Free Republic

Speaking on the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot Agreement last week, President of the Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, declared that the old Middle East created by European imperialism was dead – and that an independent Kurdish state must be part of the emerging new order. Referring to the secret arrangement by the Allied Powers in World War I to divide the Middle East into “spheres of influence”, Barzani blasted the Sykes-Picot Agreement, saying that it denied the rights of the inhabitants and carved up populations with arbitrary lines. The agreement served as the basis for the establishment of the modern...

Those familiar with Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" - featuring comedian Jon Stewart - will no doubt be familiar with the show's bias against Operation Iraqi Freedom and the efforts of the Bush Administration to combat Islamic terrorism in the Middle East. But even Stewart and company couldn't deny the progress being made in northern Iraq. The 3 Iraqi provinces that make up Iraqi Kurdistan have built a peaceful democracy modeled after Western nations. Not one single Coalition soldier has been killed in Iraqi Kurdistan. No westerners have been kidnapped. And just this past week, Iraqi Kurdistan's regional government passed...

Michael J Totten's "Middle East Journal" March 03, 2006 “The Head of the Snake” SULEIMANIYA, IRAQ – Suleimaniya is the most liberal city in Iraqi Kurdistan, partly because of its long-standing and deep ties to nearby Iran, one of the most culturally liberal countries in the Middle East. The Iraqi Kurds I met who have been to Iran wanted me to know – and they want you to know, as well – that the distance between the Iranian people and their hideous regime is galactic. I heard the same refrain over and over again: “Persians are just like us.” In...

11/06/2005 TheKurdistani.com The president of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Massoud Barzani, will be sworn in as Kurdistan’s president for the next four years in the Kurdistan Parliament, Hawler, south Kurdistan, according to radio and newspapers based in Kurdistan. The Hewal weekly today published on its first page that Barzani will be sworn in as Iraqi Kurdistan’s President for the next four years. The parliament will also approve the presidency bill.