Blog: Notebook from Senator Collins

Statement

My second "bilat," or one-one-one meeting, was with Barham Salih, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Northern Iraq. Dr. Barham Salih was arrested in 1979 by Saddam's regime on charges of involvement in the Kurdish national movement and spent 43 days in detention in a prison in Kirkuk where he was tortured. He left Iraq for the United Kingdom because of continuous persecution. He is an economist by profession, speaks impeccable English, and is very bright and charming.

Since, unlike other parts of Iraq, the Kurds are very pro-American, I was interested in his assessment of the President's decision to withdraw all American troops. He was generally positive as long as it does not lead to Americans leaving the country altogether. Kurdistan needs American investment in its oil sector and is still battling the central government in Baghdad over the allocation of oil revenues and the disputed city of Kirkuk.

I asked the Prime Minister about the Turks' recent significant incursions into Iraq to confront members of the outlawed PKK -- a party of Kurdish separatists based in Turkey but often operating out of the mountains in northern Iraq. Dr. Barham denounced the violent tactics of the PKK while emphatically stating that the Turks must give more recognition to its Kurdish population.

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