What did Nadia Murad want from Trump?
This week various news sources picked over an exchange between Nadia Murad and Donald Trump at the White House. Ms.Murad, of course, is the Yezidi ISIS survivor and activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018. She, along with other genocide survivors, went to the White House to meet Mr. Trump and do a photo op. To some watching the exchange between her and the US president, however, it was not quite clear whether Mr. Trump knew who she was.
At this point Mr. Trump interjects to ask “But ISIS is gone?” Murad replies “But…” and Trump continues “and now it’s Kurdish…” and Murad adds “…and Iraqi government. If I cannot go to my home and live in a safe place and get my dignity back, this is not about ISIS, it’s about I’m in danger. My people cannot go back….They killed my mum, my six brothers. They left behind them.” At this point Mr. Trump interjects again, asking “Where are they now?” Murad replies “They killed them. They are in the mass grave in Sinjar. And I’m still fighting just to live in safety. Please do something. It’s not about one family…” to which Mr. Trump says “I know the area very well.” Murad continues “It’s about a half million, it’s about a whole community…” as Mr. Trump nods his head and says “Yeah, O.K., I’m going to look into it very strongly,” to which Murad replies “Thanks so much.”
The discussion was probably not planned. Ms. Murad and the others are arranged behind Mr. Trump for what looks like a photo op, leading to an exchange where a seated Trump does not even look at her as she stands speaking to the side and a bit behind him – only occasionally glancing at her as he nods his head a bit impatiently while she recounts her trauma. This kind of conversation should have been arranged with the two sitting facing each other, with a bit of coaching for President Trump about how to display at least a little bit of empathy.
Things got even worse, however, when after she thanked him, Mr. Trump asked “And you had the Nobel Prize? That’s incredible. They gave it to you for what reason? Maybe you can explain.” At which point Mr. Trump gestures towards the television cameras. Mr. Trump’s biggest critics took this part of the exchange to suggest that he didn’t even know she had won the Nobel Prize and wanted to know why, but from the video of the exchange it seems clear to this columnist that Mr. Trump wanted to give Ms. Murad an opportunity to explain her ordeal to the cameras. She did so as best she could with her halting English, explaining that she escaped ISIS and persevered to bring the plight of her people to the international community’s attention. She added that ISIS criminals need to be brought to justice and that efforts need to be made to find Yezidis who are still missing, to which Mr. Trump readily agreed.
What was Ms. Murad really asking of Trump, however? Her comments made it seem as if the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Iraqi government are targeting and threatening Yezidis’ safety, which is simply not the case. Mr. Trump can be forgiven for not quite understanding what she was asking of him. The Yezidi community itself remains quite divided when it comes to political disputes between Kurdistan and Baghdad, with Yezidi militias and leaders aligned with one or the other and a few other Yezidi militias under the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) umbrella. While some Yezidis want their region to become an international protectorate, as a result, this hardly seems feasible and does not look like what Ms. Murad was requesting of Trump in any case.
If there exist any consensus surrounding Yezidi issues, they revolve around three things: Reconstruction of Sinjar (which the Kurds call Shingal), including services, schools, homes, infrastructure and similar things, robust efforts from Baghdad, Erbil and the international community to pursue ISIS militants and their supporters and bring them to justice, and increased efforts to locate members of the Yezidi community who remain unaccounted for.
This is what Ms. Murad should have asked of Mr. Trump. She should have said: “We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for defeating ISIS. We also ask you to finish the job now and not forget us – to pursue and hold trials for ISIS members and supporters, to help rebuild our communities, to help find our people who are still missing, and to encourage a political settlement between Kurdistan and the Iraqi government.” Mr. Trump and the rest of us could have understood such a request and felt the moral pressure to respond productively.
In a widely posted video, Ms. Murad is seen standing a bit behind and to the side of the president along with the other genocide survivors. She tells the president: “The vice-president he helps us a lot, and but now today you can solve our problem. Now there is no ISIS but we cannot go back because Kurdish government and the Iraqi government, they are fighting each other over who will control my area. And we cannot go back if we cannot protect our dignity, our families. We get a lot of support from [French] President Macron, he put a lot of pressure on the Iraqi and Kurdistan governments to help minorities….I hope you can call or anything to the Iraqi and Kurdistan government to…”
At this point Mr. Trump interjects to ask “But ISIS is gone?” Murad replies “But…” and Trump continues “and now it’s Kurdish…” and Murad adds “…and Iraqi government. If I cannot go to my home and live in a safe place and get my dignity back, this is not about ISIS, it’s about I’m in danger. My people cannot go back….They killed my mum, my six brothers. They left behind them.” At this point Mr. Trump interjects again, asking “Where are they now?” Murad replies “They killed them. They are in the mass grave in Sinjar. And I’m still fighting just to live in safety. Please do something. It’s not about one family…” to which Mr. Trump says “I know the area very well.” Murad continues “It’s about a half million, it’s about a whole community…” as Mr. Trump nods his head and says “Yeah, O.K., I’m going to look into it very strongly,” to which Murad replies “Thanks so much.”
The discussion was probably not planned. Ms. Murad and the others are arranged behind Mr. Trump for what looks like a photo op, leading to an exchange where a seated Trump does not even look at her as she stands speaking to the side and a bit behind him – only occasionally glancing at her as he nods his head a bit impatiently while she recounts her trauma. This kind of conversation should have been arranged with the two sitting facing each other, with a bit of coaching for President Trump about how to display at least a little bit of empathy.
Things got even worse, however, when after she thanked him, Mr. Trump asked “And you had the Nobel Prize? That’s incredible. They gave it to you for what reason? Maybe you can explain.” At which point Mr. Trump gestures towards the television cameras. Mr. Trump’s biggest critics took this part of the exchange to suggest that he didn’t even know she had won the Nobel Prize and wanted to know why, but from the video of the exchange it seems clear to this columnist that Mr. Trump wanted to give Ms. Murad an opportunity to explain her ordeal to the cameras. She did so as best she could with her halting English, explaining that she escaped ISIS and persevered to bring the plight of her people to the international community’s attention. She added that ISIS criminals need to be brought to justice and that efforts need to be made to find Yezidis who are still missing, to which Mr. Trump readily agreed.
What was Ms. Murad really asking of Trump, however? Her comments made it seem as if the Kurdistan Regional Government and the Iraqi government are targeting and threatening Yezidis’ safety, which is simply not the case. Mr. Trump can be forgiven for not quite understanding what she was asking of him. The Yezidi community itself remains quite divided when it comes to political disputes between Kurdistan and Baghdad, with Yezidi militias and leaders aligned with one or the other and a few other Yezidi militias under the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) umbrella. While some Yezidis want their region to become an international protectorate, as a result, this hardly seems feasible and does not look like what Ms. Murad was requesting of Trump in any case.
If there exist any consensus surrounding Yezidi issues, they revolve around three things: Reconstruction of Sinjar (which the Kurds call Shingal), including services, schools, homes, infrastructure and similar things, robust efforts from Baghdad, Erbil and the international community to pursue ISIS militants and their supporters and bring them to justice, and increased efforts to locate members of the Yezidi community who remain unaccounted for.
This is what Ms. Murad should have asked of Mr. Trump. She should have said: “We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for defeating ISIS. We also ask you to finish the job now and not forget us – to pursue and hold trials for ISIS members and supporters, to help rebuild our communities, to help find our people who are still missing, and to encourage a political settlement between Kurdistan and the Iraqi government.” Mr. Trump and the rest of us could have understood such a request and felt the moral pressure to respond productively.
|
|
David Romano has been a Rudaw columnist since 2010. He holds the Thomas G. Strong Professor of Middle East Politics at Missouri State University and is the author of numerous publications on the Kurds and the Middle East. |