What the

This is the ‘whatthe’ guy, as in “What the…?!?”. That’s what the CF call him and I’m sure we’re just being ugly Americans by not asking the local population what he’s famous for, but we were so eager to get down the streets and shopping that nobody took the time to ask. He makes a great picture, though.

I was in As Sulaymaniyah on the eastern border of Iraq for a mission to deliver cargo to an IA Brigade. We took our Iraqi counterparts downtown to visit this great city for a couple of hours and let Iraqi’s mix with Kurds. I would have never guessed I was in the same country.

Iraq is governed by either Iraqi Army or Iraqi police and they fight constantly amongst themselves, one being Shi’a and the other being Sunni. This province is governed by Kurds and patrolled by Peshmerga. They ‘loosely’ consider themselves Iraqi’s.

We got to meet the commanding General (a Kurd) of the unit we were delivering cargo to. We spent a good hour with him and he treated us like royalty. Of all the factions in Iraq, the Kurds have been our best friends even though the promises the U.S. made to them to overthrow Saddam went unfulfilled.

One of the interpreters on this trip (Al, also a Kurd) was 9 when this happened. He remembers leaflets dropping from U.S. planes that encouraged them to rise up against Saddam. They did and the U.S. never arrived, the Kurds were crushed. They ran for the border and Al told me about stepping on dead bodies as Saddam’s helicopters fired at them. He had some pretty graphic accounts that no 9 year old should have to remember. This was the time the world saw the pictures of dead Kurds killed by mustard gas in Halabja, Saddam's WMD. I asked him why they were still our friends and he didn’t have a good answer for me, just that Kurds were very western oriented and liked the U.S. I was glad we had him along, mainly because he speaks both Arabic and Kurd.

We crossed thru Peshmerga controlled checkpoints and the interpreters took off their body armor. There hasn’t been an attack in this area all year, mainly because Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army are not in control here. People without papers are not allowed in or shot and automobile registrations are collected and returned only when the vehicle leaves. Al had to act as a translator for both me and my Iraqi Colonel because the General spoke Kurdish, not Arabic. My Colonel doesn’t speak Kurd.

I’m enclosing some pictures of the trip; the place was remarkably unlike anything I’ve seen in Iraq. The countryside reminded me of the rolling hills of South Dakota, like the badlands with prairie grass and no trees, mountains in the distance. Stores were open and bustling and we walked safely down market streets. We had kids following us. I had people take their picture with me. I had old men come up and show me military photographs of them and shake my hand. All of the citizens were either dressed western or in traditional Kurdish tunics. I walked thru a great park with manicured grass, at the end of which was a very nice hotel. I asked the front desk clerk if he spoke English and he said, “of course, why wouldn’t I”? Room rates were $78/night which included breakfast and went up from there. It is one of those places that you know will be commercialized by the west in a couple of years, the safest place inside a war torn country. Your trip will include a nice hotel and shopping with the locals, dates and fresh vegetables in season. The airport was nearby; we rode around safely in taxi’s. Someone will charge thousands…

It was tough driving back to Kirkuk with their daily car bombs, dirty streets and abject poverty. It’s no wonder the Kurds guard their borders so ferociously, I wish they'd take over the rest of the country.

Best wishes from Iraq.
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Saddam Hussein launched chemical attacks against 40 Kurdish villages and thousands of innocent civilians in 1987-88, using them as testing grounds. The worst of these attacks devastated the city of Halabja on March 16, 1988.
Iraqi soldiers in protective gear returned to Halabja to study the effectiveness of their weapons and attacks. They divided the city into grids, determining the number and location of the dead and extent of injury. Halabja helped Saddam Hussein gauge the ability of his chemical agents to kill, maim, and terrorize population centers. 5,000 civilians, many of them women, children, and the elderly, died within hours of the attack. 10,000 more were blinded, maimed, disfigured, or otherwise severely and irreversibly debilitated. Thousands died of horrific complications, debilitating diseases, and birth defects in the years after.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/rls/18714.htm