Diplomatic Dispatch: Why Kurdistan Matters – Amb. Dore Gold

• The Kurds have been repeatedly targeted for nothing less than mass murder. During the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s the army of Saddam Hussein entered Kurdistan and engaged in the destruction of 2,000 Kurdish villages; over 100,000 Kurds were slain in those operations. 5,000 Kurds died as a result of Iraqi use of chemical weapons against them.
• The Kurds have been one of the strongest allies of the West in the Middle East and have led the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
• The Kurds have built up democratic institutions in northern Iraq and the economic progress they’ve made has been impressive.
• The Kurds are a nation that deserves national self-expression. In the long term, they are a strategic asset to the entire Western alliance and deserve diplomatic and political support.

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