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  • THURSDAY MAY 10 2007 4:00 PM

The View from Northern Iraq

Submitted by Michael_J_Totten

Edited by Michael_J_Totten

My colleague Patrick Lasswell and I interviewed on camera Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga Colonel Salahdin Ahmad Ameen in his office in Suleimaniya, Kurdistan, Northern Iraq.

Colonel Salahdin spoke to us about his experience as an anti-Baathist guerilla fighter during Saddam Hussein’s genocidal Anfal Campaign – when 200,000 people were killed and more than 5,000 villages were destroyed. In one fight he recounts for us, 300 Peshmerga beat an entire Iraqi brigade of slave soldiers in battle and suffered only one casualty.

He also told us about the notorious Abu Ghraib prison – where he was beaten and tortured by the agents of Saddam’s regime – about the Peshmerga’s doctrine of human rights during war time, Henry Kissinger’s betrayal in 1974, why the Kurds have not yet declared independence from Baghdad, and what may happen if the United States withdraws its armed forces from his country.

The video is split into two parts.



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Comments
c4ff31n3

c4ff31n3

I'm lost
November 2004

MAY 12, 2007 10:36 AM

Nice work, again. I hope to see more, it is refreshing and a sharp contrast to a lot of the tripe that is passed off as news here.

JunkyardAngel

JunkyardAngel

San Gabriel, CA
February 2006

MAY 18, 2007 11:44 AM

starsinskybelow said:
i hate that were at war


but if there was a reason to be there, its people like this. it amazes me that interviews like this arnt on CNN and fox news... these are the people that we need to rally around. these people need help, and when we leave iraq... they're fucked





Iy's not on FOX because it's not blonde. It's not on CNN because it fucks with their typical political profile. Which is why I rarely if ever watch FOX/CNN.

Does anyone remember the last was, when Bush Sr. was accused and harangued for pulling out too soon - the Kurds were slaughtered. . .

I do not think we got into this war at the right time, in the right way or perhaps even for the right reasons; but we are there and we have a job to do and we need to do it.

And I am thankful thatthat WE does not include me- that others are willing to go in my place--for all the "mes" who are not there.

JunkyardAngel

JunkyardAngel

San Gabriel, CA
February 2006

MAY 18, 2007 11:46 AM

Michael_J_Totten said:

starsinskybelow said:
these people need help, and when we leave iraq... they're fucked



At the very least the US should withdraw to Kurdistan. Why do we need a Vietnam War type of exit when we could have a Korean War type of exit instead? We should save the part of Iraq that is salvageable.

Perhaps we should even let them all break it in three. No one should have to die to keep borders drawn by the British Empire intact.

The Kurds call the WC (the toilet) Winston Churchill. He really screwed them by shackling them to Baghdad.



All extremely good and sadly--dangerously--overlooked points.



JunkyardAngel

JunkyardAngel

San Gabriel, CA
February 2006

MAY 18, 2007 11:50 AM

Michael_J_Totten

If anything, that crowd is getting more deranged all the time. They now say tomatoes and cucumbers can't be placed next to each other in martkets because the vegetables are "different genders." If such extreme people end up ruling Iraq after we leave, get ready for a third war in that country. There will be no dearth of psycho bullshit coming out of Iraq if that happens. The Kurds aren't like them at all.




Really, it sounds like a skit on SNL. . .how do you go about delaing with a person who actually has this sort of mindset? They don't care if you blow them to Hell. . .what can be done?

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