Donate Now David Enders, for the Pulitzer Center
Iraq
Yes, Rick and I are in Kurdistan. I had actually forgotten what is was like to hear people in Iraq say that. Stopped happening in Baghdad some time ago.
But then again, we're not actually in Iraq. Kurdistan is, for all intents and purposes, more of less an independent country.
Not everyone is so optimistic. On Wednesday we interviewed Nochiwan Mustafa, one of the founding members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. He figures the US will sell out the Kurds (again) in favor of not angering Turkey over the PKK.
We had planned to go up the mountain to visit the PKK today but they're not talking to journalists right now because of the recent meeting between Maliki and the Turkish government. Maliki called them "terrorists," and promised to do what he could to dislodge them from northern Iraq while making no actual commitments, which is smart, since as Mustafa pointed out, no one could really get them out anyway. Which makes the recent Bob Novak leak re: possible US special forces operations against the PKK seem even more bizarre than it should: I mean, the US has so far failed in counterinsurgency against the Taliban and the Iraqi resistance.What makes an military planner think it's possible to take out the PKK, which is well-trained and super-entrenched?
So we're sitting in Sulemaniya, planning to go to Damascus. Totally weirded out by being able to walk on the street, seeing men and women holding hands... it's a different country. It "loves America." But for how long?