Al Qaeda's presence stunned Iraq's moderate north (Kurdistan)

[ECH1969]

In the gathering dark inside the cavernous mosque, Mullah Omar Sweri takes his time leading the last Muslim prayer session of the day. The Sunni preacher speaks of moderation, a message commonly heard in the officially monitored mosques of the Kurdish north. The contrast could not be greater, measured against the harsh rhetoric of the Sunni militants to the south, who drive Iraq's insurgency.

So it was a surprise to many Kurds that small Al Qaeda and Ansar al-Sunna cells were among six groups of extremists arrested in Arbil this summer - and that nearly all the militants were home-grown Kurds.

"Kurds are religious people, but they have never been extremists - God does not need extremists," says Mullah Sweri. "Extremism is not an action, it is a reaction. So the more injustice grows in a society, the more extremism there will be."

While the cells were small, they were lethal. Among them were militants deemed responsible for suicide bombings on May 4 and June 20 that killed more than 75 people in Arbil, mostly police recruits. In confessions shown on TV, some described mortar attacks on South Korean coalition troops, and a botched remote-controlled bombing.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1103/p04s02-woiq.html

[Rowdyboy]

1. So now we've even compelled the Kurds to join Al Qaeda.....Hard work

for a hard working president. This can of worms he's opened will have consequences for generations.

Nominated.

[teryang]

2. Oh please.

Kurds as moderates. What an over generalization.

[4dsc]

4. Kurds have killed more Kurds than Saddam

a little known fact too that Kurds have been fighting each other for years and they have killed of each other than Saddam ever did..

[teryang]

5. Their contentious history and nationalism are hardly conducive

...to moderation.

[cantstandbush]

3. When the Bushcos claime Al Qaeda presence in Iraq under Saddam

they were in the northern territories of the Kurds...not under Saddam's control. Remember we were conducting no-fly zones to protect the Kurds so even Saddam could not have been aware of the Al Qaeda presence.