They will have crystal-clear sounds – no small feat inside of a car – and very little distortion….

Though they are Muslim, they appear to be a lot less Islamic than their arab counterparts. I noticed hijabs, uncovered women, and no burkhas in the video.
PRCalDude on February 19, 2007 at 3:44 PM

A shining example of moderation for any other Muslim aren’t they?

This is the strongest case for partition yet. Why should the Kurds have to carry the head-chopping animale to the south? I say give them Kirkuk, and arm them to the teeth. Memo to Turkey: You should’ve let the 4th Infantry stage at Incirlik. Payback can take many different forms, including full U.S. support of an independent Kurdish state. I, for one, am happy to see the MsM featuring the good to come out of this war.

Kid from Brooklyn on February 19, 2007 at 11:06 AM

Absolutely!!!!

Arm the peshmerga further so that they can defend against Turkey and stand back. They will succeed as a nation. In addition to the TV story(ies), there is much written about the subject that also confirms the determination of the Kurds to be successfully independent. They can be the strongest ally that America has in the region – if we don’t blow it.

God bless the Kurds.

It will be a sad day in U.S. history if we abandon them to their hostile neighbors.

infidel4life on February 19, 2007 at 3:50 PM

Indeed – God bless the Kurds!

(Via Hot Air) About a year after Michael Totten visited Kurdistan and reported on its success as a peaceful prosperous region which is a separate country in all but name, 60 Minutes discovers this story. (Video) Kurds don’t want to……

Yet another reason I make Hot Air a must read each day. :)

It’s high time we abandoned Turkey as an ally.

Yes, I agree. This isn’t the 1950s or 1960s anymore when we needed the Turks to counter the Soviets. The Turks are increasingly trending towards Islamification and they are becoming difficult to deal with. (To think, some idiots want them in the EU. Shudder.) Time to find a new ally in the region. Due to the establishment of a de facto state with the establishment of a no-fly zone and the invasion of Iraq, we have a bond with the Kurds that is much stronger than anything we’ve had with the Arabs.

It will be a sad day in U.S. history if we abandon them to their hostile neighbors.

Exit question: 60 Minutes attributes the difference between Kurdistan and Baghdad to the lack of sectarian tensions in the former, but Anbar is almost entirely Sunni and they’re not putting up any shopping malls these days from what I understand. So what’s the real difference?

The difference is that they are Kurds not Arabs. While they have numerous internal conflicts, their common goal is independence. Here is a good article I read last week. From The Nation of all places.

Religion is being used as an excuse for violence to archive and maintain control of the people in this region

That should read achieve and not archive. Stupid spell checker!

Yet another example of how peaceful people can thrive in the absence of God!

You misunderstand the nature of the conflict. Religion is being used as an excuse for violence to archive and maintain control of the people in this region, and that violence is not a by-product of religious believes. That violence is actually a cultural by-product as the region in question still has tribal based cultures, just like in Afghanistan. It’s the tribal based culture that is fomenting or preventing conflict.

Most of the people on earth belong to one religion or another, and many have very strong beliefs in their particular religion, but the majority of people are not at war with each other. If you look at history and current global events you’ll see that it’s the lack of religious believes and suppression of religion, like in communist countries, that cause mass suffering and strife. How many millions dies in Soviet Russia during the last century? 40 million? 50 million? We don’t really know, but Soviet Russia suppressed religion as a threat to governmental control so it would be difficult to blame religion for what happened.

In western countries, where religion is allowed to flourish that type of mass suffering does not occur nor do we see massive violent attacks by by the followers of one religious belief upon other of different beliefs as you do in countries that have a more tribal based culture..

Yes, religion can be used as a motivator for violence, as can a lot of other issues, but most religious believers are not violent. It’s the cultural beliefs that determines how much violence a society endures, not the religious beliefs.

This topic aside, he is an interesting writer/person. I just can’t get over the fact that he doesn’t use a computer and knows nothing about the internet. I hold that against him and Bill Clinton.

If recognizing Kurdistan as an independent nation-state (and arming them to the teeth) will de-stablize Iran, perhaps this is something we should use as a bargaining chip.
asc85

Its not just the Iranians, its the Syrians (not a bad thing) and the Turks who have the biggest Kurdish population and have had fights with Kurdish terrorist groups for years (REALLY BAD)

Anyone up for a Hot-Air trip to Kurdistan? And not just Michelle and company who goes, lets get some of us posters out there too and pump up their economy

I’m sure this has already been thought of and discussed in the Bush Administration, but I just made this connection now after watching the 60 Minutes piece and reading some of these comments on Hot Air.

LakeRuins on February 19, 2007 at 11:54 AM

While you’re definitely right that Turkey would abhor a Kurdistan, I wouldn’t underestimate the influence of the EU on Turkish politics. They have basically rewritten their Constitution and spent billions and billions of dollars trying to make Turkey acceptable for EU membership. If the EU demanded Turkey allow a Kurdish State as a condition for membership, I bet Turkey would think about it long and hard.

And on a side note, if the Kurds do get their own country I hope they name it something better than Kurdistan. Everyone has laying that lame name on them for years. If they finally get their chance I hope they step up to the plate and name it something creative.

What Nancy Pelosi would say if she were given truth serum.