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And the Winners are? The Kurds

By on 14th June 2014 in John Cookson, Politics, Security

By John Cookson. Any opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News.

Checking back through e-mails I am amazed it was only 4 days ago on June 10th I messaged an editor pal of mine that something momentous was happening in Iraq.

ISIS had occupied Mosul! The city had fallen. I could not believe it then. Even now I remain stunned.

So much happened since - and at what breathtaking speed.

The jihadists have swept down a route carved by the Tigris River. Anyone standing in their way was dealt with by a bullet in the head.  Now they are within an hour's drive of the gates of Baghdad.

Sources tell me even ISIS commanders are amazed how easy it was and they even plan to use the same route as the Americans in 2003 to enter the capital.

As the world waits to see what decisive plan Prime Minister Al Maliki has up his sleeve to retake almost a half of his nation, Shi-ite leader Grand Ayatollah Sistani has made a call to arms addressed not to only to Shias but " all Iraqi citizens."

President Obama meanwhile is weighing his options and moving the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush to the Gulf, which probably means targeted air strikes on ISIS command and control centres, if anyone can identify them!

The potential for another bloody conflagration in a nation which has seen so much death and destruction - and a nation for which I have so much affection - is the stuff of nightmares. God help the Iraqis.

Small wonder when you talk to Iraqis they sometimes say they feel themselves cursed.

Fate my not be on their side but years of conflict has not damaged their incredible resilience to hardship and when I spoke to a Kurdish minister this morning in Baghdad he said: " Don't worry John, I will be alright. We have been through this before!"

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24 Responses to And the Winners are? The Kurds

  1. Hussain 14th June 2014 at 16:17 #

    I'm confident that the security forces will regain control over lost territory in due time. Even if they're unorganized and lack training the numbers would just overwhelm the relatively small Sunni insurgents. Also, not all of them are untrained and lack battle experience, thousands of Iraqi's fighting in Syria are pouring back to fight the insurgents.

    They also have an advantage in the air with F16's coming in along with Russian helicopters. Once the Iraqi military gets back on its feet and regains its momentum it will regain control of Kirkuk and an independent Kurdistan would be postponed.

  2. Cristiano Ronaldo 15th June 2014 at 09:11 #

    I believe the kurds want to support Iraq, the iraqi army which they have giving shelter and protection and once they have secure the kurdish communitiies in the disputed territoriesjeir they will be more available for Iraq IF Maliki is replaced by somebody else like Mr Hakkim.

    The root of all this sunni revolution or call it what you want, the failed purge of the Iraqi army officials, the never ending clashes with ethnical sunnis/kurdishand and non Dawa shia is Nouri al-Maliki.

    The hindrance to US active support and reluctance to deliver sophisticated weapons to Iraq is Nouri al-Maliki. The leaving of the US forces from Iraq despite of the knowledge that the Iraqi army was not ready is Nouri al-Maliki.

    The collapse of the Iraqi Army managed by Dawa political officers without militar training and lack of leadership happened when the Cif in Command is Nouri al-Maliki.

    Iraq needs a political solution very urgently before we put militar arrangements in place under an incompetent militar and political leadership or Nouri al-Maliki.

    So the resources, the will to fix Iraq is here in Iraq. What we miss is the removal of the rotten head or Nouri al-Maliki. I hope that Hakkim takes action now.