Steven Stockman, Congressman from Texas’ 36th

“I mean, these guys love America,”

“They’re tough people, but they can’t do it with sticks.”

Kurdistan a dream becoming a reality.
    

Article, 11/11/14.  WND exclusive by Garth Kant
http://www.wnd.com/2014/11/congressman-very-dangerous-to-be-an-american-ally/

I got this from the article above.

Map of what the Kurds are fighting for.  What they perceive as their homeland. Kurdistan.

As the map shows, what better place to have an ally?  Borders Iran Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

Turkey is our sometime ally and why wouldn't they want a Kurdistan as a buffer from Syria, Iraq and Iran?

From the article we see that Turkey is hostile to the Kurds.  Why?  Kurdish population in Turkey?  Find out.  Would the proposed map of Kurdistan include parts of Turkey and which parts, what would Turkey lose?  Find out.

Yes!  Map below shows Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran would all have to give up land to form Kurdistan.

Turkey being the largest loser.

What population of Kurds are in these countries and more to the point what is the population in these specific areas that would form Kurdistan?  Find out.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_population  This shows that Turkey also has the most Kurds at about 14 million, Iran and Iraq at 6 million each and Syria at 2 million.

Below a map from the CIA in 1992 of Kurdish populated areas which seems to roughly correspond to the map above of Kurdistan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan

The Kurds are and have been fighting for a re-creation of their original home state.  The Kurds are situated in a hotbed of hostilities that is called the Middle East.  The ethnic Kurds have a majority in communities in SE Turkey, NW Iran, Northern Iraq, and NE Syria.  They have carved out a semi-autonomous region in Northern Iraq which is called the Kurdish Regional Government (NRG).  They have been fighting ISIS since ISIS’ beginning, along with Al Quaida. Before that they were the only ones Americans could count on in the fight to overthrow Sadam Hueisen, they were the fighters we could count on when all else failed.  As Iraq started falling apart with attacks from ISIS, they held strong. 

  

They have encountered resistance from the beginning from everyone including those who should be helping them.  This resistance is understandable since one or more of the above countries would have to give up some of their territory to enable the creation of a Kurdistan. Turkey which has the largest Kurdish population of the Mid East Countries was actively fighting the Kurds.  It is only recently since the rise of ISIS that they have come to see an armed Kurdish separate state in Iraq as something they could live with.   The other reason is that the Kurds control a lot of Turkey’s area and the Turks are tiring of the fight. 

The big news is that the Turks have allowed Northern Iraqi Kurdish fighters and weapons to cross Turkish land to reinforce Syrian Kurdish fighters in Syria with weapons and soldiers.
http://online.wsj.com/articles/iraqi-kurdish-fighters-head-to-kobani-in-syria-to-battle-islamic-state-1414518448

Another bit of news just in hours ago is that the Iraqi government in Bagdad has agreed to pay the civil servant salaries of its northern Kurdish Regional Government civil servants for the equivalent of $500 million dollars of the North’s oil.  This is a major step showing that the Iraqi government in Bagdad is recognizing their Northern Kurdish region as a separate entity at least in regards to its ownership of its own oil.  It hasn’t in the past.  This also will help pay for the war on ISIS that the Kurds have been fighting long before Americans ever heard of the name ISIS.

All of this and the trip by Congressman Steven Stockman in the WMD Garth Kant article at the beginning of this article reminds me of the movie titled “Charlie Wilson’s War” starring Tom Hanks.  In that movie Wilson mobilized behind the scenes private and governmental efforts to fund the Afghanistan freedom fighters that eventually beat the Russians and forced them out of their country.  Both of these solutions seem so obvious it is no wonder that the powers that be would not use them;  but when bureaucrats who are experts at confounding others by splitting hairs,  have their minds faced with something so simple to understand they themselves seem confounded and refuse to act.

 

I am just happy to see that America and the President have been brought kicking and screaming to the same conclusion.  Our government is seemingly putting pressure on Turkey and Bagdad to help and allow the Kurds to do what they do so well, fight their enemy ISIS.  We have often times heard from this administration, “a crisis is too big to pass up”.  For once it is nice to see that phrase used as a reason to fight our actual enemies. 

Breaking new now is that the Islamic State (IS) and Al-Quaida have joined forces.  See Article linked below.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_ISLAMIC_STATE_AL_QAIDA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-11-13-14-35-12

The Kurds as previously reported were given permission to cross Turkey land to travel from Arbil Iraq to Kobani Syria to reinforce that beleaguered city and help stop the Islamic State tide.  American arms are going with them.  The latest map is below showing the Islamic State encroachment upon Syria, Iraq, Turkey and most pertinently to this article upon the newly formed Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq.  Reminder from the other maps before that there is a large Kurdish population in nearly all this contested area and in Kobani.

In looking at the map above I see the city of Sinjar and I remember the stranding of thousands of Kurds on the mountain top there.  Mosul just to the east had fallen to ISIS and the refugees fled to Sinjar’s mountain top.  A helicopter made it in with guns blazing and back out with guns blazing and saved 20.  The following link tells what happened to the rest.  If you have any sympathy for ISIS read that article.  Genocide pure and simple.  If you wonder if the Kurds are fighting for their life read that article.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2792552/full-horror-yazidis-didn-t-escape-mount-sinjar-confirms-5-000-men-executed-7-000-women-kept-sex-slaves.html

This new map raises the question of how involved the Syrian regime is with the Kurdish fighters and who exactly are the Syrian rebels.  Find out.

Below is a link to a Reuter’s article
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/31/us-mideast-crisis-idUSKBN0IK15M20141031

The latest fighting in and for the border town of Kobani shows the confusing and convoluted coalitions being set up.  The Kurds in this battle have aligned themselves with the FSA (Free Syrian Army) which is battling both the Assad Syrian government forces and the Islamic State (IS).  Assad in this article condemns the Turkish action of letting Kurdish forces from Iraq backed by American war planes cross their border calling such forces “terrorists”. 

The Kurds of Syria are after a piece of Syria and indeed Assad should worry about losing some of his former country, however IS or ISIS is after the total of Syria and Iraq and all bordering countries in an effort to set up an Islamic caliphate.  I know what I’d fear more.

Although America’s current President has been vocal about the “Arab Spring” and is slow to see the reality of the Islamic Caliphate and its intolerance and brutality, the US Congress may not be, as evidenced by the efforts of Steven Stockman (TEXAS) as I related earlier in this article.

The Kurds have taken control of the Northern section of Iraq and formed a semi-autonomous region.  The area is predominantly Kurdish in population.  They are doing the same in the North of Syria.  While their aim is for a Kurdish state, they have proven the old adage that any enemy of my enemy becomes my friend.  Assad should realize the greatest enemy to him is not the Kurds, but the Islamic State.

The Kurds are all in against the Islamic State.  When I say all in I mean it.  They prove it by their deeds.  Much like the Israelis the Kurdish women have taken up arms and in large numbers.  Remember these people are defending their own families and villages.  http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/29/world/us-newest-allies-syrian-kurds/  The names they give their different groups reflect that desperate fight to the death attitude of a proud people.  The Kurdish Regional Government fighters are called the Peshmerga (translated – Those who Face Death).  They are not afraid of death.  They have seen what the Islamic State does to the women and children it captures.  These Kurdish women would rather face death than be sold into sex slavery tortured etc. 

This next link gives insight into the Kurdish Regional Government and the fight they are up against from all sides as they try to find and fight for their existence.  I think it is safe to say that they have earned the respect of American military leaders and their own people.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/29/fight-lives

The biography of Masoud Barzani the President of the KRG taken from the above link, is an example of the depths and desperation of the Kurdish people to survive and form a home state for their self-protection.

“Barzani has fought for the Kurdish cause for fifty years. During that time, the Kurds endured successive waves of calamity, mostly at the hands of Saddam Hussein: the genocidal onslaught of Anfal, which killed as many as a hundred and eighty thousand people; chemical-weapons attacks; and an unrelenting campaign of torture and imprisonment that touched nearly every Kurdish family. Barzani himself lost thirty-seven family members.”

If you want to keep up with the latest stuff on Kobani check out this twitter feed https://twitter.com/hashtag/kobani Check out the Canadian girl fighting in Kobani for the Kurds.  Remarkable.  I saw a call from ISIS for a cease fire.  Don’t know if that is confirmed but the Kurds seem to reject it.  Bravo Kurds.  If I’m in a fight for my life, I’m not going to let my attacker off so they can go out and get reinforcements.

Regards, Live Dangerously be a Conservative