Iraqi Kurds Look To Court Investors

By Mark Matthews, July 27 - KGO

Chaos continues across much of Iraq excluding the north where the Kurds appear to be taking their future into their own hands. The Kurdistan region covers roughly the northern third of Iraq. Today the Kurds sent a delegation to the Bay Area to court business investors.

Forget the usual pictures of Iraq, the ambushes, the roadside bombs, the killing in northern Iraq. In the Kurdish region not one coalition soldier has been killed. The Kurds have their own regional government up and running, and they are out looking to sell U.S. investors on what they call the other Iraq.

The Iraqi Kurdistan delegation is being led by Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman. She's the daughter of the region's former deputy prime minister who was killed along with his oldest son in a 2004 suicide bombing.

Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, Kurdistan Development Corp: "It's very difficult for my family. I know that that kind of a loss changes everything." Abdul Rahman spoke this afternoon to parents of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, and those parents wanted to talk about their children. John Holley, San Diego: "Just to let you know that we loved him terribly and he was our only child."Each side thanked the other for coming to pay their respects. The noon time meeting was set up by a Sacramento P.R. firm that is producing a series of commercials promoting business in northern Iraq.

The company producing these commercials is Russo Marsh and Rogers a media firm with strong ties to the Republican Party. The gold star families that were invited are all supporters of the war. But Abdul Rahman says her group isn't receiving any U.S. government support. Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman: "All of the money for this campaign is from our budget, our own budget, the Kurdistan regional government." So far, she says the response to the investment promiotion has been very positive.

Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman: "The overwhelming response that I've received is that this is a message that Americans don't hear often enough that there is the other side of Iraq." Except for defense contractors, U.S. companies are not jumping on board. The Kurdistan region of Iraq has the authority to negotiate its own deals with foreign companies, including companies interested in oil exploration. The Kurds estimate they have 45 billion barrels, maybe a fourth of the country's oil supply. National security and foreign policy expert Michael Nacht says the U.S. has a real interest in seeing the Kurds succeed.

Michael Nacht, U.C. Berkeley: "We could then have credibility in telling the Shias and the Sunnis -- look here's what we're able to do working with your Kurdish colleagues in the north. We could do the same with you if you'll stop killing each other and stop blowing up hotels bridges and shopping centers and everything else which is going on obviously on a daily basis there." Now the flip side is if the Kurds are so successful that they want to separate from the rest of Iraq, that could cause lots of problems. Turkey is already fighting with armed Kurdish insurgents. They will not allow an independent Kurdistan to exist next door.

Source: KGO-TV 7

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