Monday, August 21, 2006

How the Kurds Fight Terrorism

Michael J. Totten explains how the Kurds have created the safest and freest place in Iraq. For you consideration:

There are no insurgents in Kurdistan. Nor are there any kidnappings. … Out of desperate necessity, they have forged one of the most vigilant anti-terrorist communities in the world. Anyone who doesn’t speak Kurdish as their native language—and Iraq’s troublemakers overwhelmingly fall into this category—stands out among the general population. … Al Qaeda members who do manage to infiltrate the area are hunted down like rats. … the Kurds have adopted discriminatory policies that would make any liberal-minded Westerner squirm.

Iqbal Ali Muhammad of the Kurdistan Islamic Union, a moderate Islamist organization that is the third largest party in Iraqi Kurdistan, bluntly said, “The Arab, he is wild. He is not a civilized person.” … Kurds love freedom, but they love checkpoints too; in general, they see them as the barrier that holds back the horrors from the south. … The Kurds may be the most liberal of Iraq’s three dominant ethnicities, but they’re the quickest to impose illiberal laws on everyone else. …

Omar and Mohammad Fadhil, the bloggers behind Iraq the Model, drove up to Kurdistan from Baghdad to meet me at my hotel. They never made it. The Peshmerga told them Arabs were not allowed to enter the region without a Kurdish escort. It was racial profiling at its worst. … Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Regional Government actually provides money and housing for Arab Christians who want to pick up and resettle in the north.

3 comments:

Demosthenes said...

I'm sure everyone who reads this has watched the Melanie Phillips video where she talks about the West being "hung up on this Freedom of Speech issue." Like most people, that kind of talk makes me feel uneasy. I think I have a solution. It is important to maintain political freedom of speech, but not religious speech. That is, one isn't allowed to advocate a death cult like Islam, but one may advocate that people have the right to advocate Islam. Or if we were to follow the fine Kurdish example--and I think we should--we should make it clear that people are allowed to say that they don't agree with us following the Kurdish example. This should be sufficient to keep what is wonderful about the West without committing cultural suicide. I realize that the leftist fundamentalists will commit their holy acts of civil disobedience in response. I prefer that we should deal with them harshly, but if it is in our interest to be lenient, let's be lenient. The leftists who simply express disagreement while sipping their morning tea should told how sexy and adorable they are.

Reply to religion of pieces: if we were to have that World War IV soon, the West would win quickly. I'm hoping for some spectacular Islamic terrorism soon, so that the majority of the West will get a clue. Otherwise, World War IV will be far more bloody. Sadly, we are stuck with stupid, incompetent muslim terrorists.

sharinlite said...

Wow. Actual intelligence on the Planet Earth.

Ecumene said...

What about the Natoic Friends.. Turks?

:)