The "Star-Spangled Banner" is playing over the public address system as the sun sets over Lake Dukan, the American flag is flying, there's roast chicken on the spit, and the picnic tables are heaped high with tomatoes, pickles and mayonnaise salad. At the microphone, Barham Salih, the prime minister of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, is talking about his admiration for the U.S. Constitution, with its guarantees of government by the consent of the people and its obligations to abolish governments that fail to listen. "Here in Kurdistan, you have partners, you have allies," he tells hundreds of camouflage-clad U.S. troops gathered at a lakeside hotel for a 4th of July celebration thrown by the PUK dignitaries. Kurdistan, Salih notes later, "is proudly pro-American territory."
| Making it a member of a teeny-tiny club world-wide... |
Coalition troops in central and southern Iraq may be facing near daily attacks by Iraqi resistance fighters, but in the Kurdish northern region, the troops that drove Saddam Hussein from power are revered, and all things American are in vogue, including the 4th of July. More than 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq celebrated the holiday Friday with barbecues, band concerts, fun runs—and plenty of regular patrols. But nowhere was the local welcome warmer than in Dukan, where the PUK put up hundreds of U.S. soldiers in lakeside air-conditioned chalets Friday night. The group also arranged a picnic and show of traditional Kurdish dancing and music. "They've been very generous," said Spec. Louis Gitlin, 21, of the Army's 101st Airborne Division. After spending months in Kuwait and elsewhere in Iraq, he is now guarding the Iran-Iraq border in Kurdistan. "It's a lot better here," the Alaska native said, sweating in the 100-degree heat. "People are nicer."
Naturally, the poor guy has to be from Alaska. Bet he's really homesick at the moment.
In this entire war, the Kurds are the people who've shown best. I just hope we don't forget it in years to come, and that they don't change — or show the streak of wanton bloodthirst that seems to be in the water in that part of the world... |
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