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Iraq
A New Power Rises in Iraq
2007-03-19
by Michael J. Totten

Mr. Totten's latest essay, with photos. Read the whole thing.
Posted by:Steve White

#4  Arabs are moving up here from the center and south – when they can, and as long as they are cleared by internal security – and theyÂ’re hired to do menial jobs the Kurds no longer want. Sunni Arabs were once the oppressors of Kurds. Now they are reduced to the same low status as migrant Mexican workers in the United States.

Pardon me while I laugh and point. Paybacks and all that.

The Kurds are providing a vital example of how prosperity and peace has been brought to Iraq. If our Mumbler in Chief had any brains, he'd be trumpeting this Iraqi success story throughout the land. Instead, Bush is still sipping his Religion of Peace [spit] Kool-Aid and cannot bring himself to point out the obvious fact that Shiites and Sunnis form the core of international terrorism.

The rebirth happening in Northern Iraq is doubly remarkable in light of how the Kurds were amongst the most oppressed of all groups under Saddam. I wish them well.
Posted by: Zenster   2007-03-19 22:59  

#3  Anonymoose, isn't a Kurdish unit patrolling Baghdad as part of the Surge?
Posted by: trailing wife   2007-03-19 20:54  

#2  I am concerned about one aspect of Kurdistan. While the Arab South has been problematic, by being so, their military and police forces are learning invaluable lessons of modern armies, from the best military on the planet.

But the peaceful Kurds, what is their Peshmurga learning? For all their economic development, without a powerful military, trained in modern tactics and with modern weapons, they are at grave risk.

Certainly, some of them operate beside the Iraqi army, but are they learning all the lessons?

This goes hand in hand with the great question about the Iraqi military: when are they going to get their heavy weapons, their artillery, their anti-aircraft, and their air force?

We have built them from the ground up to be a strong military, but they need the final blocks in their defensive wall.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2007-03-19 16:51  

#1  Excellent catch, Steve. Makes you wonder what could be made of Iraq as a whole if we removed the Iranian, Saudi and Syrian influences.
Posted by: DanNY   2007-03-19 16:45  

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