The Guardian: Papers proving Ankara-ISIS cooperation discovered by Americans

July 29, 2015 By administrator

The documents about cooperation between Turkey and the Islamic State have been caught by the American side, The Guardian correspondent in the Middle East Martin Chulov told BirGun.

The British reporter said that during the murder of ISIS member responsible for the sale of oil the American side discovered a large number of papers and e-documents disclosing cooperation between Ankara and ISIS.

The journalist stressed that the US will not disclose the contents of documents, but will use them as a trump card against Turkey if needed.

Turkish security forces kept secret the data about who exactly was buying oil from Islamist terrorists.

According to the journalist, Turkey and ISIS have common interests related to the elimination of the Kurds and Assad.

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Time To Unite Time To #PartitionTurkey by #BoycottTurkishProduct to bring peace and prosperity to the Region

US, Once Again, Will Be Complicit in Turkey’s Crimes Against Humanity

July 29, 2015 By administrator

BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN

Turkish war planes that were used to attack Kurds

The United States’ “brilliant” foreign policy move over the weekend to strike a deal with Turkey to engage Ankara in its so-called fight against the Islamic State has quickly shown Turkey’s motives to finally back down and allow the US the use of its own airbase and to actively engage in the fight against what is also known as ISIS or ISIL.

Of course, this was prompted by what is being called an ISIS attack last week in Suruc, Turkey on the border with Syria as Ankara began enlisting the help of its NATO allies and the US to combat what it called terrorism on its territory.

It didn’t take long for Ankara to use this carte blanche provided to it by the US deal to turn its guns and warheads against the Kurdish population in Iraq. After staging a bombing attack on what was supposedly ISIS territory in Syria, Turkey attacked a Kurdish stronghold in Iraq, prompting the Kurds to call an end to the tenuous cease-fire with the Turks.

Turkey, which according to a former US Ambassador to Ankara, was facilitating the flow of Al-Qaeda and Islamic militants into Syria for a long time, also allowed its fluid border with the war-torn country to serve as a transport route for weapons and materials for ISIS, when its NATO ally, the US, had declared war on the Islamic State. Turkey’s apprehension to side with the US was its insistence that Syrian President Bashar al Assad should be removed from power in order to, according to Turkish officials, bring back stability, when in reality Turkey’s policy to extend its reach into Syria was the dominant factor in its posturing.

Furthermore, Turkey’s aiding and abetting of Islamist militants has had its immediate and intended impact on the Armenian population there—the invasion of Kessab, destruction of Der Zor and now the complete blockade of Aleppo.

Now, only days after the deal with the US, talk in Turkey has turned from how to fight ISIS to how to silence the Kurds, both within and outside Turkey—a long standing policy of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

As a follow-up to its military attack on Kurdish bases in Iraq, Erdogan is now looking to outlaw the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) by ordering a terrorism investigation into the party’s activities and calling for the revoking of the party’s parliamentary mandate.

The HDP, which won enough seats in parliament in last month’s elections to end the AKP’s absolute control of the Turkish legislature, has criticized official Ankara for inciting civil war and exposed Erdogan’s intentions to ice the Kurds from having any role in a future coalition government or the political stage in general. Erdogan’s actions against the HDP also undermine the democratic progress seen in Turkey after the June elections, a factor that was highly praised by the US.

So, what is the US to do when its ally is brazenly forfeiting its commitment to the intended aims of an agreement and is in fact using it to start a war against its own minority and continue its streak of crimes against humanity for which it is well known?

It is hard to believe that the seasoned US policymakers who thought of this disastrous deal did not see this coming. Since the US’ declared war on ISIS, the Kurdish population in both Iraq and Syria has proven to be a critical component of the fight on the ground, and has, according to the US military, been able to repel the threat from key positions in that area.

If the US does not take swift action, it will become complicit in another one of Turkey’s crimes against humanity. However, history has shown that the US does not mind being Ankara’s puppet, as was clear this past April when the world stood in recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and the US, once again, bowed out, continuing its complicity in that century-old crime against humanity.

Analysis: Karabakh settlement seen as rare issue for positive U.S.-Russia interaction

July 18, 2015 By administrator

By Naira Hayrumyan
ArmeniaNow correspondent

At the level of different diplomats the United States has made it clear that it will not allow the escalation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. For this purpose, American diplomats have engaged in intensive consultations with Russia.

There is no and will never be a military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Eric Rubin. As quoted by the Voice of America, he stressed that it is time for the parties to reaffirm their commitment to achieving progress. “It is not easy, and to reach a settlement both sides should make some difficult choices, which is why a settlement has not been reached yet,” he said.

The official also said that the parties should refrain from violence. He emphasized that exclusion of incidents is becoming “a critical issue.”

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev, are expected to meet in mid-September on the sidelines of the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Hardly anyone expects to see an agreement on the Karabakh settlement being reached during that meeting. But, apparently, there is an intention to persuade the two leaders to sign a document that would exclude the use of force and the escalation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Despite longstanding efforts of the mediators, Azerbaijan has for many years refused to sign such an agreement.

Experts say that such a document is possible if the United States and Russia agree between themselves. Following the agreement on Iran reached earlier this week, U.S. President Barack Obama said that it would have been impossible without Russian President Vladimir Putin. And Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the main role had still been played by the United States.

Attempts to find some positive ground in the relationship between the United States and Russia can be observed lately and the Karabakh problem is all but the only one on which the United States and Russia, along with France, are working in the same format – the co-chairmanship of the OSCE Minsk Group.

American co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick recently visited Moscow, where he had meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the Russian capital he also gave an interview to the local Vedomosti newspaper.

The journalist asked the following question: “If we assume that a war breaks out in Nagorno-Karabakh and Russia introduces its forces into the region, what might be the decisions and actions of Washington?” Warlick answered: “I think that the scenario that you have outlined is just what we are afraid of – the escalation of the conflict, which would make the international community face serious challenges.”

Warlick emphasized that it is necessary that the U.S. and Russia now work together on this problem. “I would say that the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement is not an area where we see problems in relations with Russia. On the contrary, this is an area where we work through diplomatic channels to reach a peaceful settlement. And we will continue to do so,” the American diplomat said.

U.S. State Department rules out military solution of Karabakh conflict – a statement by Eric Rubin

July 16, 2015 By administrator

There has never been nor can ever be a military solution to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, US Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Eric Rubin was reported by the Voice of America as saying in his speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

“We consider this issue from the perspective of achieving a just, peaceful, long-term, mutually beneficial solution. It is from these positions that all should consider this issue because there is no better solution to the problem, and all other alternatives are so desperate that they should not even be considered, ” said Eric Rubin.

In his words, it is time for the sides to reaffirm their commitment to achieving progress in the peace talks. “It is not simple; to reach a settlement the parties will make a difficult choice on a number of issues, which is why the decision has not been reached yet, “Eric Rubin said.

The U.S. official said that the United States, along with two other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group from Russia and France, will continue to cooperate fully for the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh. Especially important are the efforts of co-chair countries to prevent escalation of the conflict.

“We clearly state that it is imperative that both countries have made everything possible in order not to aggravate the situation; in this tense and dangerous time it is critical to avoid incidents,” E. Rubin said.

Iran nuke deal would have been impossible without Russia – Obama

July 15, 2015 By administrator

Photo by globallookpress.com

Photo by globallookpress.com

Nuclear deal with Iran would have been impossible without Russia’s participation in the talks on Tehran’s nuclear program, US President Barack Obama told the New York Times, Sputniknews.com reports.
On Tuesday, Iran and the P5+1 group of countries — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany — announced a final comprehensive agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions’ relief.

“Russia was a help on this,” Obama said Tuesday. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin and the Russian government compartmentalized on this in a way that surprised me, and we would have not achieved this agreement had it not been for Russia’s willingness to stick with us and the other P5-plus members in insisting on a strong deal.”
The P5+1 international negotiators have been attempting to reach a comprehensive agreement with Iran that would insure the peaceful nature of the country’s nuclear program since November 2013, when an interim was signed.

The final deal was struck after more than two weeks of continuous talks in the Austrian capital of Vienna and multiple extensions of self-imposed deadlines.The deal stipulates international sanctions relief in exchange for verification that Iran will not pursue a nuclear weapon.

Danny Tarkanian second Armenian American to run for US Congress

July 14, 2015 By administrator

Danny Tarkanian

Nevada’s Danny Tarkanian today became the second American of Armenian heritage this election cycle to announce his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, the Armenian National Congress of America reported.

Danny Tarkanian joined California’s Katcho Achadjian who is also running for a seat in Congress.

If they win, Achadjian and Tarkanian will join Reps. Anna Eshoo and Jackie Speier, the two current U.S. Representatives of Armenian descent

Armenia News – NEWS.am

US Senate appropriators reaffirm support for Karabakh aid program

July 10, 2015 By administrator

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, today – following the lead of Senator Mark Kirk – voiced their continued support for direct U.S. aid to Nagorno Karabakh, a program that has, with bipartisan backing, provided humanitarian aid to the citizens of the Nagorno- Karabakh Republic since 1998, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).

“We want to thank Senator Mark Kirk for his leadership in support of the Nagorno Karabakh aid program,” said ANCA Chairman, and Illinois resident, Ken Hachikian. “ This aid program meets pressing humanitarian needs and stands as a powerful statement of American solidarity with the democratic aspirations of the citizens of Artsakh. We were very pleased that Senator Kirk was able to work so successfully with Chairman Graham and his other colleagues on this vital matter.”

The report accompanying the Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill states that: “ The Committee recommends assistance for victims of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in amounts consistent with prior years, and for ongoing needs related to the conflict. The Committee urges a peaceful resolution of the conflict.” The legislators also approved report language stressing the importance of continuing and expanding demining efforts in the interior (non-border) regions of Artsakh, including in farmlands and residential areas previously considered off-limits. “The Committee recognizes that Nagorno-Karabakh has a per capita landmine accident rate among the highest in the world, and that mine clearance programs have been effective where implemented. The Committee is concerned with territorial restrictions placed on demining activities in the region and recommends continued funding for, and the geographic expansion of, such programs.”

The Appropriations Committee, in a departure from a recent trend away from setting country-specific aid levels, made specific recommendation of $20.06 million in economic aid to Armenia, $1.7 million in foreign military financing and $600,000 for International Military Education and Training (IMET). Azerbaijan and Georgia were allocated $8.778 million and $54 million in economic assistance, respectively. As in previous years, Senate Appropriators called for parity in military assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The report makes special mention that the Appropriations Committee is concerned about “ democracy, human rights, and corruption in Azerbaijan,” and calls for the State Department to submit a report detailing their efforts to seek the “release of prisoners of conscience in Azerbaijan, including Khadija Ismayilova, Anar Mammadli, Leyla and Arif Yunus, Rasul Jafarov, and Initigam Aliyev.” These concerns were echoed in a letter to Azerbaijani President Aliyev, spearheaded by Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and cosigned by over 15 Senate colleagues, calling for a “more tolerant environment for free media like RFE/RL and to immediately release those journalists, activists and civil society leaders currently detained.”

The Senate Appropriations Committee addressed the ongoing crisis in Syria with a $195 million allocation for in-country efforts and additional funds for ongoing refugee assistance in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The in-Syria assistance will also fund a “ new program to build the capacity of Syrian diaspora-led organizations and local Syrian civil society to address the immediate and long-term needs of the Syrian people inside Syria.” Armenia was not identified as a specific target for assistance to help transition those fleeing Syrian conflict, despite the fact that as many as 17,000 have fled to Syria to Armenia.

American socialist: Bernie Sanders’ long shot presidential campaign gains steam

July 9, 2015 By administrator

Hillary Clinton’s path to the nomination is uncontested no longer. Senator Bernie Sanders is drawing huge crowds and gaining in the polls. But can a democratic socialist win over America? Spencer Kimball reports.

It’s a dirty word in American politics. But Bernie Sanders embraces it.

“I wouldn’t deny it, not for one second, ” Sanders told the Washington Post when he was running for Vermont’s senate seat back in 2006. “I’m a democratic socialist.”

Sanders is not a conventional American politician. He’s the longest serving independent in the history of the US Congress. Though he’s long worked with Democrats, Sanders officially joined the party just this year to challenge Hillary Clinton for the presidential nomination.

Initially considered a fringe candidate, he’s defying expectations. In May, Sanders trailed Clinton by 45 percent in Iowa, a key early primary state. He’s reduced the margin to 19 percent. In New Hampshire, the Vermont senator is behind by only eight points.

Sanders drew a crowd of some 10,000 people in Madison, Wisconsin earlier this month. It was easily one of the largest rallies of the 2016 campaign to date – in either party. And he’s no one-hit wonder. On Monday, he drew more than 7,000 people in Portland, Maine.

“No one in the White House will have the power to take on Wall Street alone, corporate America alone, the billionaire classes alone,” Sanders told his supporters in Maine.

“The only way that change takes place is when we develop that strong grassroots movement, make that political revolution, stand together, and then we bring about change,” he said.

Scandinavian America

What would the US look like after Sanders’ political revolution? Think Scandinavia – Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

“In those countries health care is a right of all people, in those countries college education, graduate school is free, in those countries retirement benefits, child care are stronger than in the United States of America,” Sanders said in an interview on the Sunday morning talk show This Week.

“In those countries, by and large, the government works for ordinary people and the middle class rather than, as is the case right now in our country, for the billionaire class,” Sanders said.

It’s a message that appeals to progressives. But will the broader American public support a self-proclaimed democratic socialist who wants the nation to look more like northern Europe?

“This is a country that had a McCarthy era and a red scare,” John Nichols, Washington correspondent for “The Nation” magazine, told DW. “It had red baiting and attacks on socialists, that’s part of our media life even in recent years.”

Challenging economic orthodoxy

Nichols has covered Sanders for years and introduced the Vermont senator at his packed rally in Wisconsin. Though America is very different from Europe structurally and economically, Nichols believes the country is ripe for the populist anti-austerity message that has swept the Old Continent in recent months, and Sanders is trying to tap into that sentiment.

According to Gallup, two out of every three Americans are dissatisfied with the way wealth is distributed in the United States. It’s a bi-partisan issue. Three-quarters of Democrats and even 54 percent of Republicans are concerned about income inequality.

“There’s space in the 2016 race for messages that really do challenge the economic orthodoxies of the United States,” Nichols said.

Generational gap

While the older baby-boom generation is more invested in the status quo and came of age when the socialist label was taboo, Alexandra Reckendorf believes the younger millennial generation is more open to radical change.

“They’re a little bit more compassionate and empathetic on these issues of economic inequality,”

Reckendorf, an expert on US politics at Virginia Commonwealth University, told DW. “A lot of them either find themselves in that boat or are still young and idealistic enough to think that these changes could work.”

Young Americans have racked up $1.2 trillion (1.08 trillion euros) in student debt due to the rising cost of college tuition. Sanders has introduced legislation to make all four-year public colleges tuition free, and would finance it through a tax on Wall Street speculation.

Uphill battle

But according to Arthur Sanders (no relation), the broader public just is not there yet. The US politics expert points to Obamacare. Only 43 percent of the public has a favorable view of President Obama’s signature domestic accomplishment, according to a Kaiser Health Tracking poll. Senator Sanders, on the other hand, thinks Obama’s health care reforms don’t go far enough.

“If he’s going to argue as he did in the past for single-payer government health care, the public is not ready for that, they’re barely ready for Obamacare,” Arthur Sanders, a professor at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, told DW.

And so far, Senator Sanders also hasn’t made inroads with African American and Latino voters, who overwhelmingly support Hillary Clinton. Though he was involved in the civil rights movement in Chicago during the 1960s, he now represents an overwhelmingly white state in New England.

He’s also refused to accept corporate money out of principle. While Hillary Clinton has raised $45 million, Senator Sanders has pulled in $15 million from small donors. Regardless of whether or not he can secure the nomination, the democratic socialist senator from Vermont is already having a significant influence on the debate. And perhaps that’s his real objective.

“He’ll push Clinton to the left, he’ll push the debate to the left,” Arthur Sanders said. “He’ll never say that’s why he’s running, because you can’t say that’s why you’re running.”

Source: DW.com

Armenia The sale of the Vorotan hydroelectric complex will boost economic relations between Armenia and the US

June 9, 2015 By administrator

The Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan welcomed the agreement for the sale to the Americans in the amount of $ 250 million, the hydroelectric complex on the Vorotan River in the south, he said he would give new impetus to economic relations between the US and Armenia, while the energy company that has acquired the largest Armenian hydro complex finalizing Monday, June 8, the agreement that had been repeatedly postponed.

Based in New York, ContourGlobal Group became the first Western company to take a position in the Armenian energy sector, largely dominated by Russian groups. Under a contract signed in Yerevan by its director general, Joseph Brandt, ContourGlobal will pay the sum of $ 180 million to acquire Vorotan Hydro Cascade, a complex of several hydoélectriques units arranged on the tumultuous river Vorotan, and will invest $ 70 million to modernize infrastructure in the next 5 years. The acquisition, which was welcomed by the US government, was to be finalized in April 2014. Mr. Abrahamian had priority on its agenda shortly after his appointment as head of government, there are more than a year .

But he left dragging the file on the grounds that some of the elements of the procedure were contrary to Armenian legislation and should be renegotiated. This brake application had fueled speculation about possible pressure from Russia, which would have preferred a Russian company to take control of the complex Vorotan, despite repeated denials of the Armenian authorities. The Armenian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Yervand Zakharyan had announced in January that the Armenian government and ContourGlobal were about to seal the renegotiated agreement. Mr. Brandt had proceeded to the signature of this agreement with Mr. Zakharian after meeting M.Abrahamian. In addition to the contract for the sale of the Vorotan complex, the Armenian Prime Minister appointed the signing of the Agreement on Trade and Investment (TIFA), on the occasion of the visit of President Serzh Sargsyan in Washington in May, as another illustration of the strengthening of economic cooperation between Armenia and the United States.

Sarkisian had also announced the imminent finalization of the agreement on the Vorotan complex just hours after the signing ceremony of the agreement on the TIFA in Washington. “This will be the biggest investment ever made by the United States in Armenia”, had then congratulated the Armenian President. The “Vorotan Cascade consists of three hydroelectric power plants built in the Soviet era along Vorotan river that irrigates Siounik province, southeast of the country. The complex has a capacity of 405 megawatts, almost as much as the Medzamor nuclear power plant, whose end is regularly announced and postponed, and represents some 40% of Armenia’s electricity production.

Have Iraqi Kurds lied to U.S. Congress?

May 23, 2015 By administrator

By Michael Rubin | American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) under the auspices of President Masoud Barzani has been undertaking a full-court press of lobbying in Washington in order to get direct provision of weaponry. The KRG has hired at least four lobbying firms, spending several million dollars, and has leveraged several former officials and businessmen hopeful to have KRG contracts to act as unofficial and, frankly, illegal lobbyists with Congress.

The crux of the Kurdish lobbying campaign is to convince Congress that:

Kurdistan lacks weaponry to fight the Islamic State. Iraqi Kurdistan may seek more weaponry, but a greater problem is that political bickering within the KRG is preventing the weapons from getting where they need to be. After Ramadi’s fall, the largely Kurdish city of Kirkuk is next in the Islamic State’s crosshairs. And yet, Masoud Barzani and his sons Masrour Barzani (chief of the intelligence service) and Mansour Barzani (a general) refuse to deliver weaponry to peshmerga in Kirkuk. The problem? Kirkuk did not vote for Barzani’s political party.The Kurds have acquired weaponry directly from Iran and several European countries. In the idea that he lacks weaponry, Barzani has found an effective tale, and he’s milking it to great effect. Alas, rather than use the weapons against the Islamic State, he is hoarding them for use against his Kurdish political rivals.

Baghdad does not provide weaponry to Kurdistan. Along the lines of the above point, the Kurdish line that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s government is refusing to transfer weaponry to the Kurds is an outright lie. It’s simply false. Baghdad doesn’t itself have enough, but what it does get, it shares. Indeed, even the United States government recognizes that in some ways, the KRG is better armed than Baghdad. Check out this State Department press briefing from yesterday (emphasis mine):

“They [the Islamic State] wield these things [car and truck bombs] so they’re totally impervious to a lot of weapons systems that the Iraqis have to try to take them out. It was one of – I have to say it was one of Abadi’s main demands when he was here. He needed a weapon system to defeat suicide VBIEDs. And we made the decision immediately while he was here to get 1,000 AT4 anti-tank systems to Iraqi Security Forces. And those are going to be arriving fairly soon. And that’s specifically, as I understand it – I’ll defer to experts on this, but that’s specifically a kind of close-in weapon system for a VBIED that is coming in your direction. The Peshmerga have been using them to good effect and we’re getting 1,000 to the Iraqi Security Forces.”

So, it seems that despite the complaints of no weaponry, the Kurds have AT4 missiles but have not shared them with Baghdad to help Baghdad defeat the Islamic State. And they are not giving them to Kirkuk, and they refused to provide them to the Yezidis before the fall of Mount Sinjar.

Kurdistan is pro-American and a bulwark against Iran. Kurds like America, but the Kurdistan government is opportunistic; it is not ideologically or culturally attached to the United States. Any Congressman who believes lobbyists who use concern about Iran to push deeper relations with Iraqi Kurdistan should request an intelligence briefing. The Iranians have penetrated as deeply into the Kurdish leadership as they have in Baghdad. Qassem Soleimani, head of the Qods Force, the elite unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans, spends as much time as a guest of Masoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani’s Patriotic Union of Kurdistan as he did as a guest of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. There is no intelligence which the United States provides the KRG that does not find its way to Soleimani within hours. Indeed, Barzani has previously betrayed American intelligence and plans to the IRGC. And, while Kurdish leaders say the right things to American congressional delegations in Erbil or during visits to Washington, they say the complete opposite in Iran and to Iranian delegations. Remember, the Kurdish leaders spent their exile years in Iran; ties are deep, even if they are less ties of the heart and more the result of Iranian blackmail and extortion.

Kurdistan is democratic. Most Kurds seek democracy, but its leaders do not. Masoud Barzani is a dictator who refused to step down at the end of his term. Given a choice to be Nelson Mandela or Bashar al-Assad, Barzani chose Assad. The only difference between the two is that American officials still believe the spin of reform when it comes to Barzani. Indeed, Barzani has modeled his Kurdistan Democratic Party after Assad’s Baath Party minus the Arab nationalism; it’s just what he knows. Journalists who criticize Barzani end up in prison or worse. Lobbyists and KRG officials may like to suggest that “Kurdistan is a new Israel.” Like Israel, Kurdistan does respect freedom of religion. But the similarities end there: Kurdistan is not democratic; it does not respect rule-of-law; it restricts press freedom; American and European firms have learned it no more upholds contractual commitments than do China or Turkmenistan; and it does not protect its own people from ISIS.

Every Iraqi should receive weaponry to fight the Islamic State, but Kurdish lies have consequence. Not only does a credulous Congress accepting Kurdish spin fail to correct the real problems preventing Kurdish success against the Islamic State, but it backfires and helps the Iranians. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has bent over backwards to accommodate US interests and nudge Iraqis closer to Iran. Congressional willingness to supply Sunni militias directly with arms (instead of respect the fact that Sunnis are fighting alongside Shi’ites in the Iraqi Security Forces) or to treat Kurdistan as a separate country, whether or not it deserves to be, have only strengthened the hand of the most radical pro-Iranian elements in Baghdad who rightly say that Abadi put his trust in the Americans, and the Congress responded to his outreach by undercutting Iraq. It’s time Congress has a real conversation about Iraq strategy, how best to help Kurdistan, and how to defeat the Islamic State. It should not allow itself to be duped by a family with a flag.

Michael Rubin is a former Pentagon official whose major research areas are the Middle East, Turkey, Iran and diplomacy. Rubin instructs senior military officers deploying to the Middle East and Afghanistan on regional politics, and teaches classes regarding Iran, terrorism, and Arab politics on board deploying U.S. aircraft carriers. Rubin has lived in post-revolution Iran, Yemen, both pre- and post-war Iraq, and spent time with the Taliban before 9/11. His newest book, Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes examines a half century of U.S. diplomacy with rogue regimes and terrorist groups.

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