Montagnards Forgotten - Kurds Next?

In the final days of the Vietnam War in 1975 and immediately following, 1,000,000 Vietnamese refugees were evacuated from Vietnam and resettled in the United States.

And in keeping with a 1960's promise, 150,000 Hmong tribesmen of the US "Secret Army" in Laos were evacuated to our country in 1975.

Yet only 3,000 Montagnards, our most distinguished and loyal ally, have reached the U.S.

The Forgotten Army
The Forgotten Army Musters
The Exodus
The 1986 Group
The 1992 Group
US Montagnards

Relentless Punishment
Cultural Leveling


The promised logistical lifeline for the Montagnard guerrilla army was never implemented. Following SVN's surrender, we deserted our most dedicated ally of the Vietnam War.

Some Google links for additional references

Sad but true.



And now I have to wonder if this same scenareo is beginning to play out again, but now in Iraq. More and more noise about the US "pulling-out", and I am left to wonder what will happen to the Kurds.

Are their similar coorolations? What happens to the pro-American Iraqi's after the US forces begin reductions or pull-out completely? Does anybody even remember the fabled Montagnards and how much they are appreciated for their efforts? If the US deserted the Montagnards in Vietnam, then I cant see any reason why the Kurds will suffer any less after Iraq becomes self-directed than when Saddam was in power.

A 1991 Kurdish Betrayal Redux?

The failure to visit Iraqi Kurdistan, or to consult with its democratically elected president and prime minister, or simply to see the evidence of a peaceful, thriving economy, is no oversight. The Iraq Study Group has considerable policy experience and its expert advisory groups, if expert they truly are, must know about the advances made by the Iraqi Kurds. The most casual follower of the news knows that Iraqi Kurds are massively pro-American and that Iraqi Kurdistan is the one part of Iraq where people complain that they do not see Americans enough.

No, the Iraq Study Group has shunned America's closest allies in Iraq, the Kurds, out of ideological prejudice. It's not just that the pro-American Kurds make it difficult to argue that Iraqis all hate Americans, thereby obliging troop withdrawals. The Kurds make 'realists' and Sunni Arab advocates nervous; the evidence of Kurdish suffering is irrefutable and it is hard for the United States to walk away from the victims of genocide.

The Kurds also attest to the 'realist' betrayal of Iraq in 1991. As Coalition Forces were breaking the back of Saddam's army from the air, President George HW Bush's public suggestion to Iraqis, "to take matters into their own hands and force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside," encouraged Kurdish and Shiite uprising against the Baathist regime. George H.W. Bush and Baker provided no support and tens of thousands of Shi'a and Kurdish Iraqis were slaughtered in reprisal once the regime regrouped.

The last truly 'realist' administration in United States history only intervened after considerable public pressure following shocking CNN images of Kurdish refugees, and after Turkey resisted accepting thousands of refugees.

High Expectations of Independence
For Many Kurds in Iraqi North, Autonomy Is Just a Means to an End

With all the changes afoot in Iraq, the Kurdish commander said, he expected Kurdish independence to be coming soon.

"If not today, then tomorrow," Tahir said, smiling. "If not tomorrow, the day after."

Kurdish leader blasts Iraq group's report

The president of the Kurdistan region of Iraq issued a stinging rejection of the Iraq Study Group's recommendations, saying Kurds "are in no way abiding by this report."

President Massoud Barzani said Thursday that the report contradicts assurances given to Kurdish officials by study group co-chair James Baker before the report's release.

Baker "assured us that the special status of Kurdistan was taken into account in the report," Barzani said in a written statement issued late Thursday.

Iraqi Kurdistan officials had "conveyed in a letter the Kurdish point of view," he said. "But the group did not attach any importance to the letter, and it seemed as if they had not read it at all."

Now I would be very surprised if it wasnt read at all, but, it wouldnt surprise me if it was set aside so the report would come out first. It is easier to put off what you dont want to deal with today, isnt it.




[edit on 10-12-2006 by smirkley]

The Kurds are well dug in right now, they run their own security and have a thriving economy compared to the rest of Iraq. Honestly, if the Kurds offficially united in force they could take the northern oil fields and split from the rest of Iraq. They are not populated by Sunnis and Shiia, they don't suffer terrorism and right now recieve little American military assistance. If the US pulls out and the Kurds use some of the resources and power they have gathered I would be more affraid of Iran or Turkey attacking them, both states will never recognize a Kurdistan.

Of course we're going to abandon the kurds. If we leave iraq, we're abandoning them. THe only way to back them would be to give heavy artillery and arms to the kurd militias, which won't fly with the American public, it'll be seen as interfering with a civil war.

So, basically, we're going to hang them out to dry. They're going to be attacked, and in their counterresponse, they're going to ethnically cleanse Kirkuk of the sunni Arabs that Hussein moved in there.

You make a great point RP.

What if the Kurds are being used for 'example' for the other factions of Iraqi's, to demonstrate that self-suffeciency means less intrusions by the outside forces and more self-direction and determination.

If the US forces appear to be 'ignoring' probably the most successful Iraqi in that country, it may provide a great example for the other not yet stabilized and not yet independant factions.

My only concern would be that the Kurds would not be enough of an advisarial force in the event of opposion by it's neigbors.


edit-typo

[edit on 10-12-2006 by smirkley]

I think that all the iraqi groups already know that they've got to be self-sufficient in order to survive. They have to be forceable enough to be able to kill anyone that is a threat around them. Thats what they're all doing. The kurds have their peshmerga. The sunnis have their death squads. And the shia have their jihadis.