Sulaimaniyah

I was able to drive up to Sulaimaniyah province (state) recently, which is a Kurdish area. It is mountainous, and there is still snow on some of the peaks. The area resembles Northern Utah.
The Kurds are Shiite Muslims, but they are not Arabs. Because they constitute a large minority, and because they voted pretty heavily in the elections, the Kurd will have a large share of the elected offices in the upcoming government. This is tricky politics, because the Kurds and Arabs don’t get along all that swimmingly.

The northern area of Iraq has a great deal of oil wealth, which everyone wants. The Kurds are spread out in Turkey, Iraq and Iran, and each county resists the idea of the Kurds breaking off to form a separate Kurdistan. Having oil wealth would help that separation.

The Kurds seem to have figured out that they can get power politically under the new circumstances. Kurds appear to be moving into the Kurdish area. I saw lots of new construction between Kirkuk and As-Sulaimaniyeah, mostly homes, but also what appeared to be commercial structures.

The homes are not large, but seem to be of a common size, so I suppose they are essentially Iraqi middle class. The home start with cinderblock walls, upon which is layered, uh, mud. They can end up looking okay, depending on whether any decorative molding is added, or paint, or whatever. The yards are typically dirt, and usually have animals running around.
The key point is that I saw lots of construction, hundreds and hundreds of homes. I can’t imagine where these folks are moving from. Maybe they’re just able to move out of a relative’s home now that Saddam isn’t repressing them.