From:  Bob Keith - Cool Dadio Media - Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, Saturday, 14 October 2006.

 

  Sulaymaniyah, Iraq is a rambling city with straight boulevards, something I believe is rare in Asia.  There is an old and a new city here.  Perhaps there is many old and new sections because it is growing so fast they say.  You can see the construction at every turn. 

 

  Again the cabbie wanted an extra bit of money after the ride here.  He was a nice guy though and only asked for seven more Dollars.  This I guess he figured he deserved because he took my picture and dropped me off like a big shot in front of the 100 Dollar-a-night hotel.  The hotel and taxi guys always assume I am looking for the five-star hotels.  I humbly walked down to the old part of town and to the 15 Dollar-a-night hotel by the electric shop. 

 

 At least we got the route to Sulaymaniyah figured out before the ride began.  Because, listening to the cab drivers in the "garage" (what they call the taxi/bus station in these parts) I realized I was on my way to Sulaymaniyah via Kirkuk.  If you follow the news you know that Kirkuk is worse than Mosul.  The Kurds want to reclaim Kirkuk.  It used to be a flagship Kurdish city until Saddam Hussein's regime tore the city up.  So, now the Kurds talk about it as if it were safe.  For them maybe, for me no!  Originally I was to ride with three other people to Sulaymaniyah via Kirkuk.  This would cost me 20 Dollars.  But once I realized the route, and all the taxi drivers and bus drivers weighed in, I was put in a taxi by myself an sent over the Kurdish mountains for 50 Dollars. Fine by me! Saving my life today only cost an extra 30 Dollars.

 

  The electricity just went off an hour ago or so and up fired all the generators again.  I found a nice little hotel with a shared bathroom.  They brought me tea to my room and offered for me to use the office computer.  A police officer stopped me and I thought, oh here it finally comes, I will finally be detained. But he pointed to my shoulder camera bag and noted it was unzipped.  "Zip up your important stuff," he said in good English and then smiled and shook my hand with a death grip and went on his way. 

 

  Down the road is Halabja where the Saddam Hussein Regime poisoned gassed thousands of Kurds.  The death toll is put at 5000; but, who really knows? 

 

  Here in Sulaymaniyah I am about 35 miles from Iran.  There are Iranian workers here and some of the products from the shops and street vendors are made in Iran.  This is a college town.  And of course they have beer.  It is the first alcohol I have seen openly for sale since Malatya, Turkey.  Also, there are flower shops, glass windows, and a Park Department guy watering the trees in the street median. Those things all tell me the war is at a low roar, in this area anyway. 

 

  This Eastern region of Kurdistan of Iraq is governed by a different Kurdish political party than the Western region. It is called the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and its leader is named Talabani so his picture is everywhere here.  Talabani also holds a high post in the Iraqi government - that of President.  

 

  A man named Barzani (without his traditional Kurdish uniform he looks like Dennis Franz of NYPD Blue) the leader of the Western region of Kurdistan of Iraq and his Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP). Barzani is also the leader of Kurdistan of Iraq as a whole.  Barzani's picture is everywhere in the West. In one of the pictures I sent you from a hotel lobby, I am standing under his picture.  Here in the East you often see the two men pictured together.  In the 1990s the two Kurdistans fought a civil war.  Confused yet? 

 

  Now days the East and West regions of Kurdistan of Iraq have an alliance and fly their own united Kurdish flag rather than the Iraqi flag. Apparently, the Iraqi government does not have the power to force them to fly the Iraqi flag.  The only place I have seen the Iraqi flag is on a broke-down military Armored Personnel Carrier.  I do not believe I mentioned that they use the Irai money here.  They have not gone so far as to print their own money. But, from what I can tell the banking system is in a shambles here.  I get my Dollars exchanged by street vendors - at a good rate I might add.

 

  Just a caveat:  Experts in Geo-political regions like this one will no-doubt find flaws in my short description of a very complicated set of politics in this region. 

 

End of Message.

 

Bob Keith - Cool Dadio Media