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U.S. troops are welcome in Kurdish-controlled region
As American troops move into the Gulf and George W. Bush wags an angry finger at Saddam Hussain, a nervous euphoria is descending on the Kurds-controlled areas in northern Iraqi, the enclave protected by the "no-fly" zone and governed by Iraq's rebel Kurdistan Regional Government. The feeling is very different from that in Europe, where the American president is constantly being admonished for his "cowboy" tendencies. "Occupy us - please!" a Kurdish man on the street demands of an American visitor. Indeed, the main fear of Iraqi Kurds I spoke to is that Washington will not attack. "Iraqi officials warn us that Bush is all talk, that America will not invade," says Ismet Aguid, a former Iraqi foreign service officer. "But we remain optimistic." During their 12 years of freedom, the Kurdish, Turkmen and Assyrian inhabitants of this land have rebuilt most of the 4,000 villages Saddam's troops bombed and bulldozed into oblivion. They have also created at least the semblance of democracy, complete with elections and a representative parliament. They have laced the country with highways and transformed Sulaymaniya, Arbil and Dohuk into modern cities with multiple newspapers, traffic jams and omnipresent Internet cafes. The people are warm and well fed, thanks to the Iraqi-UN oil-for-food programme. But with Turkish tanks hovering above Dohuk, a militant group shelling Halabja and Saddam's troops patrolling their southern border, residents realise all too well how fragile their beautiful new world is. That's why they hope that the airstrip near Sulaymaniya will be put to use soon. The Kurds, world-class survivors, are planning for worst-case scenarios and working to stock emergency camps inside their borders. But they lack protective materials, medical supplies and the trained doctors who would be needed in case of chemical attack. We better maintain a tight air cap over this area because Sammy is just the kind of guy to drop chemical weapons on them before he goes down. Posted by: Steve 2003-01-31 |
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