SULAIMANI, Kurdistan Region – At the Sulaimani Forum when US columnist Thomas Friedman made a comparison between the Islamic State (ISIS) and presidential candidate Donald Trump – to illustrate how propaganda can successfully energize large crowds -- he connected two main subjects that had been engaging many of guests and participants at the annual meeting in the Kurdish city.
“They both validate grievances,” Friedman said about the two, speaking to a packed hall at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS), which organised and hosted the two-day conference on “ISIS and beyond.”
Earlier, panelists had already decided that the next American president will be Hillary Clinton, because Trump is “too racist and too authoritarian.”
Friedman was the guest of honor at the conference and featured prominently in a live TV-interview conducted by AUIS chairman and politician Barham Salih during dinner at the Shari Jwan hotel, the most prominent hotel in Sulaimani, Kurdistan’s second city.
There, he pointed out how the world is changing ever faster, mainly as a result of the dominance of The Internet in all aspects of life, comparing this rapid change to a hurricane.
“You can dance in a hurricane when you stand in the eye,” he told his audience, “but then you need an anchor of good governance and good communities” -- then wishing his “good friend Barham Salih good luck in building an eye to the hurricane.”
His words seemed not only appropriate when the electricity in the five-star hotel failed, but also when during the conference both Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani and Iraq’s Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi pointed to the lack of modern technology inside their governments as the cause of many problems.
The first did so in relation to the fact that the payment of Kurdish government employees is still handled manually, taking weeks to administer and leading some people to get double or triple salaries, and some being paid who are not even working.
Talabani also complained that his government is handing out different and often confusing statistics: “We are confusing ourselves and our people, let’s work professionally.”
Abdel Mahdi pointed out that most government bookkeeping and transactions are still done by pen and paper while most payments go out in cash, which “creates an atmosphere for corruption.”
The bigwigs at the conference faced many straightforward questions, such as one by Sheikh Abdullah, a tribal chief from Mosul who stood up in full Arabic attire and said that corruption in the military and administration was the main reason that ISIS gained a foothold in his city and captured it in June 2014.
The Sheikh now lives in a tent in the Kurdistan Region and the displacement and harsh camp life conveyed to the audience the very topic they had gathered over: the consequences of the ISIS presence and what needs to be done once the group has been evicted from Iraq.
“I hope to go back home but I am afraid of revenge. Many do not know if they will ever go back, because their houses and lives have been destroyed.”
Yet, politicians on the Forum hardly came up with possible policies for the period immediately after ISIS, even though many warned of the danger that “another ISIS” will appear if the problems that led to its rise are not properly addressed.
All agreed that dialogue, cooperation and unity were needed. “We have a chance to step into a better future. We need to take historical steps to overcome ISIS forever,” Salih said. “We need to eliminate terror instead of waging internal conflicts.”
Calling for “serious reconciliation,” he pointed to the “common interest of overcoming and rerouting terrorism.”
His call for unity could not prevent a verbal fight between politicians on inter-Kurdish and Erbil-Baghdad disputes. But in a way that was the intention of the Forum, bringing opposing politicians under one room to talk to each other face-to-face, away from closed meetings and TV cameras.
The handshakes and smiles did not suppress the criticism among some members of the audience that there were only five women among the 35 speakers.
One thing, however, united everyone and that was the call against the recurrence of any chemical gas attack such as the one that happened in Halabja in 1988 and on whose anniversary the Forum was organized.
The story of Zmnako Ali, who was a baby during the disaster that killed 5,000 people and who was reunited with his family 20 years later, touched all.
The topic of the prevention of future chemical attacks was even more pressing as ISIS has been using the deadly poison over the last two years, most recently against the Turkmen town of Taza near Kirkuk, where it killed a three-year-old-girl.
“They both validate grievances,” Friedman said about the two, speaking to a packed hall at the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS), which organised and hosted the two-day conference on “ISIS and beyond.”
Earlier, panelists had already decided that the next American president will be Hillary Clinton, because Trump is “too racist and too authoritarian.”
Friedman was the guest of honor at the conference and featured prominently in a live TV-interview conducted by AUIS chairman and politician Barham Salih during dinner at the Shari Jwan hotel, the most prominent hotel in Sulaimani, Kurdistan’s second city.
There, he pointed out how the world is changing ever faster, mainly as a result of the dominance of The Internet in all aspects of life, comparing this rapid change to a hurricane.
“You can dance in a hurricane when you stand in the eye,” he told his audience, “but then you need an anchor of good governance and good communities” -- then wishing his “good friend Barham Salih good luck in building an eye to the hurricane.”
His words seemed not only appropriate when the electricity in the five-star hotel failed, but also when during the conference both Kurdish Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani and Iraq’s Oil Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi pointed to the lack of modern technology inside their governments as the cause of many problems.
The first did so in relation to the fact that the payment of Kurdish government employees is still handled manually, taking weeks to administer and leading some people to get double or triple salaries, and some being paid who are not even working.
Talabani also complained that his government is handing out different and often confusing statistics: “We are confusing ourselves and our people, let’s work professionally.”
Abdel Mahdi pointed out that most government bookkeeping and transactions are still done by pen and paper while most payments go out in cash, which “creates an atmosphere for corruption.”
The bigwigs at the conference faced many straightforward questions, such as one by Sheikh Abdullah, a tribal chief from Mosul who stood up in full Arabic attire and said that corruption in the military and administration was the main reason that ISIS gained a foothold in his city and captured it in June 2014.
The Sheikh now lives in a tent in the Kurdistan Region and the displacement and harsh camp life conveyed to the audience the very topic they had gathered over: the consequences of the ISIS presence and what needs to be done once the group has been evicted from Iraq.
“I hope to go back home but I am afraid of revenge. Many do not know if they will ever go back, because their houses and lives have been destroyed.”
Yet, politicians on the Forum hardly came up with possible policies for the period immediately after ISIS, even though many warned of the danger that “another ISIS” will appear if the problems that led to its rise are not properly addressed.
All agreed that dialogue, cooperation and unity were needed. “We have a chance to step into a better future. We need to take historical steps to overcome ISIS forever,” Salih said. “We need to eliminate terror instead of waging internal conflicts.”
Calling for “serious reconciliation,” he pointed to the “common interest of overcoming and rerouting terrorism.”
His call for unity could not prevent a verbal fight between politicians on inter-Kurdish and Erbil-Baghdad disputes. But in a way that was the intention of the Forum, bringing opposing politicians under one room to talk to each other face-to-face, away from closed meetings and TV cameras.
The handshakes and smiles did not suppress the criticism among some members of the audience that there were only five women among the 35 speakers.
One thing, however, united everyone and that was the call against the recurrence of any chemical gas attack such as the one that happened in Halabja in 1988 and on whose anniversary the Forum was organized.
The story of Zmnako Ali, who was a baby during the disaster that killed 5,000 people and who was reunited with his family 20 years later, touched all.
The topic of the prevention of future chemical attacks was even more pressing as ISIS has been using the deadly poison over the last two years, most recently against the Turkmen town of Taza near Kirkuk, where it killed a three-year-old-girl.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment