Iraq Press Roundup

The visit by U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois to Iraq is considered a positive and useful move for his future, despite the fact that he might not become the next U.S. president.

Many Iraqis see the visit as a step that forces Obama to understand the situation in different parts of the world more thoroughly, the independent Kul al-Iraq newspaper said Monday.

Will Obama's strategies in Iraq succeed?

It is not necessary for Obama's strategy to be applied literally, as any policy in Iraq will depend on many factors relative to development of the situation on the ground.

Whether it is a Republican or a Democrat who wins the election, the United States is unlikely to give up its interests in Iraq or the region. The statements that nominees from both parties give indicate American politicians have no knowledge of foreign policy whatsoever, the newspaper said. Announcing a plan for withdrawal from Iraq will give many parties the chance to plan entry into Iraq after U.S. forces leave.

Obama considered demands by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to pull out U.S. troops a "golden opportunity," simply because that has been his intention since 2003.

Regardless of the fact that U.S. President George W. Bush and Maliki are in constant negotiation over the long-term strategic agreement between the United States and Iraq, Obama still calls for closing the last U.S. military base in Iraq.

The Iraqi government's refusal to spend Iraq oil revenues on reconstruction and its failure to reach national reconciliation are the same factors that led to an increase in violence in the first place, and they still hold. That is a point that encourages Obama to announce a plan to redeploy U.S. troops from Iraq if he were to be elected.

Regional travels by Kurdish President Massoud Barzani and their implications were also mentioned in Iraqi newspapers Monday.

Barzani's travels have been a topic of discussion as destinations and routes were unannounced, al-Basaer newspaper of the Association of Muslim Scholars said Monday.

Would Barzani beg the Americans?

Planned travels by the Kurdish president have raised many predictions and questions because his destinations remain unannounced. Israel and the United States are most likely the route he took in an attempt to persuade the two governments not to abandon the Kurdish case in Iraq and encourage them to support the Kurdish region of Iraq.

As long as it is a political embarrassment to visit Israel, it is more likely that Barzani kept his visit a secret. The visit to Washington was announced especially after the latest disputes and disagreement of the Iraqi Parliament over Kirkuk city and pertinent articles of the Iraqi Constitution.

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdish Democratic Party are the two main Kurdish parties that have been in disagreement over the political situation in the region.

The U.S. administration is disappointed with the two Kurdish parties, as they caused a rift between the United States and their proxies, the Turks, as the Kurds began interfering with Turkey.

The Kurdish parties have allied with governments and intelligence agencies to bolster their own interests. Such alliances ended with conspiracies against Iraq, spying on its army and fracturing its unity, the newspaper said.

It has been discussed that "political awareness" is an uneasy term to understand in a country like Iraq where people were oppressed for decades.

Passing the "river of blood" to bring change to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, people of Iraq have been described as human beings with no sense of consistent behavior because of the unnatural disasters they faced, the daily al-Sabbah al-Jadeed newspaper commented.

The political awareness in Iraq after 2003

Due to the many historical events the Iraqis have experienced, the people of Iraq began discussing politics only after the people complied with religion.

In equations where political awareness is considered along with the behavior of the people, the answers to those equations become incomplete and illogical because people are not politically well-educated, considering religion is the main part of their lives.

The political awareness that is needed now is the one that considers Iraq as a whole. The reason Kurdistan and certain areas in Baghdad are considered "closed" is because the catastrophes that took place there forced the issue.