# I thought the Kurds in Iraq were on our side **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 20, 2002, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-the-kurds-in-iraq-were-on-our-side/124736 "2002-08-20T13:27:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-the-kurds-in-iraq-were-on-our-side/124736/1 "2002-08-20T13:27:11Z")
From CNN: al Qaeda operatives have recently been in northern Iraq in an area under the control of radical Kurds and that the two groups have been working together [http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/08/19/iraq.covertplan/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/08/19/iraq.covertplan/index.html) I thought they were on our side. Is this because we screwed them while promising help after the GUlf War, or they’ll just hook up with anyone to mess with Hussein? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-the-kurds-in-iraq-were-on-our-side/124736/2 "2002-08-20T13:40:56Z")
Well, you can’t speak of “the Kurds” en masse, as though one speaks for all, any more than you can speak of “the Palestinians” or “the Israelis” or “the Saudis”. Or “the Americans”. 😉 The key phrase here, I think, is “under the control of radical Kurds”. There are “radical” Kurds and “non-radical” Kurds, just like there are “radical” Americans and “non-radical” Americans. So Al Qaeda found a pocket of sympathetic “radical” Kurds who would let them run the “chemical weapons test facility” on their property. So what? [shrug] This doesn’t mean that “The Kurds” are now anti-American. It just means that _some_ of the Kurds think Al Qaeda can help them in whatever personal agendas they’ve got going. ---
**Author:** ![SuaSponte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SuaSponte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuaSponte)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-the-kurds-in-iraq-were-on-our-side/124736/3 "2002-08-20T13:56:38Z")
In this week’s Economist, there is an article about this al-Qaeda-allied group in Northern Iraq. The article begins by describing the nightly mortar duels between the group and Iraqi Kurds. IOW, what **Duck Duck Goose** said. Sua ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-the-kurds-in-iraq-were-on-our-side/124736/4 "2002-08-20T13:59:46Z")
It doesn’t help either that the Western ally Turkey has been hassling/been victims of Kurdish terrorsim. Just goes to show that the trite “with us or against us” Bushism just doesn’t work in the real world. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-the-kurds-in-iraq-were-on-our-side/124736/5 "2002-08-20T14:47:53Z")
Oh no, now Sadaam has a legitimate case of America and the UN all but ‘forcing him’ to harbor al-Qaeda in the No-fly Zone parts in his own country allied with the Kurds. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-the-kurds-in-iraq-were-on-our-side/124736/6 "2002-08-20T16:40:39Z")
Are these people allied with Saddam, or has he been fighting against the evil that is al Qaeda ? If the later, it’ll make it’ll make it tougher for the president to justify his invasion plans. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-the-kurds-in-iraq-were-on-our-side/124736/7 "2002-08-21T06:31:48Z")
I know a Kurd married to an Iraqi. ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-the-kurds-in-iraq-were-on-our-side/124736/8 "2002-08-21T06:51:40Z")
I heard on NPR today that many Kurds are rather, shall we say, upset at America since it (we) have left them in the dust so many times before when they put their necks out to help us (or be along side us, whichever you prefer). ---
**Author:** ![erislover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/71e660/32.png) [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-the-kurds-in-iraq-were-on-our-side/124736/9 "2002-08-21T06:55:02Z")
By which I mean to say, they mentioned _three_ instances, \*\*carnivorousplant[/]b, not just one, which I would imagine might cause a little bit of resentment that we can be trusted to actually be on their side in any substantive way. How many times is it before it is shame on them for believing us? And this is a sort of side comment about Kurds, not a justification for some of them possibly having some ties with The Little Satans. Sort of context, not substance. ~erl ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-the-kurds-in-iraq-were-on-our-side/124736/10 "2002-08-21T12:23:13Z")
“Little Satans” LOL