Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Kurds to Kerry: “We are facing a new reality and a new Iraq"

Or as Rudaw (news from Kurdistan) put it in their headline:

Erbil’s ‘No’ to the Americans

By RUDAW 3 hours ago
US Secretary of State John Kerry is greeted in Erbil by Falah Mustafa, head of the KRG’s Departhment of Foreign Relations. Photo: DFR
US Secretary of State John Kerry is greeted in Erbil by Falah Mustafa, 
head of the KRG’s Departhment of Foreign Relations. Photo: DFR
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – When the US delegation that was arriving in Baghdad asked Iraqi Kurdistan’s top leaders to be there to meet with them, the Kurds reportedly refused.

In that rejection, and the reception they gave to Kerry in their own capital of Erbil on Tuesday, the Iraqi Kurds showcased their newfound confidence, strength and unity.

Knowing full well this was the last thing Washington’s top diplomat wanted to hear, the autonomous Kurdistan Region’s President Massoud Barzani brought up what his people wanted to talk about: independence....MORE