of the Iraqi army to help quell sectarian violence, believing that they’d just become another target of it.
NPR had Senator John Kyl on a few days ago defending the Bush plan as he always does. One of the things that struck me was that Kyl constantly kept referring to the enemy, one time to speak of the kind of damage we’d need to inflict on them in order to win. But in this situation who is the enemy? The majority of the problem in Iraq is not Al Qaeda or just diehard Baathists, it’s both Sunnis killing Shiites and Shiites killing Sunnis. The enemy is not that easy to find and attack.
I thought the Kurds are warriors and if things don’t wotk we will pull back to Kurdistan. Well, the Kurds sre just as disinterested in a unified Iraq as the Shia and Sunni. If the Kurds don’t show up they are shown to be as sectarian as the Shia. I haven’t heard a thank you from the Kurds for the US effort.
I don’t believe the neocons are realistic in expecting the neophyte, corrupt, poorly equipped and militia-infiltrated Iraqi army and police to take over. I think they know quite well that these forces cannot do what our forces cannot. So do the Kurds. Why should they go die to protect Sunnis from Shia and Shia from Sunni as we are trying so unsuccessfully to do?
“Once they became soldiers of Iraq, they should have been loyal to Iraq first. Kurdistan second.”
Yup, like Dustin and the others here said in more kind words: This is total nonsense, Michael! Sounds good theoretically, but it’s not practicable in todays Iraq. The Kurds joined the Iraqi army as a safeguard so they could be sure there would be a counterweigth to the arab units. As easy as that.
“I haven’t heard a thank you from the Kurds for the US effort.”
Read more history books, Rudi! The US actually deserted the Kurds in their fight against Saddam. The Kurds deserve kudos for supporting the US today.
Agreed. Unfortunately, this has been a problem with many Iraqi recruits, no matter what the faction. The moment they learn that they’ll be sent somewhere other than their hometown, they desert. They signed up to protect their own communities, not the Iraqi people.
Group of Iraqi Military Recruits Graduate, Go AWOL
Nah, the Kurds are just acting in their own interest. And it hasn’t involved a wholesale slaughter, so it doesn’t come across as all that bad so far.
I don’t think they’re ready to cuddle with us again.
“Nah, the Kurds are just acting in their own interest.”
Hmm, I fail to see a Kurd interest in moving their army units into Baghdad. This wouldn’t be done if their national leaders wouldn’t approve it, so it looks as if they are doing the US a favor. Probably there’s some kind of deal behind this, but so far, nothing has emerged showing what is in it for the Kurds…
I read the McClatchey article early this morning. And I just went back to read it again.
I will say this with all due respect and restraint: Where in Bloody Heck do you get en masse out of that piece?
Just askin’.
Gray – That comment is a snark, mocking W’s comment with PBS that Iraq needs to thank the US. The Kurds and Shia should thank W’s father for starting a rebellion and then abandoning them when he discovered that the Shia had ties to Iran(more snark).
And to add a fine point to the real issue at stake:
“The current draft of the proposed Iraqi petroleum bill vests decisions in the central government, as the Sunni Arabs had wanted. The Kurds had argued for a more decentralized system.” (From Informed Comment)
So the Kurds are expected to get involved in the secterian bloodbath of two arch-enemies in order to help secure and stabilize a government which is in the process of creating an economic and political system contrary to their interests?
Yes, sounds like a real sound foundation for success…in the Bush administration.
If the Kurdish troops do not show up in the numbers promised then the troops needed to make e up the difference will have to come from the Shiite south. That means that the Iraqi military units sent to Baghdad to suppress the insurgency will be majority Shiia, so how does that affect operations? There is a possibility that a majority Shiite military could turn a blind eye to Shiite militias operation in Sadr City. Shiite dominated brigades might also take ruthless measures to put down the Sunni insurgency, esp. after taking casualties. Will the Sunnis view the operation as nothing more than revenge attacks by Shiites rather than an Iraqi government restoring peace? That depends on how the forces react to attacks. Our imbedded advisors working with Iraqi forces might be put in a position of trying to restrain Shiite Brigades in Sunni areas and at the same time trying get the Iraqi army to suppress their fellow Shiites in Sadr City neighborhoods. The arrest of militia leaders associated with Sadr is a promising sign, but remember that in the past Shiite militia arrested by US forces were seen back on the street soon after detention. Detention does not mean these people are permanently out of circulation, that requires a trial and imprisonment
Hrrrmm. I think it is probably fair to at least raise the question of wide spread desertion, if not go with the assumption that it is all to likely to be happening. We have seen this other times with Arab units sent to Baghdad, the last push to clear and hold being ta shinning example. While I do not have the exact numbers at my fingertips, I believe only about 2/3 or so showed up, and that was after they re-arranged for whole units that just plain refused to go. So, it it not perhaps more valid to ask why would the Kurds behave any differently?
The other piece that has no been mentioned yet (afaik) is that the Iraqi officers often keep rather large numbers of phantom troops on the rolls. Remember Iraqi military operators on a more or less fuedal pay/equippage system where in the commander is paid for the troops he has, and he then distrubutes pay. Stuffing the rolls is an scam old as history itself. Thus, if the 80%? desertion rate, or whatever it exactly is, does seem a bit high. It may refelct a commander covering his own butt now that those phantom troops are needed.
As to ‘the Kurds should stand up they signed up for X.’ Um, not really, not in more than lip service, something no different than many other Arab sectarian based units of the army. Kurdistan is an independent country in all but name. They fly their own flag, all govt. buildings mention Kurdistan… not Iraq. They are conducting a fair bit of their own foreign affairs. No Iraqi army units may set foot in Kurdistan, etc. As of the last election at least 80% of the populce opted for ther own state. And lets not forget culture and language diferences.
As to why they are going at all? Easy enough, the pay off we offer is protection (or at least running interfearance) from Turkey and Iran. Both parties have shelled Kurdistan and the Turks have actually invaded across the border a few times. Turkey is up for elections soon, and both parties are being called on to do something about the Kurdish militants who are causing such trouble in Turkey. So Kurdistan trades mercenaries for time/peace.
As to what this means for the escalation plan. Not good. Despite thinking the shrub is more a preznut, then president, this plan actually had some hope too it. It was very late does of relality(probably too late) but might have set the stage for some sort of softer landing. If this desertion is widespread though, well.. So much for that, really. The best we can do is run the clock a bit and get a likely very temporary drop in violence. In which case, barring a draft, we may as well figure the best rapid exit and let the cards fall where they may.
yes, that’s how I see it as well. Sadly.
That’s understandable and all, but that does not make it ‘correct’.
Yup, I agree. That is a very real problem for the Kurds.
My point is not that I do not understand the Kurds, I’m simply noting that they ‘should’ act differently, at least in my opinion ánd that it is an incredibly bad sign for Bush’s plans.
The U.S. has to solve the issues, but it cannot or at least will not.
Hmmm…somehow CNN, Reuters, the AP AND the BBC missed this story of en masse desertions happening right under their very noses, yet a couple stringers for McClatchy newspapers get the scoop?
Somebody’s not doing their job very well…I just cant tell who.
I just saw a cartoon that sums it up pretty well (it’s the very first cartoon)
Yup, crystal clear.
LOL, that was great, Lynx. I’m not sure if which is more worrisome: that it was actually making sense to me, or that many in Congress and the Bush administration would probably not understand it at all.
I am coming late to this thread, but what is going on here is pretty basic:
The U.S. has screwed up in so many ways that it can’t turn around any more without stepping on its willy. It simply has run out of room to do anything right, and yet another indication of this is Kurdish troops rightfully refusing to fight and kill other Iraqis as part of yet another Baghdad security sweep.
As to Rich’s comment: In many instances, Knight Ridder reporters were out ahead of what was really going on in Iraq well before the NYTimes, WaPo, CNN and other mainstream media pillars started getting it right. Knight Ridder (where Joe and I toiled in the past) has ceased to exist. But some of its better reporters and stringers have gone over to McClatchy, which while not a media household name, has kicked ass over and over again in reporting on the war.
These scoops have included a personal favorite: How the U.S. and Iraqi governments intentionally lowball civilian death figures and since summer have prohibited the Baghdad Central Morgue, a barometer of the toll of sectarian violence, to issue any fatality statistics.
Once again you confuse rhetoric with reality.
The Kurds did join a Kurdish army. It was incorporated into a fictional Irish state with the Kurds and everyone else knowing were their loyalties lay. Much of the army is made of militias of various parties.
This was not a secret. You can not simply changing this by declaring that it is Iraqi. The world does not work on magic were you can make things what you want simply by naming them.
Your way of thinking belongs to a different millennium.
I am not sure that thinking the Kurds should stand up belongs in a diferent millenium. More that its expecting way too much from a bunch of largely untrained irregulars who have no real reason to put faith in a government that is obiously sectarian, and in the midst of a civil war. Expecting tradition, nationality and so on to carry over may have been possible had we not disbanded the original army which at least had been bloodied and had some tradtions. But, we did.
From an ethical stand point, sure they promised to do X. But really what would you do if unemployment where 50-60% and your family was starvign and there was this job that promised cash and its all you could get. Its easy to judge rom a distance, but until I walke da mile in their shoes I probably wouldn’t
Michael — Please remember that the Iraqi Army enlistment contract contains NO PENALTY for desertion. Please remember that quite a few enlistment contracts for people being paid by the Iraqi government contain clauses stating that the individuals’ units would not deploy outside of their home province. Please remember that the Kurdish units are peshmerga units with their own command structure that is only just collecting a different bag of cash from a richer paymaster. Their primary loyalties have not changed in the past three years, and clapping your hands harder will not change these loyalties.
At this point a unified, non-sectarian Iraq is a pipedream. We have destroyed the fundamental precepts of a modern nation state, so people have had to rely on baser loyalties to survive. Accept this and Iraq becomes a much easier analytical problem.
Somehow we continue to think that where the world’s best military with the best equipment, command structure, etc. cannot quell the violence in Baghdad, the corrupt, poorly equipped, militia-infiltrated Iraqi army and police can “stand up” and let us leave. This is pure fantasy.
The anger I hear from both sides of the aisle is a fabricated indignation that “these people” had better take control and stop relying on us. They simply can’t. And a year or two or twelve from now we’ll be pointing fingers at them and each other for not “winning” the “war” in “Iraq”. We destroyed it. Utterly and completely. Like the former Serbia, we’ll be talking about the former Iraq.
This whole thing could be settled so easily if they would just listen to me and everyone do what I say.
1.) Iran holds the keys. They use oil money to destablize this region. So stop buying their oil till they work to stablize Iraq and not undermine the coalition troops over there.
2.) Saudi could easily increase production of oil by 3 million bbls. Iran sells 2.5 million per day. The price of oil would actually go down because Iran would sneak some oil on the market but not enough to allow them to fund terror.
3.) With no money comes no funding comes no terrorist that are well funded and well supported. I give you HAMAS and the suicide bombers in Israel. AS soon as Saddam was overthrown and the 25,000 dollars a year going to the families of suicide bombers………the bombing stopped and Palestine and Israel have TRIED to work things out.
Money is the key. Stop the money…..which means stop IRAN.
GWB is not kidding when he says IRAN is the monster of the MIDDLE east and everyone knows this. They are funding Syria, Lebanon and Iraqi terror and destabilization.
IRAN is the key. Always has been…..Stop buying their oil and encourage them to work for peace and this might just end up in a manageable area.
Someone explain why the Kurds can’t have their own state and still be Iraqis. If American’s took that approach, National Guardsmen from New Jersey wouldn’t have responded to Katrina victims.
I live in Oklahoma, I don’t understand the people of Los Angeles like I do my neighbors. If they need something, they are still Americans. I’m going to help. I’m pretty sure this is the case all over the free world. Big storms and bad weather in Europe, everyone pitches in and they all get through it. Fires in Australia, everyone sends help. Japanese earthquake, US Search and Rescue dogs go to help. You mean to tell me that the Kurds in the Iraqi Army and in Iraqi uniform, would help their neighbor, but not their countrymen. I thought we were doing the training over there. That’s not what I learned in the Marines. I learned that the total is greater than the parts. Individuals are less effective than teams. So why isn’t this being instilled in these fine young recruits? Where is their Officer Corps being trained? It should be Quantico. Marine Officer’s would have never stood for this attitude. Where are their NCOs trained? Or is this the typical Third-World Rabble this region thinks is an army?
If the Iraqi Army is as it appears, a rag-tag group of individuals, and is full of criminals with an axe to grind, that’s where we are missing the boat. This isn’t about Troop Surge, this should be about intense, focused training that breaks down the ideas of individuality first. Train these folks to be Iraqis first, everything else second. Give them a focus to be proud. Then make it worth their while to follow the rules. It appears we need to send a large number of Marine Drill Instructors, while we are at it. Sixteen weeks is all it takes to take an Okie and turn him into an American, Texans, may take longer. Why is it taking 2-3 years to turn Kurds into Iraqis? Surely, they are much smarter than Texans…..
Maybe because the Kurds haven’t really been a part of Iraq since the end of the first gulf war except on the maps? Iraq, and the middle east in general, cannot be seen through the same eyes as the Western nations. They have a history vastly different than ours; one with it’s own hatreds, predjudices, and cultural heritage. We got into this mess because we either ignored that history or were ignorant of it.
And lets not forget about the fac that the map of the middle east was not drawn by its inhabitants, but rather by culturally clueless European generals/politicians at the end of WWI… might just have a smidgen to do with our current mess.
“Sixteen weeks is all it takes to take an Okie and turn him into an American, Texans, may take longer. Why is it taking 2-3 years to turn Kurds into Iraqis?”
Wrong analogy. Ask instead: How long did it take to turn a Texan into a Mexican in 1835?
Dustin, good point, in order to truly understand the Middle East you must understand the Paris peace conference and the colonial powers gaining territory at the end of WW1. Lynx LOL great post.
It all comes down to Maliki’s failure to breed loyalty for the national government. I’m not sure anyone else could have, given Iraq’s history, but unless Kurds, Shia and Sunnis care more about their country than getting revenge on each other, there’s nothing to hold their country together. Many in the ministries are corrupt and wasteful, and have not used American reconstruction wisely. If the government can’t provide the basics no one will fight for it. Conversely, the government can’t provide too many services without underlying security.
We should try to help Iraqi refugees as much as possible, and insist on signs of political and military progress from Maliki. At least he has finally come out against al Sadr.
“expecting way too much from a bunch of largely untrained irregulars”
They have lots of experience. Those ‘irregulars’ stood up alone against Saddam’s army for more than a decade. As long as they stay in their mountains, the Peshmerga will kick the ass of everybody who’s uninvitedly ‘visiting’ them there. I wouldn’t underestimate them.
“But really what would you do if unemployment where 50-60% and your family was starvign”
Reports say, unemployment is much lower in Kurdistan. It is even said they have some sort of economical boom there.
So, I really thing the main reason for the desertions is that the troops don’t think it’s not in their interest to play cop for the Sunnis and Shiites.