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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Leaving Kurdistan, like leaving a country |
| 2005-02-18 |
| One of the best ways to understand the political dynamics at play in Northern Iraq is to hop into a taxi and travel north towards the Turkish border. Once you reach the multi-ethnic oil-rich city Kirkuk, every checkpoint is manned by peshmerga guerilla fighters loyal to one of the two Kurdish political parties. And they are on the lookout for one thing: Arabs. I knew this, of course, even before departing Iraq Tuesday. Traveling from Ranya near the Iranian border towards the provincial capital Arbil a few days earlier I had been forced to disembark my bus a half dozen times for grilling by local peshmerga. They were concerned my American travel documents were false -- because I have vaguely Semitic features, speak some Arabic and do not speak Kurdish. But this was nothing compared to the grilling that a middle-aged businessman from Baghdad was given. As we approached each checkpoint in our communal taxi, the peshmerga would politely ask if there were any Arabs in the car. "No we're all Kurds," the driver would answer to quicken our trip. But the more persistent among the peshmerga were never satisfied. They would stick their head inside the driver's side window and peer around the car. When they saw the man from Baghdad in the back -- with a full beard and skin slightly darker than that of his neighbours in the north -- they would ask the driver to pull over to a side, and demand that everyone get out. At that point, a full search of the man's bags and a long grilling were in order. |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #6 It will be very interesting to see the shape that a federal Iraq takes. |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-02-18 2:07:10 PM |
| #5 Correct in saying that Kurdistan is not a country, but Kurdistan should be a country. |
| Posted by: DAJ 2005-02-18 11:28:51 AM |
| #4 Kurdistan is not a country, but it still may be more of one than any Arab state currently existing. |
| Posted by: Sam 2005-02-18 11:25:04 AM |
| #3 Kurdistan is a country, and a lot more of one than any Arab state currently existing. |
| Posted by: gromgorru 2005-02-18 10:31:26 AM |
| #2 It isn't easy to fault someone for being a little paranoid when they *are* surrounded by their enemies. I think moonbats, trolls, and liberals would find it very easy to fault anyone for defending themselves. I heard of a recent French Proverb that, roughly translated, says what these people believe: "This animal is rabid and must be put down: it bites you when you attack it." |
| Posted by: Ptah 2005-02-18 9:32:16 AM |
| #1 I find nothing to fault the Kurds, here. First of all, they did nothing more than very carefully scrutinize for a people known to cause trouble--how would a Moscow policeman greet a Chechen in Moscow? But unlike the Russian, they did not abuse anyone over suspicions of being Arab, they just wanted to make very, very sure that they were not heading north to make trouble. Why *should* an Arab who does not live there, or have family there, travel to Kurdistan? I also suspect that the Kurds are equally cautious about non-Kurd Turks, Iranians, and Syrians who just want to visit Kurdistan. It isn't easy to fault someone for being a little paranoid when they *are* surrounded by their enemies. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-02-18 9:23:27 AM |