Welcome to Kurdistan

December 7, 2008

I made it safely to Northern Iraq yet oddly have found myself in another country. Kurdistan is an area of the Middle East that covers parts of northern Iraq, north western Iran, eastern Turkey, and small pieces of Syria and Armenia. (Get your own map out…) Sulaymaniya is technically in Iraq…but don’t say that out loud around these parts. The Kurds here take offense to it, as well as offense to anything Iraqi or Arab in general. Iraqi Kurdistan is the only region that has international recognition as a federal entity. (Thank God for Wikipedia…) After the first Gulf War this area was part of the northern “No Fly Zone” and the Iraqi army pulled out of this region for good. In 1992 the Kurds here got their own local government with a president and parliament, etc. (Again…do your own Google search if you don’t get it.) They have their own army as well, called Peshmerga. I live in Camp Tow, which is on a big Peshmerga compound. From here we drive to the 8 local prisons and jails that serve as our area of advisory.

Back in the 70’s Saddam had his buddies in Russia build him some forts from which to fight and control the Kurds in this area. Two of those forts, Fort Suse, (pronounced “Soosay”), and Fort Chamchamal are now prisons. Both of these prisons are a part of the Iraqi Correctional Service, which is headquartered in Baghdad. But in a strange arrangement as I’ve ever seen, both are run and staffed completely by Kurds. There isn’t an Arab Iraqi in sight! In fact, I haven’t seen an Arab once since coming here. So, as you can imagine, the operation of these two facilities is a constant struggle; The ICS in Baghdad trying to exercise control of what is, on paper, their facilities, and the Kurds who actually operate those facilities wanting nothing to do with Baghdad or their politics. It makes our job as advisors as difficult a tightrope walk as anything I’ve ever been a part of.

The Kurds have, so far, been fantastic to work with. Their daily operation of not just the prisons, but of the entire region, is much more organized and professional than anything I saw in Baghdad. I once wrote that in Baghdad I felt most of the men would just as soon cut my throat as look at me. Those death stares are non-existent here. America has been an ally to the Kurds and these people here haven’t forgotten that. They pride themselves on keeping us, and all Americans in this area, safe. That is not to say though that they run a better prison that the Arabs down south, because so far I have to say they don’t. I work at a men’s prison here on the Peshmerga base that houses about 650 inmates. The operation is unorganized and backwards in so many ways. Basic correctional practices that are taught in C101 back home are non-existent here. And the funny thing is that these people think they have it licked! So “advising” them here is very difficult when they don’t think there is anything wrong. I guess if no one is escaping they consider it an operational success. So, needless to say, my partner and I have our jobs cut out for us.

The one major difference for me is the landscape. The city of Sulaymaniya is situated in a nice little valley that’s surrounded by mountains and rolling hills. The bland desert tan of Baghdad and Southern Iraq is replaced here by green pastures and slow, wavy pine tree covered hills. And the dust storms I’ve been used to will be replaced by a cold, snowy winter. I’m looking forward to seeing these mountains get capped with a nice white hat. I am looking forward to life here in general. Nothing has exploded, there’s no constant drone of patrolling helicopters, and the always present sound of gunfire has stopped. Baghdad was an experience I won’t ever forget. But I’m looking forward to making new, quieter memories in my new home. Welcome to Kurdistan.

-Jim Franks