Posted on 01/11/2008 3:55:22 PM PST by forkinsocket
Not long ago, in a decrepit prison in Iraqi Kurdistan, a senior interrogator with the Kurdish intelligence service decided, for my entertainment and edification, to introduce me to an al-Qaeda terrorist named Omar. “This one is crazy,” the interrogator said. “Don’t get close, or he’ll bite you.”
Omar was a Sunni Arab from a village outside Mosul; he was a short and weedy man, roughly 30 years old, who radiated a pure animal anger. He was also a relentless jabberer; he did not shut up from the moment we were introduced. I met him in an unventilated interrogation room that smelled of bleach and paint. He was handcuffed, and he cursed steadily, making appalling accusations about the sexual practices of the interrogator’s mother. He cursed the Kurds, in general, as pig-eaters, blasphemers, and American lackeys. As Omar ranted, the interrogator smiled. “I told you the Arabs don’t like the Kurds,” he said. I’ve known the interrogator for a while, and this is his perpetual theme: close proximity to Arabs has sabotaged Kurdish happiness.
Omar, the Kurds claim, was once an inconsequential deputy to the now-deceased terrorist chieftain Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Omar disputed this characterization. By his own telling, he accomplished prodigies of terror against the pro-American Kurdish forces in the northern provinces of Iraq. “You are worse than the Americans,” he told his Kurdish interrogator. “You are the enemy of the Muslim nation. You are enemies of God.” The interrogator—I will not name him here, for reasons that will become apparent in a moment—sat sturdily opposite Omar, absorbing his invective for several minutes, absentmindedly paging through a copy of the Koran.
During a break in the tirade, the interrogator asked Omar, for my benefit, to rehearse his biography. Omar’s life was undistinguished.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Just give Omar a 9mm third eye and forget about him.
He ain't kidding. LOL.
This article has to be one of the best assessments of the Middle East I've ever read.
The Palis were a problem even back then in the dark ages, which stradled the '67 "Six Day" war.
That was before Mr. L quit teaching, opened a restaurant in a small town, and then went really 'round the bend. He had some holes in his background that led some to suspect he may have been OSS or CIA, but I guess we'll never know for sure. I will say he was quite pleased when I showed up 3 years after graduation, in my AF ROTC uniform.
I like Kurds & Jews in general like them. My Armenian boyfriend hates them, though, as they betrayed Armenians during the Turkish massacres.
One time he went to buy a car & the salesman was Kurdish. After finding out that he’s Armenian, the Kurd said, “Kurdistan, Hayastan* - brothers,” in an attempt to ingratiate himself with my boyfriend. He sneered & turned away.
lol @ our Middle Eastern ethnic hatreds!
*Armenia.
ping
The author of the article; does he like or dislike the Khurds? He HATE them. And he hates conservatives.
And The Atlantic is a liberal rag!
The first page of the piece was the best...
There is quite a bit of information regarding the Kurds history and their genetic relationship to the Jews. Seems they have a common genetic heritage. Google it up if you’re interested.
Yes, I know. Jews, Kurds, Armenians, & Turks are of the same genetic ‘family’.
& Jews get along with all of them, Armenians get along with none.
And Arabs too. All semites. But "Jew" is today more a description of a religion and a culture, not so much genetic ancestry. Hebrews might be a better term
Yes, but Jews, Kurds, etc. are part of a closer cluster. Arabs are part of a more extended, Middle Eastern family. This wasn’t known until recently. The opposite was assumed.
In terms of culture, though, we are more related to Arabs. At least, we Mizrahim are. We were known as Jewish Arabs until coming to Israel. Also, our language is Semitic & not Indo-European.
Because of this, it’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that we’re genetically closer to Turks than to Arabs. Nothing against Turks, but we have so much more in common with Arabs!
Let’s give the Kurds independence and let them claim Kurdistan.
Maybe that Armenian was taught a biased history by the Turks about the Armenian genocide.
Anatolian Turks.
No, he wasn’t taught anything by Turks. Armenians are taught that Turks massacred them & Kurds joined in because Turks promised them something (land, maybe? I don’t remember). This was a betrayal, because Kurds & Armenians are both enemies of Turks.
I don’t know if it’s true or not, but this is what at least some Armenians have been told.
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