by mike Evans
The word in the United States is to redefine the war goals in Iraq. Yet it is clear that the United States has been 100 percent successful in the Kurdish region, which represents millions of people. I have proposed to the Iraqi Kurdish leaders that I would work with them to host an Iraq Study Group in the United States based on moral clarity, as opposed to an “appeasement study group.”
The war in Iraq can be won; one only needs to go to Kurdistan to see one of the greatest success stories. Military moms and dads need to go to Kurdistan. When they do, they will be treated as heroes and will know that the sacrifice was not in vain. The Kurdish people run to kiss them and honor them in ways beyond America’s ability to imagine. They love the families because they, too, have lost loved ones. They are filled with amazing compassion and gratitude.
The U.S. National Intelligence Agency declassified a report suggesting that President Bush’s new strategy for controlling violence must show progress within twelve to eighteen months or risk further deterioration. Show progress? What a sick joke. You have one-fourth of Iraq living in stability; not one U.S. soldier has been killed there, ever. There has not been a terror attack in eighteen months. If that is not progress, what is?
Robert Gates, U.S. secretary of defense, says that the United States is planning to stop Iran from contributing to the violence in Iraq. If so, the border with Iran must be closed, the embassy and consulates must be closed, and the Iraqis that have proven their allegiance—meaning, the Kurds—must be given the tools to do the job. It is not about securing Baghdad; it is about isolating Iran. That will not happen unless the push is from the north to the south, with the Iraqi Kurds doing the pushing. The Turkish army has already pushed its way into Southern Kurdistan. If the United States does not move into the area quickly, the Turks and the Iranians will. The war must be fought north to south with allies, not south to north with enemies.
Over and over, I have been told that Iraqi ministries in Baghdad are helping the terrorists. The Shiites and Sunnis will not end their conflict; it is being fueled and fed by Arab countries. The only hope to save Iraq is by enlisting the Iraqi Kurds.
Winning the war in Iraq will not happen by fighting in central or southern Iraq. America is not going to win over corrupt theocracies by distorting their reality. Getting in bed with the enemy is not the solution; it is the problem.
It is so obvious to me that Iraq is headed over the cliff of an Islamic revolution that is being birthed between the Shiites and Sunnis.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2007
My first meeting today was in the State House with the minister of state, Karim Sinjari, at 9:00 a.m. I had two more high-level intelligence meetings with Iraqi diplomatic leaders. I cannot attribute any quotes from them for security reasons. I do not want an Iranian agent to put a bullet in their heads.
Karim is a very humble man; we sipped tea as he told me the story of three attempts on his life—the first two by terrorists and a third by Saddam, who poisoned him. He almost died. He repeated a story I had been told earlier:
“Saddam disappeared 191,000 men between the ages of ten and sixty years so the women could not remarry. They would have no proof that their husbands were dead.”
Saddam used the Quran to back his claim that he had permission to kill the enemy and confiscate everything they owned. He secured a fat-wah, a legal decree from an imam to give the legal, theocratic right to wipe out the Kurds.
I have been told that Iranian agents by the tens of thousands are everywhere in Iraq and that Iranian proxies number in the hundreds of thousands. I can honestly say I really don’t like that, knowing I speak out strongly against Iran on network shows and that I wrote Showdown With Nuclear Iran. I feel a bit like a canary in a mine shaft. I am so thankful for my faith; it strengthens me in the darkness.
Karim told me that the biggest problem they have is the influx of Iranian agents into the whole of Iraq. Iran is working with Syria, a Sunni state, to kill Iraqis, and with the Shiites to pit one group against the other.
According to Karim, Paul Bremer (head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq) opened the borders, forcing the removal of all security checkpoints in Iraq. Bremer was warned that this would create terror, but he wanted to show the world he was tolerant of everyone. Iran is now running one of the biggest employment services in all of Iraq. For a few dollars, they put unemployed Iraqis on the terror payroll. It is also one of the biggest intelligence agencies operating through the Iraqi government. It makes no difference if you wear a police or military uniform; the vetting process does not work, and the fruit is that secrets are being shared with Iran, which now is aware of every move.
Said Karim, “Your army is in a holy war with jihadists worldwide. Thousands of Iraqi fanatics lived in Iran and returned home as agents with the full support of Iran. Remember, the Iranian revolution was planned in al Najaf by Ayatollah Khomeini. Al Najaf knows well how to plan Islamic revolutions. The only reason they are not attacking you in America is because you invited them to attack you in Iraq.”
I think about the words of Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, saying that the United States should not use Iraq for a confrontation with Iran. This is another sick joke. Al Qaeda has between four thousand and five thousand terrorists in Iraq. If we leave, the danger will be a thousand times greater—but in the United States, not in Iraq. The terrorists will take the battle to the streets of America. The only restraining factor is the U.S. troops. We keep the terrorists occupied by fighting them in Iraq. I was told that if we leave Iraq, all of the Arab countries will run away from the experiment in democracy and that the entire region will explode.
Karim further opined, “Saudi Arabia is so convinced that Iran is coming, they are building a four-hundred-mile wall at the cost of thirteen billion dollars to keep them out. Saudi is panicking because 50 percent of their population is Shiite and the oil region is in the Shiite area of Saudi. They know a nuclear Iran could mean their end. They pray that the U.S. or Israel will stop them.”
I have been told that over five hundred thousand Shiite “missionaries” are gathered in Saudi Arabia with one goal: converting Sunnis.
This conversation with Karim was taped as one of the last segments of the prime-time special based on this book. Later on, at the studios of the state television station, our team (I’m traveling with a U.S. military officer, security, and a camera crew) was given classified footage never shown on U.S. television or anywhere else. I saw images of Saddam’s flag being planted in each village after the gas canisters were dropped. At first, gas that stayed low to the ground was used. When the people fled to the mountains, canisters containing poison gas that rose in the air was dropped in order to kill those fleeing. Later, I was shown footage of Saddam’s death squads exterminating multitudes, including Islamic Fascists beheading Americans. It was the most unspeakably horrific sight I have ever seen.
It was a shock to see the face of Ali Hassan al-Majid on Iraqi television. He was standing trial for genocidal crimes against humanity. “I am not apologizing,” he said. “I did not make mistakes. I am the one who gave the orders to the army to use WMDs against one hundred thousand Iraqi Kurds.”
We were cleared by the government to see and have access to the footage. Some of it will be incorporated into the television special The Final Move Beyond Iraq.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2007
At 5:30 a.m., we began the drive northeastward toward Iran and the torture chamber of Chemical Ali. The road was dangerous. An Iranian terror organization inhabits that mountainous region; I had been up most of the night to do some serious praying for safety.
Kurdistan encompasses over one-third of the populated area of Iraq. It has the largest oil field in the world, Kirkuk. It reaches from Khanaqin in the east and stretches along the Iranian border to Sinjar in the west, taking in the Valley of Nineveh. Our first destination was Sulaymaniyah. I learned that the Iranians are smuggling heroin, opium, and hashish into Iraq. The border is open for more t
han four hundred miles and is controlled by the Mahdi army and the Bader Brigade, both pro-Iranian Shiite organizations.
Our first meeting in Sulaymaniyah was with Gen. Sheikh Ja’affra, a small man with a large black mustache who happens to be the minister of Peshmerga affairs. (Peshmerga are armed Kurdish fighters.) He was so thankful to the Americans for liberating his people. “If you withdraw now,” he said, “you can be sure the terrorists will come to America. It’s quite simple; you asked them to fight you in Iraq, and they did. If you leave, they will consider that you have been defeated and will take the fight to you.
“The Mahdi army is trained in Iran and is modeled after Hezbollah. Their terror equipment comes from Iran. And yes, it was responsible for the attack in al Najaf as well as all the attacks in the south. The suicide bombers are coming from Al Qaeda camps in Iraq and are being replenished from Afghanistan. They are moving Afghan drugs into Lebanon to sell throughout Europe. Iran is behind all the attacks in Iraq in one way or another.”
He continued, “To win the war, the borders must be closed and monitored by troops that are not loyal to Iran—troops that can be monitored. Most of Iraq is controlled by the Shiites, and for that to change, a new Iraq must be built from Kurdistan southward. Our region is a model of democracy and stability. It is not necessary for U.S. troops to die here; we can stop the terror in these cities if you will let us. So far, your government has said, ‘No.’”
Over lunch we met with Vice President Kosrat Rasul Ali. He invited me to come back and meet with him and President Barzani and Abdul Abdulbari Alzebari, a member of the Iraqi Congress. Mr. Ali said to me, “We have two hundred thousand soldiers; you have three hundred thousand. You don’t need military in harm’s way; work with us, and we will control all of the ground in Iraq. If you will let us, we will shut down Iran. Now 60 percent of Iraq is controlled by Iran; we will see that the number is 0 percent.”
Following lunch, we visited the Red House, Saddam Hussein’s headquarters in Sulaymaniyah, and the site of his torture chambers. A precious man, Kiowa, took us to the torture chambers where he was victimized. He was hanged from meat hooks from his chest while his arms were tied behind his back. At the same time, electrical shocks were applied to his body parts. I could see the terrible pain in his eyes as he repeated his story.
I was stunned to learn that Iranians are buying property in Iraq and pouring a fortune into the fundamentalist mosques. Most who escaped to Iran during Saddam’s regime are back in Iraq and strongly support Iran. They have made trade agreements and are pouring money into Iraq. There is an embassy in Baghdad and consulates in almost every region. Tourism agreements allow millions of pilgrims to visit Karbala and al Najaf. This is a boon for terrorists who enter the country, along with the pilgrims.
Iran’s goal of achieving instability in Iraq is succeeding. The Holy Grail of understanding is that the U.S. battle in Iraq is between stupidity and stability. America’s liberal, antiwar Left is giving aid and comfort to the enemy. The cries of “We’re losing the war; they’re winning” emboldens an enemy that has a 9/11 ideology. As I looked at footage of terrorist attacks on U.S. troops, I became angry. To think that 9/11 terrorists have come to Iraq from around the world to fight us, while the liberals in the United States scream, “Get out!” This is insane. How can you make Iraq the central front on the war on terrorism and not have a mess on your hands?
To have uncapped the genie of Shiite fundamentalism in Iraq with a Shiite superstate next door was a prescription for disaster. One cannot find one Arab out of one thousand that does not believe the United States invaded Iraq over oil. To try to convince them otherwise is an exercise in futility.
While we outwardly threaten Iran for their interference in Iraq, we close our eyes to the fact that there are Iranian agents behind virtually every rock. The embassy and consulates of this member of the axis of evil are nothing more than war rooms to fund and plan the battles against U.S. troops.
I am certain that if the United States provided the tools for the Iraqi Kurds to fight the war and simply controlled the skies and provided backup, U.S. deaths would drop and victory would come in time. The liberal media, however, will have to be put into press pools and monitored; they are doing more to undermine a victory in Iraq than the enemy.
“Ali Baghdad” and his forty thieves that pillaged the banks in Iraq are out of their cage like a wild bird. They have migrated to the Middle East, their souls filled with hatred and their pockets filled with U.S. dollars. If an Iranian-style Islamic revolution happens in Iraq, the fire could jump across the Middle East.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2007
While waiting in the airport this morning for our flight out of Iraq, I have just watched a news report about a Black Hawk helicopter that was shot down in al Najaf last Sunday, the fourth in two weeks. Intelligence officers told me that the helicopter attacks are carried out with Iranian missiles. Nine more U.S. soldiers have been killed just in the past forty-eight hours.
I was just told by three different airport agents that our flight will not leave for Jordan this morning. Why? There is no jet fuel. Iranian proxies are blowing up the oil trucks as they head toward Kurdistan, and the Turks will not allow oil to be transported into Iraq.
Without morality, democracy is one of the worst forms of government. The world found it to be so during the French Revolution and during Hitler’s day. No power on earth can ignore the Kurdish dilemma indefinitely. Thirty million living Kurds and the blood of a multitude of the dead cry out for justice.
Democracy literally means “rule by the people.” The only people group supporting democracy is the Iraqi Kurdish people. It’s a fantastic success. Everything President Bush wanted to see in Iraq is present in Kurdistan. Erbil is the fourth largest city in Iraq, with Baghdad first, Kirkuk second, and Mosul third.
The headlines today are gut-wrenching. A suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with explosives killed 135 in Iraq’s deadliest bombing since 2003. Shiite Prime Minister al-Maliki blamed Saddam Hussein supporters. An Iraq-born Israeli official tells me that it was Sunni Al Qaeda members. The problem lies with al-Maliki and his political ally, Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi army of over sixty thousand terrorists.
I am so glad I came to Iraq, and especially Kurdistan, in order to tell the world the story of democracy at work in at least a region of Iraq.
Maybe President Bush is right about fighting the global war from Iraq. If he does that, he must surely fight the war with America’s allies—meaning, the 200,000-strong Kurdish army, not with those who would be enemies of America. The words of Christopher Columbus may very well describe the President’s war on terror with Iraq as the central front:
All who heard of my project rejected it with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit because he comforted me with rays of marvelous inspiration from the Holy Scriptures.1
Appendix A
IRANIAN PRESIDENT DR. MAHMOUD
AHMADINEJAD’S LETTER TO
U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
May 9, 2006
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful,
Mr George Bush,
President of the United States of America,
For sometime now I have been thinking, how one can justify the undeniable contradictions that exist in the international arena—which are being constantly debated, especially in political forums and amongst university students. Many questions remain unanswered. These have prompted me to discuss some of the contradictions and questions, in the hope that it might bring about an opportunity to redress them.
Can one be a follower of Jesus Christ (PBUH) [Peace Be Upon Him], the great Messenger of God, feel obliged to respect human rights, present liberalism as a civilization model, announce one’s opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons and WMDs, make “War on Terror” his slogan, and finally, work towards the establishment of a unified international community—a community which Christ and the vir
tuous of the Earth will one day govern, but at the same time, have countries attacked. The lives, reputations and possessions of people destroyed and on the slight chance of the presence of a few criminals in a village, city, or convoy for example, the entire village, city or convoy (are) set ablaze.
Or because of the possibility of the existence of WMDs in one country, it is occupied, around one hundred thousand people killed, its water sources, agriculture and industry destroyed, close to 180,000 foreign troops put on the ground, sanctity of private homes of citizens broken, and the country pushed back perhaps 50 years. At what price? Hundreds of billions of dollars spent from the treasury of one country and certain other countries and tens of thousands of young men and women—as occupation troops—put in harms way, taken away from family and loved ones, their hands stained with the blood of others, subjected to so much psychological pressure that everyday some commit suicide and those returning home suffer depression, become sickly and grapple with all sorts of ailments; while some are killed and their bodies handed to their families.
On the pretext of the existence of WMDs, this great tragedy came to engulf both the peoples of the occupied and the occupying country. Later it was revealed that no WMDs existed to begin with.
Of course Saddam was a murderous dictator. But the war was not waged to topple him, the announced goal of the war was to find and destroy weapons of mass destruction. He was toppled along the way towards another goal; nevertheless the people of the region are happy about it. I point out that throughout the many years of the imposed war on Iran Saddam was supported by the West.
