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Who is Peter Galbraith?
If one accepts verbatim the New York Times latest tirade, one would believe that Galbraith is the money hungry political operative painted in Wednesday's Times and berated further in yesterday's Times' update.
My research and my telephone conversation yesterday with former Ambassador Peter Galbraith paint an entirely different picture. Galbraith began publicly advocating for the Kurds more than 20-years ago when, according to the website Kurdistan, the other Iraq:
Galbraith helped expose Saddam Hussein's murderous "al-anfal" campaign against the Iraqi Kurds. He documented Iraqi chemical weapons attacks on Kurdish villagers and the depopulation of rural Kurdistan in reports published by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His work on the Kurdish issue led the US Senate to pass comprehensive sanctions on Iraq in 1988.
Since full disclosure on Galbraith's part has been called into question, I want to be clear about my interactions with Galbraith. I first met the former Ambassador in December 2008 when he was contemplating a run for Governor of Vermont.
I don't know Galbraith in a personal sort of way, but the Galbraith I have met several times has always been reachable, open to dialogue, and willing to disclose. So who is this alleged new villain?
Galbraith claims that this new onslaught of negativity has to do with his recent revelations regarding election fraud in Afghanistan, and nothing to do with facts of his relationship to Kurdish oil which he disclosed five years ago, in his 2006 book, and to the UN before he was appointed as a special envoy. Is he right? All my research, interviews and discussions show that Galbraith was only targeted for his known financial connections after he spoke out against the election in Afghanistan. Moreover, all the slander and innuendo, sadly began in Norway. I say "sadly" because Galbraith's wife is Norwegian anthropologist Tone Bringa. While the family predominately lives in Townsend, Vermont, Norway has always been a frequent destination.
The first criticism of Galbraith, regarding his role with the Kurds in Iraq and Galbraith's alleged financial dealings came from Norwegian journalists who have played a significant role in vilifying Galbraith, in what I believe is a full-court press to obliterate his record. The Norwegian journalists are claiming that their recently uncovered dirt has nothing to do with the battle between Norwegian UN envoy UN Kai Eide and Galbraith's blistering critique of the Afghanistan election.
Most people seem to have conveniently forgotten that Galbraith did not begin condemning the election. He was asked to leave Afghanistan, and he did leave without any negative comments. It is only after he was condemned for his work and criticism by some within the UN, that he made it all public.
What's at stake here? The same thing that has always been at stake: money and lots of it. And it's not Galbraith who has the money or the power. Will Galbraith get any money from his almost 25-years of trying to fight for Kurdish rights? Maybe and maybe not... Contracts are not set in stone and business markets in volatile war-torn countries collapse every day. The truth of the matter is that following his work for the US government and following the framing of the Kurdish constitution, Galbraith formed a company and participated, as a private citizen, in bringing business to Kurdistan.
One of Galbraith's more than 20-year crusade has been creating some sort of financial independence and viable economic future for the Kurds, a formerly nomadic culture without any industrial infrastructure of their own.
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