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By Mina Haider:
When the indigenous Kurds and Arabs demand an extension of the US presence in Iraq, it’s not only because they know better than anyone that Iraq is held together with chicken wire and chewing gum and unable to protect its own sovereignty, but also because they know that Iraq is run by a bunch of corrupt politicians who couldn’t care less what happens to its citizens, inside and outside the country, so long as their own interests are protected.
Take the example of those poor Iraqi students who are studying in Middle Eastern and North African countries that have caught revolutionary fever: they have been suffering almost more than they have suffered in Iraq. Yet neither the central government nor the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have acted like responsible authorities by evacuating them and finding them alternative institutions to continue their education.
Despite this negligence, many of these students have managed to return home – some are in their second, third or fourth year. While the upcoming term is about to start again, these students – who are the most valuable assets to a nation in critical need of rebuilding – are still wondering whether they are going lose a entire year of their studies.
The KRG and Iraqi ministers for higher education are both burying their heads in the sand, while their superiors are continually praising the Assad regime – to please their masters, the Iranian clergy. They have so far failed to make appropriate decisions by either offering places at local universities or alternatives elsewhere.
Another example is that since 16 July more than 250 Kurdish families have been forced to leave their homes as the result of shelling by the Islamic regime: the Kurdish and Iraqi leaders are lacking leadership by not taking a firm stand against this violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.
Mina Haider is a Kurdish student studying in Syria.
