We drove the empty streets of Kirkuk the night before and the night after the referendum. Kirkuk is probably the most ethnically mixed city in Iraq. It has Sunni and Shia Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Turkmen, and some Christians.
In this city, US soldiers are well received. People all over the city wave at us. If we stop we tend to get mobbed by children, although that is due a large part to us handing out candy and gifts like school supplies and soccer balls. After one stop, we drove away from a large group of children as they cheered for us.
After the election the streets were empty of cars and mostly deserted by people. We did see a group of guys hanging out, so we stopped and got out. The guys ranged in age from young boys to men in their 60s. They were playing backgammon and dominos. We mingled among the group, mostly composed of Kurds but not entirely. One soldier played dominos with the Iraqis. I walked into a small shop and saw boys playing Grand Theft Auto and a couple of other Play Station games. They brought us all Chai to drink, including the gunners who stayed on the vehicles to man the machine guns. The younger boys flocked around us like magpies, chattering “Mister Mister”, and “Give me”.
What struck me the most was that we easily mingled in. There was ABSOLUTELY no fear of us, even though of course we are bristling with weapons. They just accepted our presence with grace, good humor, hospitality and lots of pictures. I saw some women looking out of windows, or down from balconies above, and they smiled and waved.
Every time we stopped and got out, the citizens just took it in stride. It wouldn’t even cause a ripple of anxiety. I was watching the faces on the people when we got out, and no one looked nervous or upset. Nobody left the area.
I don’t know that the people of Kirkuk love us, but I can say with certainty that they accept us and don’t fear us.
4 comments:
Last year this was part of a story about Kirkuk.
"Iraqi insurgents have routinely targeted Kurdish and Turkomen officials in Kirkuk, seeking to foment ethnic tension. Militants operating in Kirkuk have also been behind a string of attacks and assassination attempts against police."
Guess you guys and the Marines have thinned the bad guys out.
Continue the Mission.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
Great post Alan!
This is so great! Thank you for writing about it. Learning about things first hand from our troops means so much!
This is the kind of thing that the media should be telling people, how much difference our troops make and how much better things are because of what you all have done. Thank you so much for serving our counry. THANK YOU!
The soul rift left by decades of living as victims helpless to the Power Gap that was law in the ME, they have seen and dared to hope for something other than what they always knew was the norm.
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