International points of view and the ISG Report

Time to go outside the United States and see what middle eastern countries are saying about Iraq in general and the Baker Commission report that was released on Wednesday in particular.

The Assyrian International News Agency is reporting that the flood of Iraqi war refugees pour over the borders and into other nations is having a destabilizing effect throughout the region as between 2000 and 3000 refugees flee Iraq every day. After 3 1/2 years of warfare, 1.5 million refugees have fled Iraq, and this has had a dramatic effect on the already complicated social order of neighboring countries like Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

An additional 1.5 million people are displaced inside Iraq, desperate to leave but lacking the resources to do so. Humanitarian workers are afraid that this group of internal refugees will drive a continued exodus out of Iraq. This exodus into diaspora rivals only the Palestinian diaspora, and that includes all descendents of those who became refugees in 1948 and all who have come in the 58 years since. The Iraqi diaspora has come to pass in 3 1/2 years. It shows no sign of slowing, much less abating any time soon.

Zaman Online, a Turkish news service is reporting on the reaction of Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani to the Baker Commission Report. No surprise, but he isn't happy with the suggestions offered in the report. Barzani angrily rejected the report and pronounced it as “unrealistic and inappropriate.” He also warned any delay in deciding the fate of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk would have "grave consequences." The PKK (Kurdish Workers Party, and generally regarded as a terrorist organization) angrily denounced the Baker Commission report as written for Turkey, according to the Ankara News Agency.

Tehran Times has a short editorial up about stability in Iraq translating to stability in the region.

TEHRAN – A key factor to promote security and stability in the Meddle East is the withdrawal of foreign troops from the region, said Hossein Musavian, the deputy chairman of the Strategic Council for Foreign Relations, on Saturday.

“The most important element that can guarantee the regional countries’ security is to create regional cooperation systems and build confidence through such systems,” Musavian told the delegates at the Manama Dialogue conference.

The suggestion is made for a regional security force to be developed to take on the role of peacekeeping in the area.

I can see it. Such an entity would not face the difficulties that the African Union forces face, such as funding, because the middle eastern states that would stand to benefit the most from stability are the wealthy oil-producing states, so they should fund such an enterprise willingly. It's an idea worthy of further examination.