American Mesopotamian Organization: US Government Must Not Directly Arm Iraqi Kurds and Sunni Arab Militias with Heavy Weapons

Los Angeles, CA, May 06, 2015 --(PR.com)-- David William Lazar, Chairman of the American Mesopotamian Organization, released a statement yesterday concerning the visit of Masoud Barazani, President of the Kurdish Regional government of Iraq, for a week-long lobbying session with the Obama administration and members of Congress.

“Mr. Barazani,” noted Mr. Lazar, “has come to the United States seeking direct military aid for the Kurdish militia known as the Peshmerga. Members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, have already introduced legislation calling for direct military and financial aid to the Kurdish Regional Government and the Sunni Arab tribes in their fight against the terrorist group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.”

“While we applaud all military efforts aimed at ridding humanity of the ISIS barbarians,” Mr. Lazar continued, “we must remind members of Congress that Iraq is a sovereign state, one that the world and the United States must respect, working always to preserve its unity.”

“If the United States, or any other nation,” said Mr. Lazar, “circumvents the national government of Baghdad by directly supplying Sunni tribesmen or the Kurdish Peshmerga with heavy weapons, this will be a blatant interference in the affairs of the sovereign government of Iraq and an incomprehensible insult to its citizens and their democratically elected government.”

“The Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) that Mr. Masoud Barazani leads,” Mr. Lazar asserted, “stands accused of multiple violations of human rights and illegal actions against the peoples of Northern Iraq, especially in the Nineveh Plain and the Sinjar Regions. Among the many, well documented abuse of power by the Barazani government, the following stand out as particularly grievous:

•The calculated and targeted assassinations of political rivals and members of other parties, notably individuals that belong to Assyrian political parties.

•The illegal seizure of Assyrian and Yezidi land, especially in the Nohadra (Duhok) province, the Arbil province and in the Assyrian city of Ankawa.

•On-going political and social discrimination against the Assyrian and Yezidi people, including the refusal to allow Assyrians and Yezidis to leave Arbil with proper credentials as full citizens or Iraq.

•The domination of business and civic networks in Northern Iraq, with the monopolization of revenue and resources by members of the Barazani tribe.

•The on-going interference in Assyrian and Yezidi internal affairs by division and the creation of pseudo-organizations loyal to the Barazani family.

•Open opposition to the creation of the Nineveh Plain Province, which was called for by the Iraqi Council of Ministers in January 2014.

And the list could well go on and on."

Mr. Lazar further stated that there is no doubt that “arming Mr. Barazani’s government and militia with heavy weapons is a violation of the rights of the sovereign government of Iraq and a clear and present danger to the stability of the nation of Iraq. Once armed with heavy weaponry, Mr, Barazani’s clan will use those weapons against Iraqi national forces as well as the Assyrian and Yezidi people of the Nineveh Plain and Sinjar regions.”

Finally, Mr. Lazar concluded by stating, “Consequently, while the American Mesopotamian Organization supports the speedy and decisive defeat of the so-called Islamic State, arming Mr. Barazani’s Peshmerga will plunge Iraq backwards into the days of Saddam Hussein's Baathist, clannish reign of terror.”

American Mesopotamian Organization is a grassroots political organization founded to influence and guide on matters of interest to the Assyrian American community and to help elect candidates, regardless of their political party affiliation to all levels of government (local, state and Federal) that will support the Assyrian nation in its struggle to attain its cultural and political rights on its ancestral lands.