The Kurds

     Same story, different place.  The Kurds, a minority group that is concentrated in the northern part of Iraq, also Turkey, Syria, Iran, and sprinkled throughout most of the region, suffer almost the same fate as the montagnards of Southeast Asia.  Unlike the montagnards, they do not live off the land and are not "rural," compared to the rest of the society in which they live.  However, they have been historically discriminated against in each country where they reside, have been promised autonomy by various "big" powers, but never realized that goal.  They live in a region that is called Kurdistan and are said to be about 40 million in total.  They are not Arabs, but rather they are of Persian origin and speak a language that is basically Persian.  In Iraq, they make up about 17% of the total Iraqi  population and are predominantly Sunni Muslim in faith.  However, there are Kurds of different religion including Shia Muslim and Christian!  The Kurds themselves are very open to other religions and although they are predominantly Muslim, they appear to be much more liberal in their attitude and women have more freedom than practically in any other Muslim society.  In Iraq, where the dominant faith is Shia, the Kurds had been persecuted not only because of their Sunni faith, but because of their ethnicity as well!
     The Kurds' struggle to gain autonomy, or "independence," has been going on since about the 7th Century AD.  Periodically they did manage to gain autonomy and be independent, but it always seem to end badly.  In short, throughout history they have been trying to get recognition as a separate entity, a separate country made up of distinct people.  In the modern era, there were uprisings against the British in Iraq in 1919 and again in 1930.  In 1960-61 there was another attempt and again in 1970-71, all in Iraq.  From 1980 to 1988 it was perhaps the worst time for the Kurds in Iraq.  Saddam Hussein who was engaged in a war with Iran began a systematic genocide program against the Kurds and killed unaccounted number of people.  During that period he used chemical weapons and killed 50,000 or more Kurds with chemical weapons in one town alone!  The Kurds' last uprising took place in 1991 and almost ended in complete disaster, thanks to our inaction!
     In 1991, at our urging, the Kurds rose up against Saddam Hussein and his regime.  The idea was of course that we would help by bombing and perhaps sending in ground troops to defeat Saddam.  The first Gulf War was launched from the south, from Kuwait, and essentially, the Kurds' involvement would provide a classic pincer movement to defeat Saddam's forces.  Although we moved in from the south, bombarded Iraq with the so-called "shock and awe" tactic (actually that name was coined in the second Gulf War), we did not help  the Kurds when we stopped short of Baghdad!  We stopped our so-called "Gulf War" and held a victory parade in New York, but the Kurds were stuck fighting a superior force of Saddam's Army once our air support stopped.  The problem was that the war ended unexpectedly soon for us in the south!  Saddam's army did not provide the resistance that we thought we would face.  They were like the proverbial "paper tiger" and folded at first sign, surrendering in the thousands!  Our biggest problem was handling the POWs! However in the north, Saddam's forces were still fighting the Kurds, and when we stopped the air support, they doubled their effort!
     Up north, the Army Special Forces teams had been on the ground with the Kurds since before the invasion of Iraq and they had trained the Kurds in small unit tactics and developed forces similar to what we had in Vietnam in the form of montagnard and Nung Mike Forces and Mobile Guerrillas.  These Kurd units, like their predecessors in Vietnam, proved to be superb fighters and were called Peshmerga ("those who face death!").  However, the Kurds had no air force or heavy artillery, basically, they were just light infantry! We managed to establish a "no fly" zone in Kurdistan and thereby saved the Kurds from total annihilation by Saddam's forces.  The Peshmerga also had much to do with discouraging Saddam from pressing on with his campaign. In pitch battles, the Kurds essentially beat the hell out of Saddam's army, despite lack of heavy artillery or air support.
     We all know of the tragedy of Kurds during that period.  Who can forget that famous National Geographic cover photo of a green-eyed Kurdish girl with that haunting look!  All the accusations and chest beating did nothing to help the Kurds.  What did help them was actual shipment of foods and medicines, and the presence of the U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers, who stayed with the Kurds in those miserable refugee camps throughout and helped out as best as they could.  This was a repetition of what happened in Vietnam, what took place because of our inaction and decision to pull out!  In 1991, there were still some older senior NCOs and officers in the Special Forces in their final years before retirement, who remembered bitterly what happened in Vietnam and were determined to do all they could to help the Kurds.  The Kurds survived that period.
     In 2003 we launched the second Gulf War, the so-called "Operation Iraqi Freedom."  Before we committed our ground troops, it was crucial that we got the Kurds to push from the north.  Once again, with US Army Special Forces teams leading the way, the Kurds, Peshmerga forces, launched an attack on Saddam's army in the north.  It was very similar to what we did in Afghanistan a year earlier when Army Special Forces teams went into that country and with Northern Alliance groups, essentially defeated the Taliban without committing any U.S. ground troops (other than several dozen 12 man Army Special Forces teams!).  However, we let things get out of hand, instead of finishing off the Taliban, we became involved in "nation building" and ended up having to bring in U.S. ground troops to stave off the Taliban.  It only worked while we were there in force, witness what is happening now that we have essentially pulled out!
     In 2003, the push by the Kurds from the north was wildly successful.  Despite what happened to them in 1991, they were willing to go to war with US Army Special Forces in their midst.  They have a lot of trust in our Special Forces. Those who followed the news may recall reports of how the Kurds had pushed south and essentially eliminated any of Saddam's forces in the area.  What most Americans don't realize is that we continued to use the Kurds, the Peshmerga, to seek out Saddam's forces.  After all, in those early years, all Iraqi military were Saddam's, we had not yet trained any so called Iraqi Security Forces, the ISFs!  The Peshmerga were crucial in rooting out Saddam's people, including the capture of Saddam himself!  Most Americans watching the evening news or reading the newspapers didn't realize that the so-called Iraqi Commandos that were doing the fighting were actually Peshmerga, Kurds!
     By the time we decided that Saddam's army was no more and Baghdad was secure (sort of, we had the "green zone" that was secure), we started to build the ISF.  The new Iraqi government did not want to have the Peshmerga as a separate force (shades of Vietnam), instead they wanted the Kurd forces incorporated, absorbed by the ISF.  At first the Kurds didn't mind, they thought that this was a step for Kurds to be assimilated into the "new" Iraq, that they would all be one big happy family.  It didn't take long for them to realize that it was not the generosity of the new Iraqi government as much their desire to keep the Kurds from becoming autonomous with a strong military.  The Peshmerga pulled out. 
     The ISF was built up, and so far we poured in 25 Billion Dollars to build the new Iraqi army, the ISF.  The war in Iraq so far (2003-2013) cost us about 3 Trillion Dollars.  I guess it is the inflation that took a big bite.  In comparison, the war in Vietnam for the same period (1965-75) cost us 140 Billion Dollars and to build up the Republic of Vietnam Army, it cost 10 Billion Dollars.  The biggest cost no doubt is all of the new high tech weaponry and equipment, all of those smart bombs and cruise missiles that we fired.  Each time one missile or a bomb went off, you could kiss off couple of million bucks!  With all the money spent and lives lost (at least not as many American lives as in Vietnam), the situation in Iraq is no better than it was 10 years ago!  The only stability that there is in Iraq is in the northern part, in Kurdistan, where the Kurds are in charge!