NEWS: A New Power Rises in Iraq

i don't know of there, because i've never been to that particular region. But there are a lot of middle eastern cities that don't have drain run-off from the street, or a 'tradiontional' underground canal sewer system. They have pipes that collect sewage from buildings, homes and public restrooms, etc. but no sewer drains, seeing as rainfall is slim to none. When i was living in the UAE, it only rained for two weeks, every other year. The water just basically pooled, and evaporated in a day or two.
As well they have an endless supply of indentured labour, that borders on serfdom, to clean the streets and groom the sidewalks every couple of days.

Thanks so much for an indepth update of the Kurdish area. The pictures were great. Thanks again.

Thanks for the snippet from a part of Iraq we hear or see little of.

I'm not sure how the use of the phrase long-legged stewardess fits with this enlightened view of the Middle East or exactly where the supposition cleaner, richer and therefore more normal squares with what might otherwise be a nearly unbiased article.

That the kurds are prospering after the downfall of Sadam is no suprise. Before the US invasion of Iraq they where an almost independent state already, with its own army that fought on the side of the US (Thanks in part due to the USA's inforcement of no fly zones above that part of the world). Due to the good will generated by the US inforced no fly zone, the fact that not many bombs where dropped on the Kurdish citys (if at all) and that they where more than happy to see Sadam to go there was already a lot of goodwill towards the USA. For things to go badly in that part of the country the US would really have had to fuck it up.
Now comes my prediction, one of two things is going to happen about two minutes after the USA leaves iraq. One the Shittes establish a dictatorship that is an extension of the Iranian government and the Kurds will keep their own country within a country. Or Iraq will splinter along racial lines, the Kurds will be forced to form their own country (cause who could blame them for not wanting to share a country with the sunni arabs give their mutual history) and about 5 minutes after that turkey will invade the new kurdish country. Much like Turkey invaded the kurdish region of Iraq at the start of the war for a very similar reason. While they may not be sucesful there is no way Turkey is going to sit by and let a Kurdish nation just south of their borders exist. If Turkey is then succesfull it will be return to the good old days of Sadam before the no fly zone, say goodbye big shopping malls.
That said it seems a bit funny to me that so much effort is going into malls when there isn't even enough electricty to ensure that have power all the time. But then again its a lot harder for US companies to exploit sewers and power plants for profit than malls. So the Kurds get what we tell them they need to be a first world country and not what they really need.

Great article. Thanks for the fascinating read.

Excellent article.

Safe bet that tower will be built before anything is done@WTC.

Don't even know what to think about that.

Great article, well written, and it's actually good to see something coming out of Iraq other than death and destruction. Gives me hope that i will at one time see my friends involved with the military home safely one day.

an other insight into how complicated the region is.

The Kurds are building a mall because they want a mall, not because "we" tell them to build a mall.

The Kurds desperately want American companies instead of investments by people they have good reasons not to trust.

They are also building lots of other things, including their own electrical grid. (I took photos of both. See above.)

I have not seen a single American company in Iraqi Kurdistan except for FedEx, which just got here. Hilton is coming, but isn't here yet. Americans are too afraid to invest here, mostly because they are completely ignorant of what it's like. (They think everywhere is like Baghdad.) Almost all the foreign investment is Turkish.

That's in most part due to the media. Everytime you turn on one of the major news channels it shows death, destruction, burning buildings, dead bodies and the remnants of a IED or a carbomb. Because that's what sells. Peace, happiness and a prospering people is just not newsworthy.

Until i read this article i would of never thought it to be any different. This article actually enlightened me a bit.

I agree, it's a bit creepy. Then again, slum preservation is also creepy. I have been in the old city a couple of times, and it's nasty. You wouldn't want to live there, believe me. It's worse by far than anything in the U.S.

I'm happy to see the government fixing up poor areas and not exclusively focusing on enriching the elite clans (although that goes on, too). They probably could have done it without moving everyone out, though. I don't (yet) know if the same people will move back in later. I certainly hope so.

No one here has any experience in government because it's a new government that didn't exist until rather recently. They're going a pretty good job under the circumstances, certainly a lot better than the "government" in Baghdad.

I have only this to add . Great article ( as always ) and keep your head down when you visit Baghdad .

Huzzah for Kurdish Independence, now what about the multitude of other oppressed ethnic minorities seeking independence, world-wide? Or for that matter, the oppressed looking for recognition in the international body (Darfur for instance).

I've been keeping up on the potential powder-keg that is Kurdistan, last summer (or was it early Fall or was it in Winter?) the Turks did indeed attack Northern Iraq (joined in with Iranian artillery) to destroy the villages of Kurdish freedom fighters (PKK). Turkey complained that the US was sitting on it's hands in the "War On Terror" by not helping defend it's NATO ally from the PKK (considered a terrorist organ). Iran has also accused Israel of supplying and training Kurdish "terrorists" and of using Northern Iraq as a forward observation/operations base (and potential re-supply point in the event of an Israeli air strike against Iranian targets). The situation may appear bright and shiny (and hopefully it will remain so), but beneath the surface it's pretty muddy and in reality things will get pretty dicey if the region heats up beyond the southern civil war...

Here's a few "local" (SG) links on the matter of discussion:

Turkey Attacks Iraq, Iran Can Come Too...
Mideast, Post Ethnic Cleansing...
It's worth reading the whole article from the second old Current Events page (that sounded like an oxymoron).

Hooray for the Kurds they're starting off there new year great. Amazing article by the way. Dahuk is another city you should of checked out while you were there they have also made tons of progress.

Happy Norouz, by the way.

Wow! That building is beautiful!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/turkey/story/0,,2040626,00.html

"The US is scrambling to head off a "disastrous" Turkish military intervention in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq that threatens to derail the Baghdad security surge and open up a third front in the battle to save Iraq from disintegration."

The history of Iraq is still being written. While I sincerely hope that the Kurds maintain their peace and stability, I think that waxing poetic about how great things are in Kurdistan right now is about as prescient as declaring Mission Accomplished.

Turkey has a very strong interest in Kurdistan for many reasons, both political and economic, and it is difficult to imagine this little state surviving the next decade.

It's cool that in the middle of the war they can keep a positive outlook. Maybe after it's all overwith they will be a little more civilized to each other and the rest of the globe.