U.S.’s Biden and Iraq’s Talabani see bright future ahead!
By Fatih Abdulsalam
Azzaman, November 10, 2009
A few days ago U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden wrote a letter to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in which he seems to have found a new path to help Iraq out of its predicament.
Biden was quoted in Arabic press as saying to Talabani: “The presence of good people like you renews my confidence as an American in what we can achieve together.”
Biden’s letter raised the kind of terms which are not there in Iraqi political lexicon.
Essentially, there are perhaps no “good people” in Iraqi political hierarchy. There are politicians who are driven by their interests and ends which change with the change in circumstances.
But journalistic curiosity makes me wonder what does Biden mean by “good people.”
Perhaps the letter Talabani had originally sent to Biden contained “good-natured” phrases in describing the U.S. vice-president. Out of courtesy Biden had to reciprocate.
But there are some who see that calling a politician a “good man” is not a compliment.
In Biden’s letter there is another sentence which may explain for us the ambiguity associated with the term “good man” when used in a political context.
Biden is reported to have written: “ The best days for America in Iraq are to come.”
Biden might have said this because he believed whatever Talabani had told him. And he saw that the predictions about the future which Talabani made will come true.
There is another issue. How come that Biden believed Talabani’s rosy picture of the future or vice versa.
There are lines which are missing from the original text Biden forwarded to Talabani. As for Talabani’s original letter, we have so far no trace of it.
Therefore, conditions in Iraq will remain in balance between the content and meaning of the text which media have managed to carry and the text which they have had no access to.
And most probably the situation of the Americans in Iraq will remain unsettled. But how, nobody knows.
