In the streets, women walk freely and safely, dressed any way they wish. Only a minority choose Islamic garb -- head scarves, not veils. The regional prime minister, Barham Salih, wants to increase the number of female government officials, describing them as ''harder working'' than men and ''utterly incorruptible.'' And there are no forced marriages.

Just over 45% of the university students are women. Males and females study side by side. Internet use is free to all students. There is no censorship or political influence on campus. Not one of the oil-rich Gulf states rivals this still-poor country's educational freedom -- or standards. There's a department of religious studies, but it's only one of 16 departments (and far from the most popular).

Still, the Kurdish government isn't content. It hopes to build a world-class ''American'' university to develop its human capital. As the rest of Iraq threatens to implode, the Kurds are racing against time to develop their infrastructure and provide opportunities for their population. International business is welcome, contractors aren't murdered, and even the Turks, longtime opponents of the Kurds, are investing.

A quote from a artical done on the small nation of Kurdistain. A blooming democracy.See, Bush didn't do all bad over there. Check it out.
www.krg.org/docs/articles/peter

...and Bush didn't intentionally help the Kurds at all. Don't let Dubya take credit for things he had no part in.

Darken

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Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything...

Show your kids you love them by buying them the No. 7 brand.

But it's ok to make him accept all the blame when something goes wrong...

Although Bush didn't intentionally help out the Kurd, they are proof that we are doing good in Iraq. Iraq now is holding elections and Kurdistan is giving women rights. Now was the war really such a bad thing after all?

hehe, does anyone know if theres a way to get to your password if you've forgotten it? I had to abandon RightWing-Madman, and now I'm just a lowly observer again.

There are no/very few American troops in the north. The Kurds realise there's no point fighting everything all the way. After all, they've been attacked constantly by the Turks between 1991 and 2003, were persecuted by Saddam 1979-1990, and have been bombed constantly because they were in the US/UK no fly zone.

I am all for a free and democratic Kurdistan; just so long as it is recognised by the UN etc, and its borders are kept protected from the new Iraq and Turkey; who should hopefully be cleaning up thier act if they want to join the EU.

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"I see no reason why...there should not arise a United States of Europe" Winston Churchill, 1946