What about the Kurds?
Juan Cole posted this up
Kamal Sayid Qadir Jailed for Criticism of Barzani
The proto-fascist mini-state of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Arbil [Irbil], northern Iraq, has sentenced an Austrian-Kurdish journalist to 18 months in prison for criticizing Massoud Barzani.
Barzani
Barzani last allied with Saddam Hussein against fellow Kurds as late as 1996, only a decade ago. And you can't criticize him?
If Syria or Iran had done this (not that they don't), there would have been a huge squeal of outrage from the American right. I challenge Instapundit, Andrew Sullivan, and Christopher Hitchens to intervene effectively to get Kamal Sayid Qadir out of Barzani's jail. Here is something all of us, left and right, can agree on, and I hope the Left blogs the hell out of it, too. Will someone please start a blog to count the days Qadir is not free?
Qadir
American blood was shed saving the Kurds from Saddam, and this is not right. It is not right
I have been interested in the Kurds since the mid-1980's. I knew exactly how evil Saddam was when Don Rumsfeld was shaking his hand. I also know that the new image of them as the enlightented Iraqis is a crock of shit. Talabbani and Barzani are warlords and always have been.
After all, the Kurds have their own secret prisons and use them.
But Cole makes the mistake many Americans do. He expects them to be grateful for our sacrifice. They are not. They want us to give them Kurdistan. That's it. If we can do that, they will love us. If we cannot, they will not.
posted by Steve @ 11:59:00 AM
