Why should we help the
Kurds?
Because the Kurds could easily become another democratic island of
stability in the Middle East, like Israel. The Kurds are a group of people united by their own separate language and culture,
split between Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The Kurds are definitely not trying to turn
the clock back to the 7th century. The Kurds are mostly secular
Sunni Muslims who believe in religious tolerance. They also include Kurdish
speaking Yazidis, Shiites and Christians. During the ISIS advances, they
took in Arab refugees without regard for religion, Christians, Shiites and
Sunnis. They helped organize, train and arm Yazidis and Arab Christian
militias. They have women fighters in their militia units, some trained
as snipers. The Kurds even have regular commercial flights from the
Kurdish Regional Capital, Erbil, Iraq, to Tel Aviv, Israel. The Kurds are as
close as you can get to democratic tolerant folks outside of Israel. Iraqi Kurds are extremely pro American. They believe the US saved them from annihilation when Saddam Hussein was lashing out
after the first Gulf War. They are trying to get as close to us as they
can.
The Kurds have been the
most effective military units fighting ISIS.
In Syria, they are so reliable that it’s an embarrassment. The Kurds have to recruit and train Sunni
Arab defense forces to control the Arab villages they capture from ISIS. While the villagers are happy ISIS is gone, they will not accept a
Kurdish occupation. To keep the villages free of ISIS, the villagers need weapons and training. ISIS never captured
any Kurdish weapons in working condition during their original advances.
When Kurdish militia retreats it's because they're out of ammo or taking
horrendous casualties.
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