Dear Anne Applebaum

Anne-

I just finished reading your op-ed "The Consequences of Kosovo" and was struck by the similarities between the ethno-political issues justifying the fundamental underpinning of support for Kosovo's independence and the quagmire in Iraq. Instead of continuing its attempt to impose unwarranted and often largely abstract notions of federalism upon a religiously and ethically diverse civilization, why can't the Bush White House and State simply relent to these divisions (as they have in supporting Kosovo's independence) and allow for the partition of Iraq? In the case of Kurdistan, the similarities are myriad: Saddam, like Milosevic, persecuted the Kurds in the al-Anfal campaign and the United States (including the "coalition of the willing") moved in to protect the Kurds after a larger regional conflict, Gulf War I (like the Kosovo campaign). Now that Saddam has so graciously passed on (Milosevic suffered an arguably more civil fate), is it not time to take the steps to free the Kurdish people?

The knee-jerk reaction to arguments for Kurdish independence is a citation of the widely accepted wisdom that political resistance from Turkey inhibits freeing Kurdistan from Iraq. History indicates that the Iraqi Kurds (indeed Kurds in general) enjoyed a relatively autocratic existence until they were pressed into service as Iraqi citizens following World War II. Following the toppling of Saddam, the Kurds have again enjoyed that autonomy in the reorganized Iraq. Moreover, the Kurds are actively preparing for independence by striking their own oil exploration agreements with foreign corporations, resisting the Maliki government at every turn and preparing for an imminent showdown with Sunni Arabs for control of oil-rich Kirkuk. Meanwhile, the Turks have made numerous incursions into the mountainous regions of northern Iraqi Kurdistan and the consequences have, quite counter-intuitively, resulted in clear evidence that Turkey and Kurdistan can co-exist, at least with U.S. supervision.

In a final return to the Kosovo analogy, one need no longer wonder why history will judge the Bush administration as an abysmal failure as it becomes clear that President Bush, addressing two vastly similar questions of independence, has, through recognizing Kosovo's independence, stuck a metaphorical thumb in the eye an emerging Russian state while at the same time refusing to recognize the rational, ever-growing national spirit of the Kurds in light of concern for causing a habitually overstated discomfort to U.S.-Turkish relations.

I'd be interested to read your thoughts on the above. Thanks for your thought-provoking column.

Best regards-

R.W. Twain